Asia
All eyes on North Korea at ASEAN
Just over a year ago, Manila was celebrating an unprecedented international ruling in its favour against China in the disputed South China Sea. This weekend, the city played host…
Making sense of the known unknowns in the South China Sea
I'd like to thank Hugh White for his continued thoughtfulness and collegiality in our ongoing exchange on the South China Sea. I thought it might be interesting to pivot from…
Can Boris Johnson deliver on his colossal naval expectations?
Boris Johnson’s ebullient pronouncements last week on a future Royal Navy freedom of navigation 'operation' in the Indo-Pacific region have attracted attention, but also criticism…
Article 66(d): A menace to Myanmar’s democracy
The fetters on Myanmar's democracy are many. The 2008 constitution gives the military 25% of seats in parliament; it gives the military control over three of the most powerful…
Pakistan: The combustible democracy
The forced exit of Nawaz Sharif has left Pakistan at a cross roads. The tensions between the military establishment and civil leadership that had become a feature of Sharif's…
Commentary
A Chinese threat to Australian openness
Originally published in the New York Times (Photo: Flickr/Mark爱生活)
Merriden Varrall
Chinese spy ships: The devil in the detail
Recent posts in The Interpreter (by Iain Henry, Euan Graham and James Goldrick) have commented on the presence of a Chinese intelligence-gathering ship off the Queensland Coast…
North Korea missile test: It’s all in the timing
The second test of a North Korean intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) has elevated concerns over the potential for this nation to launch nuclear strikes on the continental…
The three issues impeding Myanmar’s transition
More than a year since Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy came to power after a landslide election and six years since the transition began, Myanmar has come a long…
Digital Asia Links: Liu Xiabo censorship, Gangnam Style's world domination and more
Toronto’s Citizen Lab tested censorship surrounding Nobel Prize Winner Liu Xiabo’s death earlier this month. Testing WeChat and weibo, the Lab found, not surprisingly, that…