Asia
American trade policy returns to “aggressive unilateralism”
America’s new haphazard and confrontational approach to trade policy under President Donald Trump is rapidly taking shape.
Risks of escalating protectionism and a damaging trade…
Amal Clooney no match for Trump and China in Southeast Asia press clampdown
Australia must be feeling more lonely in its part of the world as increasingly authoritarian governments across Southeast Asia use claims of fake news to clampdown on media…
Bangladesh: breaking with dynasty
Bangladesh tends to languish near the bottom of corruption-watchdog Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index. So it is perhaps unsurprising that former Prime…
Chinese belts and roads stir mixed reactions in Europe
In February, in his last formal speech as foreign affairs minister of Germany, China’s biggest European trade partner, Sigmar Gabriel repeated an earlier warning…
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan: a welcome but fragile thaw
A rare summit held at the strategic crossroads of Russia and China last month signalled a welcome thaw between two regional rivals in Central Asia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.
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Watching on: Australia and the Korean Peninsula talks
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un are scheduled to meet for the first time on 27 April at Panmunjom, the “truce” village on the border of the…
An agenda for the Moon–Kim summit
Later this month, South Korean President Moon Jae-in will meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. This is the third inter-Korean summit since the days of the Sunshine Policy – an…
Indonesia’s fishy furore
“Indonesia’s fishing industry was broken for many years,” says Amhar, who, like many Indonesians, goes by only one name. “Then Susi came along and she fought for us.”
Amhar…
China: the party, the state, and the new anti-graft body
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese state are two distinct although intertwined entities, with different types of power. For example, the Politburo (a high…
Leslie – 15 years on
I first heard Leslie Cheung’s voice when I was five years old, sitting in the passenger seat of my parent’s car. A Cantonese song came on the radio: “Let me hide from the bustle…