Asia
South Korea’s foreign ministry: Just a few bad eggs?
In April, media reports revealed that a New Zealand court had issued an arrest warrant for a South Korean diplomat on sexual assault charges. South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign…
The tangled web of India-China relations
The present phase of India-China relations emerged from the desire and imperative to reset relations after the Doklam standoff in 2017 and the realisation that, despite the…
West Papua: Looking for an opening
When the world is grappling with the kind of calamity few of us have experienced before, it can be easy to forget other crises. Climate change springs to mind. So, too, does the…
India’s Covid-19 tracing app: Power in the right hands?
Governments around the world are working hard to convince their populations to download the various Covid-19 infection tracing apps. As well as potentially helping to stymie the…
Covid-19: The need to aid Asia to open up
Two things about the public health and economic impacts of Covid-19 are now clear.
First, with just a few exceptions, most affected countries have suffered egregiously, and in…
As Jakarta trims defence, Beijing makes waves in the South China Sea
The Covid-19 outbreak has hit hard for Southeast Asian economies. Anticipating more shocks to come, several countries have already moved to cut defence spending, seeing the…
The false dichotomy at the heart of Australia’s China debate
A new narrative, advanced by the “wolverines” and like-minded commentators, is emerging and solidifying within Australia’s China “debate”. This narrative casts disliked Chinese…
Why Vietnam embraces multilateralism at this uncertain time
Today the mere mention of multilateralism leaves many jeering that the heyday of international cooperation has past. Isolationist politics appear preferred. Yet Vietnam’s recent…
Commentary
Hong Kong's new 'Basic Law' is that whatever China says, goes
Judges alone cannot protect territory from Beijing's heavy-handed interventions. Originally published in Nikkei Asian Review.
In an Olympic-sized challenge, Japan’s golden chance could go begging
There have been plenty of Japanese officials weighing in on Tokyo’s Olympic rescheduling plans over the last few months. At times, it’s been hard to know who to focus on,…