Asia
Deng’s pragmatism is China’s poison pill
China’s contemporary economic renaissance, measured across the past 40 years, is largely an orchestration of the expansion of capitalism, and the repression of communist ideology…
Economic diplomacy: Two big-C issues
Change of pace
If Australia’s bushfire crisis has done one thing to inadvertently calm the national zeitgeist during the holiday season, it is in the way climate change has…
What Xi wants in Myanmar may not be what he gets
If there were any doubts around China’s thinking about where to direct its money and influence in Southeast Asia, they were dispelled by the recent announcement that Xi Jinping…
Taiwan voters reject Beijing, but not populism
Moments after Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen secured a second term in a landslide election victory on Saturday, she took six questions from journalists. The first, from a BBC…
Reports
Anchoring the Indo-Pacific
A report by Premesha Saha, Ben Bland, and Evan A. Laksmana published by the Observer Research Foundation.
Another dam on the Mekong
Since the announcement in July last year that the Lao government was notifying the Mekong River Commission (MRC) of its intention to proceed with the construction of a dam due to…
Belt and rail: New Vietnam-China train aims to put relations on track
Last year, China and Vietnam unveiled plans to refurbish a colonial-era railway between the two countries. It was an attempt to update a historical legacy – and also signified new…
Beijing’s Hong Kong appointment sends a clear message
Messaging, as anyone knows, is a big part of politics. In Zhongnanhai, the Communist Party headquarters in Beijing, messaging is a form of gospel. A strong storyline, no matter…
India has left RCEP behind, but not its ambition in Southeast Asia
India’s decision in the final months of last year to withdraw from negotiations for the mega-regional trade agreement known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership …
Reports
Behind the News: Inside China Global Television Network
Can China’s television network be an effective soft power tool?