2023-03-27 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Japan–South Korea relations have been on a rocky road for far too long. While both countries are economically advanced democracies and US allies with commo… Read More
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Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
2023-03-26 11:00
Author: Daniel Sneider, Stanford University
The Tokyo summit that brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on 23 March 2023 successfull… Read More
2023-03-25 11:00
Author: ZhongXiang Zhang, Tianjin University
As the world’s largest carbon emitter, China has a crucial role in the reduction of global carbon emissions through its own commitment and… Read More
2023-03-24 23:00
Author: Jikun Huang, Peking University
China’s food imports have increased significantly since the nation joined the World Trade Organization (WTO) in 2001. Annual imports and net impo… Read More
2023-03-24 11:00
Author: Yuqun Shao, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies
Pessimism surrounds the future of China–US relations and the possibility of conflict between the two nuclear powers. T… Read More
2023-03-23 23:00
Author: Peter Warr, ANU
In June 2022, the Thai government took the bold step of decriminalising the production, sale and personal use of cannabis. Huge consequences have followed, and other… Read More
2023-03-23 11:00
Author: Chen Chen, US Council on Foreign Relations
In November 2022 a female undergraduate stood outside a cafeteria at Tsinghua University in Beijing with a blank sheet of paper — a s… Read More
2023-03-22 23:00
Author: Lincoln Hines, USAF Air War College
On 23 January 2023, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA) Josef Ashbacher announced that Europe has no intentions of sending astrona… Read More
2023-03-22 11:00
Author: Haiqing Yu, RMIT University
China’s social credit system is widely viewed in the West as a digital surveillance system to categorise and guide people through reward and punishm… Read More
2023-03-21 23:00
Authors: Suryaputra Wijaksana, Bank Central Asia and Juan Tarigan Tetangena, Jakarta
Indonesia’s digital banking or ‘neo-bank’ boom has slowed. Investors now shun once-glor… Read More
2023-03-21 11:00
Author: Tamas Meszaros, Keio University
Protectionist trade policies and the lack of an economic agenda for East and Southeast Asia have become central themes in critiques of US policy towar… Read More
2023-03-20 23:00
Author: Shin Kawashima, University of Tokyo
In December 2022, the Japanese government released three major security papers — the National Security Strategy, the National Defense Strate… Read More
2023-03-20 11:00
Author: Jagannath Panda, Institute for Security and Development Policy
In the past decade, global geopolitical transitions have gathered momentum. This is largely due to the emergence of the… Read More
2023-03-20 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
China has a new Premier. Former Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang has taken the number two spot in China from Li Keqiang, who retired after two terms even as his… Read More
2023-03-19 11:00
Author: Peter McDonald, ANU
China’s population fell in 2022 and will continue to do so throughout the 21st century, according to the United Nations Population Division’s 2022 Rev… Read More
2023-03-18 11:00
Author: Joseph Yu-shek Cheng, Institute for Security and Development Policy
At the beginning of 2023 Hong Kong followed mainland China as it dramatically relaxed COVID-19 related travel rest… Read More
2023-03-17 23:05
Author: Zhongmei Wang, Shanghai Institute for International Studies
According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics of China, China’s GDP grew by only 3 per cent in 2022, comp… Read More
2023-03-17 11:00
Authors: Dwinanda Ardhi Swasono, KCL and Nopriyanto Hady Suhanda, University of Bristol
The Indonesian Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati, believes that Indonesia’s economy will c… Read More
2023-03-16 23:00
Author: William H Overholt, Harvard Kennedy School
China’s incredibly successful economic development brings two predicaments, one domestic and one foreign. Domestically, rapid develop… Read More
2023-03-16 11:00
Author: Michelle I Jongenelis, The University of Melbourne
In November 2022, Australia’s Minister for Health Mark Butler announced plans to introduce new legislation featuring a raft o… Read More
2023-03-15 23:00
Authors: Sun Ryung Park and Charlotte Bull, UBC
In January 2023, South Korean President Yoon Seok-yeol reaffirmed his willingness to reinstate the nuclear power policies that his predecessor… Read More
2023-03-13 11:00
Author: Maholopa Laveil, Lowy Institute
The Papua New Guinea (PNG) government continues to punish the non-competitive sectors within its economy. In 2022, the government introduced a &lsquo&hell…Read More
2023-03-13 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Confusion, miscommunication, lies, crude posturing, finger-pointing— last month’s ‘balloongate’ was the contemporary US–China relat… Read More
2023-03-12 11:00
Author: Paul Heer, Chicago Council on Global Affairs
Washington and Beijing’s response to the appearance of a Chinese surveillance balloon over the United States in February 2023 illus… Read More
2023-03-11 11:00
Author: Harrison Prétat, Center for Strategic and International Studies
Speaking at the Aspen Institute in December 2022, National Security Council Coordinator for Indo-Pacific Affair… Read More
2023-03-10 23:00
Author: Huiyao Wang, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
At the end of 2022, 150 countries and 32 international organisations had signed more than 200 cooperation documents rela… Read More
2023-03-10 11:00
Author: Osmond Chiu, Per Capita
Australia’s 2022 federal election marked a turning point in the country’s politics. For the first time, the shifting voting patterns of non-Europe… Read More
2023-03-09 23:00
Authors: Amara Thiha and Marte Nilsen, PRIO
The political implications of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and ideologies in Myanmar received much attention in the years before the 2021 mili… Read More
2023-03-09 11:00
Author: Ricardo C S Siu, University of Macau
On 26 December 2022, the Chinese government officially lowered the severity of its COVID-19 pandemic classification from ‘pneumonia’… Read More
2023-03-08 23:00
Authors: Steffen Jensen, Aalborg University and Karl Hapal, University of the Philippines Diliman
In January 2023, the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Go… Read More
2023-03-08 11:00
Author: Martina Baradel, Oxford University
In July 2022, the violent killing of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, shot at close range in the middle of an electoral speech, shocked J… Read More
2023-03-07 23:00
Author: Wanning Sun, UTS
For the past decade or so, the Western media has been critical of the Chinese state, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. This criticism has been… Read More
2023-03-07 11:00
Author: William Waqavakatoga, University of Adelaide
Newly elected Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka pulled off a remarkable diplomatic feat during his 20 January 2023 state visit to Kir… Read More
2023-03-06 23:00
Author: Gemmo Fernandez, ANU and Ruby Rosselle Tugade, University of the Philippines
On 4 January 2023, Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Benjamin Abalos, requested that the po… Read More
2023-03-06 11:00
Author: Tianlei Huang, PIIE
China’s aging population presents many challenges for its economy, including a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on the healthcare and pension syst… Read More
2023-03-06 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Bengal Famine in India and the less well-known Henan Famine in China, which together killed around 3 million people i… Read More
2023-03-05 11:00
Author: Peter Timmer, Harvard University
It has been a tough year for hundreds of millions of households across the world since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022. Major food supply… Read More
2023-03-04 11:00
Author: James C. T. Hsueh, National Taiwan University
Like most Western industrialised countries, Taiwan experienced a sustained decline in fertility rates and increased life expectancy that… Read More
2023-03-03 23:20
Author: Brian Waidelich, CNA
On 25 January 2023, Space News reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) no longer intends to send European astronauts to Tiangong, China’s newly compl… Read More
2023-03-03 11:00
Author: Bingqin Li, UNSW
Preschool education in China needs to improve in quality and shift away from quantitative growth. While the government is increasing investment, growth in the supply… Read More
2023-03-02 23:00
Author: Dian Maya Safitri, Economy of Francesco
In December 2022, in West Java, Indonesia, news that a domestic worker had been held captive, tortured, deprived of food and forced to work lo… Read More
2023-03-02 11:00
Author: Lilla Szabó, TIU
Sand is the most mined resource worldwide, yet not many are aware of the global environmental crisis stemming from over-extraction. River sand is the main ing… Read More
2023-03-01 23:00
Author: Fangli Hu and Jun Wen, Edith Cowan University
In light of China ending its zero-COVID policy, Macau is seeking to recover its tourism-based economy. Success will depend on the effect… Read More
2023-03-01 11:00
Author: Wilfred Yang Wang, University of Melbourne
In early December 2022, China announced that it was terminating the itinerary code, which had tracked people’s movements in public sp… Read More
2023-02-28 23:00
Author: Marina Yue Zhang, UTS
Clean energy technologies are essential to achieve the decarbonisation targets set in the Paris Agreement. Critical minerals — including lithium, nickel… Read More
2023-02-28 11:00
Author: Purnendra Jain, The University of Adelaide and Daisuke Akimoto, Hosei University
In early February 2023, the son of Japan’s former defence minister Nobuo Kishi, Nobuchiyo Kishi… Read More
2023-02-27 23:00
Author: Charles Dunst, CSIS
Three out of four Cambodians have never known life without Hun Sen. The Prime Minister, currently the longest serving one in the world, came into power during the… Read More
2023-02-27 11:00
Author: Yasuo Takao, Curtin University
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida used a policy speech at the opening of the 2023 session of Japan’s parliament, the National Diet, to d… Read More
2023-02-27 01:05
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
It’s now been a year since Russia invaded Ukraine. In response to an unprovoked act of aggression, Western countries imposed a sweeping set of sanctions de… Read More
2023-02-26 11:00
Author: Ken Heydon, LSE
There is a paradox with economic sanctions. They tend to command widespread support within the sanctioning country yet frequently fail to change the behaviour of the… Read More
2023-02-25 11:00
Author: Soumya Bhowmick, Observer Research Foundation
Bangladesh’s economy has grown at impressive rates in the last decade. Even as one of the few countries to maintain a high growth… Read More
2023-02-24 23:00
Author: Hiroki Takeuchi, Southern Methodist University
At a press conference on 28 May 2020, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang told reporters that China was considering joining the Comprehensive an… Read More
2023-02-24 11:00
Author: Andrew Blakers, ANU
In 2021, Australian company Star Scientific signed an agreement with the Philippine government to develop green hydrogen as a fuel source. This agreement joins a… Read More
2023-02-23 23:00
Authors: Bryan Mercurio and Ronald Tundang, CUHK
Indonesia has vast potential. Despite numerous setbacks since its independence in 1945 — including the 1997 Asian financial crisis &mda&hell…Read More
2023-02-23 11:00
Author: Charles Mok, Hong Kong
Hong Kong’s latest census data paints a grim picture of the territory’s demographic trends. In 2022, Hong Kong recorded its highest net population… Read More
2023-02-22 23:00
Author: Donaev Mukhammadsodik, OSCE Academy
The EU and China have become more dynamic players in Central Asia since the United States withdrew from Afghanistan and Russia started losing its… Read More
2023-02-22 11:00
Author: Ivan Lidarev, King’s College London
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, EU leaders, the Ukrainian foreign minister and French President Emmanuel Macron suggested that… Read More
2023-02-21 23:00
Author: James Laurenceson, UTS
The share of Australia’s total goods exports going to China fell to 27 per cent in June 2022, a sharp decrease from 46 per cent just a year earlier. Whil… Read More
2023-02-21 11:00
Authors: Darryl Tan, BowerGroupAsia, Luzile Satur, University of Cologne, and Mirjam Le, University of Passau
Over the past few years, ASEAN member states have faced food security issues. Th… Read More
2023-02-20 23:00
Author: Colette Mortreux, University of Melbourne
In response to the climate crisis, Tuvalu’s Minister of Justice, Communication and Foreign Affairs, Simon Kofe, announced at COP27 the… Read More
2023-02-20 11:00
Author: Jose Ma Luis Montesclaros, NTU
Since 2013 India has allocated subsidised grains for its poorer populations under the National Food Security Act at a cost of approximately US$24 billi… Read More
2023-02-20 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
There’s no question that the risks of political and economic fragmentation that come with great power rivalry in Asia make the task of re-energising Asia P… Read More
2023-02-19 11:00
Author: Andrew Levidis, ANU
Australia’s role in Asian regionalism has too often been a blind spot in public discourse about the country’s identity and future. For too long the na… Read More
2023-02-18 11:00
Author: Kevin Nielsen M Agojo, City University of Hong Kong
Barely a year into his administration, Philippine President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr has undertaken a major reor… Read More
2023-02-18 00:00
Author: Andrew L Oros, Washington College
The trend of Asian populations growing and moving to cities — providing cheap labour, demand for modern infrastructure and high economic growt… Read More
2023-02-17 11:00
Author: Silvia Menegazzi, LUISS
On 7 December 2022, Egypt ratified its participation in the New Development Bank (NDB) — a multilateral development bank (MDB) established in 2015 under… Read More
2023-02-16 23:00
Author: Jeremy Youde, University of Minnesota Duluth
The devastating 2022 floods in Pakistan highlight the interplay between natural disasters, climate change and population health. Months a… Read More
2023-02-16 11:00
Author: Bich Tran, University of Antwerp
Vietnam and Indonesia agreed to delimit their respective Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZs) on 22 December 2022 after 12 years of negotiations. The agre… Read More
2023-02-15 23:00
Author: Fan Yang, Deakin University
China has prioritised the implementation of digital technology in the health sector in recent years. In November 2022, China proposed the digitisation of… Read More
2023-02-15 11:00
Authors: Rumela Sen, Columbia University and Naresh Gyawali, Kathmandu
TS Eliot warned in his 1925 poem that the world ends ‘not with a bang but a whimper’. Almost a century late… Read More
2023-02-14 23:00
Author: Yan Liang, Willamette University
It was a bleak year for the Chinese economy in 2022. Strict zero-COVID measures and regulatory crackdowns on the real estate sector and digital platf… Read More
2023-02-14 11:00
Author: Yusaku Yoshikawa, JIN Corporation
In 2019, the Japanese government introduced the Work Style Reform Law which sought to increase diversity in the workplace and improve working condit… Read More
2023-02-13 23:00
Author: Chansambath Bong, Asian Vision Institute
Taking the baton for the third time as the ASEAN chair in 2022, Cambodia’s diplomatic tenacity was tested by the war in Ukraine, Myanma… Read More
2023-02-13 11:00
Authors: Adam Simpson, University of South Australia, Thomas Kean, International Crisis Group, and Susan Park, University of Sydney
In the two years since the military coup in February 2021… Read More
2023-02-13 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
Around the time of Indonesia’s 2019 presidential elections, there was great concern about the damage that polarisation over issues of religious politics wa… Read More
2023-02-12 09:00
Author: Dan Slater, University of Michigan
Indonesia and Malaysia have always been similar enough to make direct comparisons promising, but different enough to make direct comparisons proble… Read More
2023-02-11 11:00
Author: Toshiro Nishizawa, University of Tokyo
While rumours of former Lao prime minister Phankham Viphavanh’s premature resignation surfaced in mid-December 2022, it was only on 3 Jan… Read More
2023-02-10 23:42
Authors: Siyu Qian, China and Li Mingjiang, RSIS
China has had a rollercoaster experience in dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic after the relaxation of the COVID-zero policy. While the situa… Read More
2023-02-10 11:00
Author: Hanh Minh Duong, Georgetown University
As the need for climate action has intensified, green finance has become a popular tool for developing countries that wish to achieve economic… Read More
2023-02-09 23:00
Author: Claude Barfield, American Enterprise Institute
Under President Joe Biden, the United States has stepped up its campaign to build out and expand its geostrategic position in the Indo… Read More
2023-02-09 11:00
Author: Shareen Joshi, Georgetown University
Ninety per cent of Indian workers earn their livelihoods in the informal sector, lacking job security, pensions, paid leave and benefits. Precise… Read More
2023-02-08 23:00
Authors: Novia Xu and Nadya Daulay, CSIS
The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) is the manifestation of the European Union’s (EU) ambitions to lead in global climate policy and… Read More
2023-02-08 11:00
Author: Jamie Reilly, University of Sydney
For the people of North Korea, 2022 was another difficult year. But as 2023 dawns, glimmers of hope are emerging as the country’s foreign tra… Read More
2023-02-07 23:00
Author: Brendan Clift, University of Melbourne
Hong Kong’s latest legal development has clear parallels with the first post-handover constitutional crisis in 1999. In both instances, t… Read More
2023-02-07 11:00
Author: Sujeev Shakya, Beed Management
While 2022 began with modest expectations for Nepal, it was also a year of hope. The pandemic receded and lives returned to normal, while elections bro… Read More
2023-02-07 04:00
Author: Michael Raska, NTU
Cyber operations have been evolving as part of major wars and conflicts over the past three decades. Yet modern militaries have struggled to align advanced cyber c… Read More
2023-02-06 23:00
Author: Saimum Parvez, VUB
For Bangladesh, the two most important trends in 2022 were a strong comeback of political opposition and the country’s myriad economic challenges. These crit… Read More
2023-02-06 11:00
Author: Mahendra Ved, Commonwealth Journalists Association
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi has been universally revered as India’s father figure, but 2022 ended with some supporters of Prim… Read More
2023-02-06 01:00
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
India is stepping into the spotlight on the world stage this year as the host of the G20. It comes after a relatively successful year for the forum under Indones… Read More
2023-02-05 11:00
Author: Amita Batra, JNU
Global value chain-led trade has been the most significant feature of global trade in the 21st century. While the spectacular increase in trade in the first decade w… Read More
2023-02-04 11:00
Author: Abdul Rahman Yaacob, ANU
While military deterrence and diplomacy are often cited as the two pillars of Singapore’s defence strategy, a critical yet overlooked third pillar is t… Read More
2023-02-03 23:00
Author: Roy C Lee, CIER
Volatility is perhaps the best word to describe Taiwan’s 2022. Though initial economic forecasts expected Taiwan to continue its strong growth from 2021, Taiwan… Read More
2023-02-03 11:00
Author: Richard Herr, University of Tasmania
The most important event for Fiji in 2022 was the peaceful transfer of power on Christmas Eve, 10 days after a general election saw former prime… Read More
2023-02-02 23:00
Author: Teck Chi Wong, University of Queensland
During Anwar Ibrahim’s first stint as Malaysia’s finance minister in the 1990s, Putrajaya was still under construction. After more… Read More
2023-02-02 11:00
Author: Tu Phuong Nguyen, University of Adelaide
At the end of 2022, there were reports of long queues of employees in Ho Chi Minh City who had been waiting since dawn at several local offic… Read More
2023-02-01 23:00
Author: Andrei Lungu, RISAP
In early December 2022, President of the European Council Charles Michel travelled to Beijing for his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping… Read More
2023-02-01 11:00
Authors: Chanhsy Samavong, Laos Macroeconomic Research Institute, and Buavanh Vilavong, Laos Ministry of Industry and Commerce
The Lao economy has been seriously impacted by rising inflation… Read More
2023-01-31 23:00
Author: Arif Rafiq, Middle East Institute
Pakistan and the United States have recently been pursuing a reset of relations. High-level visitors from both countries have expressed intentions t… Read More
2023-01-31 11:00
Author: Allan Gyngell, ANU
Not for the first time in its history, distant events in Europe had a deep impact on Australia’s prosperity and security in 2022. Russia’s February inv… Read More
2023-01-30 23:00
Author: Rebecca Sta Maria, APEC
The start of 2022 held much promise for APEC economies. The pandemic seemed under control. As the 2022 APEC host, Thailand anticipated a full year of in-perso… Read More
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