Asia
Modi strengthens his hand in India and abroad
On 11 March, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won an overwhelming victory in state elections in Uttar Pradesh. In India, there are few more…
Why aren’t Australia and Vietnam strategic partners?
The election of Donald Trump as US president has increased strategic uncertainty about the leadership role of the US as the 'indispensable power' in the Indo-Pacific. One obvious…
North Korea’s diplomatic dispute with Malaysia: No more Mr Underdog
The ongoing diplomatic dispute between Malaysia and North Korea, triggered by the brutal, brazen and bizarre assassination of Kim Jong-nam at Kuala Lumpur's main airport on 13…
Tense times for South Korea, the shrimp surrounded by whales
The decision by South Korea’s Constitutional Court to uphold the National Assembly’s impeachment of beleaguered President Park Geun-hye is the starting gun in a 60-day race to the…
A new chapter in Thailand’s plagued politics?
It has been almost three years since Thailand’s military seized power in a coup d’état, ending yet another period of political division and violent street protests. In May 2014,…
Chabahar: The key to a strategic partnership between India and Iran?
Since Iran reached an agreement with India back in 2003 to develop a deep-water port and free-trade zone in Chabahar, on the Makran coast in Iran's Sistan-Baluchestan province,…
Economic diplomacy brief: Asian infrastructure, Indonesian trade and Trump management
China walks the walk
Australia’s new $300 million infrastructure spending program over 10 years in Indonesia is a relative drop in the bucket compared with the Asian Development…
Commentary
India and Australia eye the world according to Trump
There's a momentum towards greater cooperation among India, Japan, and Australia, writes James Curran in CFR's Asia Unbound blog on 9 March. Photo: Flickr/Us State Department…
The Rohingya tragedy: Time to talk to the Tatmadaw
Rakhine State is the home of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslims, a group often described as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world. Traveling through this region is an…
China's defence spending: What's behind the slowdown?
China’s 2017 defence budget, announced earlier this week at the National People's Congress in Beijing, has the lowest rate of increase in years. At 7%, it is lower than the 7.6%…