Asia
The Burning Sun scandal that torched South Korea’s elites
A scandal that began with allegations that some of South Korea’s biggest male K-pop stars had drugged and raped women (The K-Pop sex and drugs scandal sweeping South Korea)…
Just why is the North Korean status quo so persistent?
Last month in The Interpreter, I argued that inter-Korean status quo is deeply persistent. US President Donald Trump and South Korean President Moon Jae-in have tried all sorts of…
Singapore steers the US-China extremes at Shangri-la
Midway through Lee Hsien Loong’s keynote speech at the Shangri-la Dialogue, I found myself turning to others on my table to register my surprise at how critical he seemed to be…
Tiananmen’s “core” secret in the weeks that followed
This article is based on this month’s episode of the Little Red Podcast, Tiananmen’s Final Secret.
In the final moments of this week’s episode of ABC Four Corners recounting the…
Superpower scrutiny at Shangri-La
For the past two years, the highlight of the annual IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore was the keynote speech by the sadly departed former US defence secretary Jim Mattis. …
China wants us to forget Tiananmen, it is important that we don’t
Today marks the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacre, the day when Chinese authorities brutally crushed pro-democracy demonstrations, killing anywhere between one and…
North Korea: purges, food shortages, and the importance of facts
The North Korea-watching community is currently divided about a report in South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo alleging a purge of several North Korean diplomats involved in the Hanoi summit…
Charting China, the (not always) super power
Whether high-profile concessional loans for a Sri Lankan port, large-scale Belt and Road deals with Islamabad, or an international push for its newly rebranded China Global…
Masood Azhar – a global terrorist – and the implications for Pakistan
Four times Masood Azhar escaped the formal designation as an international arch-terrorist. Each time India had sought to add his name to a UN Security Council blacklist as the…
The importance of Taiwan’s diplomatic partners in Oceania
In the battle for diplomatic recognition between China and Taiwan, China clearly has the upper hand. Taiwan maintains formal diplomatic recognition with only 17 countries, as…