Global Issues
China’s leap into space
China has launched a new space station, the most ambitious project it has ever undertaken in spaceflight. Right now, the station is just a cylindrical module without a crew, but…
Response to Myanmar coup shows need for UN reform
It’s been almost three months since Myanmar’s military junta seized power from the democratically elected government. More than 700 protesters have been killed, and more than 3000…
High hopes and hot air on climate change
Amid a very bad week for news about Covid-19, there was a long-awaited ray of hope about climate. Within an hour of US President Joe Biden’s opening to the Virtual Leaders’…
Indonesia raises ASEAN’s bar on Myanmar
For much of his presidency, Indonesia’s Joko Widodo has taken a mercantilist view of foreign policy, pushing the country’s diplomats to promote trade and investment while keeping…
Bhutan: Happy days for the jab in between a strategic pinch
Bhutan, the tiny kingdom situated high in the Himalayas between India and China, has emerged as an unlikely Covid-19 vaccination success story. In the fortnight between late March…
Timor-Leste’s floods and Covid lockdown aggravate political rifts
The recent floods in Timor-Leste have now caused 45 deaths and some 10,000 people to be displaced, including 7000 in the capital, with widespread damage to roads and bridges, and…
Economic diplomacy: Supply chains, ASEAN wanes, and Japan’s coal dump
Two worlds
When the US and Japan kicked off a bid to take control of the next generation of mobile technology during a summit of their leaders last week, they also pushed the…
Toxic reaction to Japan’s Fukushima water dump
The Netflix documentary “Seaspiracy” caused a stir following its release last month, both for highlighting the serious damage human activities are causing the world’s oceans –…
China’s Twitter trolls make bid for vacant Trump property
Just months into US President Joe Biden’s term in office, his predecessor seems to be quite distant in the American public’s rear-view mirror. Banned from most major social media…
“America’s back” in the Paris Agreement. For how long?
On his first day in office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order for the US to rejoin the Paris Agreement. A new US Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC), containing…