Asia
Beijing three-step: China denies, deflects and dissembles on Xinjiang
Propaganda, understood as the “deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired…
Can Seoul and Tokyo mend ties?
The relationship between South Korea and Japan seems to be moving in a positive direction, with two high-level meetings held this week between officials from both sides. Although…
North Korea’s politics defeats Covid … almost
In late April this year, North Korea finally succumbed to one of its most tenacious adversaries: Covid-19. The hermit kingdom’s first wave of the virus, which has been circulating…
The strange case of a missing Bentley and sinking corruption in Pakistan
It’s a bizarre tale, a story that captures a much bigger problem. A luxury car, worth about half-a-million dollars, is allegedly stolen from London several weeks ago, only to be…
Debating Southeast Asia’s future
A new series of essays, commissioned for the Lowy Institute by Roland Rajah and Ben Bland, asks whether Southeast Asia needs a new development model. In different ways, several of…
China, Russia and North Korea: the wars that never end
Book review: Dancing on Bones: History and Power in China, Russia and North Korea, by Katie Stallard (OUP, 2022)
In Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery, in north-east Saint…
José Ramos-Horta's Australian visit: a checklist
It’s been hard to miss José Ramos-Horta, the President of Timor-Leste, in the news over the past couple of weeks. He’s been doing the rounds with major media outlets, including…
The right tools for a coherent regional response to forced migration
It has been five years since 700,000 Rohingya – half of them children – were driven from their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine State, in what the US government has deemed genocide…
A tragedy in Xinjiang, a tragedy for the UN
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet’s four-year term ended this week with the release at the eleventh hour of a long-delayed report assessing China’s…
Indonesia’s criminal code a step backwards, not forwards
After two years of pandemic killjoy, Indonesia’s Independence Day celebrations last month had a festive feel. During a ceremony at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta, the public was…