Asia
Are you ready for how the coronavirus is transforming the world?
As important as the health risks posed by the coronavirus pandemic and its containment are, leaders also need to start to think about the shape of the post–Covid-19 global economy…
The future ain’t what it used to be
What do the East Timorese defence force, “clean coal”, women’s empowerment, and Kevin Rudd’s first-term government have in common?
The answer is the year 2020.
Back when 2020…
Indonesia: Covid-19 crisis reveals cracks in Jokowi’s ad hoc politics
As he rose rapidly from furniture businessman to mayor of Solo and governor of Jakarta to president of Indonesia, Joko Widodo stuck to the same approach to politics: build things,…
Australia-Philippines: Prolonged partners
The announcement by the Duterte administration last month that it will terminate the 1998 Philippines-US Visiting Forces Agreement will likely also raise questions about the…
Democrats on trade, and North Korea: “No hot dish for the dictator”
This is the third of a three-part series of articles examining the Democrats’ and America’s place in the world in the lead-up to the US presidential election. The first…
The Belt and Rebranding Initiative
China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) continues to defy simple explanations. Initially used as a means to promote and frame the country’s key foreign policy initiatives, it has…
Covid-19 in China, the US, India: Comparative crisis management 101
Whatever else the rapidly evolving and increasingly global health crisis may or may not do, it’s shining an unforgiving light on the relative capacities of national health systems…
Covid-19 will kill Moon Jae-in’s Korea détente
South Korea has become the country worst hit by the novel coronavirus outside of China, with numbers of confirmed Covid-19 cases now more than 7500 and deaths more than 50. South…
Book review: Contest for the Indo-Pacific
Book Review: Rory Medcalf Contest for the Indo-Pacific: Why China Won't Map the Future (La Trobe University Press, 2020)
The first point that emerges from Rory Medcalf’s Contest…
On the Mekong, Khon Pi rapids saved – for now
Just over a year ago, I reported on the uncertain future of the Khon Pi rapids, located near the Thai town of Chiang Khong and lying in the riverbed between Thailand and Laos. At…