Asia
Maldives: India first or India out?
Recent protests in Maldives against India’s influence in the country calling for “Indian military out” has led the Maldives government to respond by reiterating its “India First”…
Regulating unmanned underwater vehicles in Indonesian waters
According to the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, between 2018 and January 2021, a large number of Chinese vessels “deactivated” their AIS transponders – the automatic…
Vietnam: “Let them eat steak”
There are plenty of ways to squander good will. Vietnam’s communist party has picked an oldie but goodie, with a twist (of salt).
Minister for Public Security Tô Lâm has…
Commentary
US seeks recalibration, but China is unlikely to reciprocate
Washington wanted the Biden-Xi meeting to establish guardrails to prevent confrontation. Beijing will probably see that as just code for maintenance of the US-dominated status quo…
Time for South Korea to abandon the “middle power” moniker
It’s time to stop. Please stop writing papers on South Korea as a middle power. For an author who was an early advocate for South Korea to fulfil its role as a middle power in…
The true challenge to Indonesia’s large informal economy
In a burst of self-confidence, Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo, better known as Jokowi, boasted to leaders of G20 countries at the recent summit in Rome that his country’s…
Minorities under attack in Bangladesh
Last month, a series of attacks on religious minorities in Bangladesh shook the country’s typically pluralist outlook. The violence began after a Facebook post from Comilla…
Interactives
The Indo-Pacific Operating System: How can America shore up the regional order?
Five essays from experts from, or based in, Southeast Asia provide a sense of the region’s complexity and the nuance with which any effort to shore up – or rebuild – regional…
Myanmar: Totalitarian terror shouldn’t fly on our watch
For many Australians, their first-hand experience with the military is the welcome sight of the Australian Defence Force assisting our community in times of drought, flood and…
China’s digital currency: Next stop, Africa?
In April 2020, China was the first major economy to pilot a digital currency, the e-yuan or e-CNY. The e-CNY, which will eventually replace physical cash and is currently being…