Asia

Replenishing the Asian Development Bank in the Pacific
Replenishing the Asian Development Bank in the Pacific
In early May, donor governments are expected to unveil new funding commitments for the grant-financing window of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) – the Asian Development Fund…
India: What a Modi win means for relations with Malaysia
India: What a Modi win means for relations with Malaysia
With India going to the polls in April, the buzz is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to win a third term. The question that remains is how decisive the victory will be…
Are Beijing and Washington testing the dark forest hypothesis?
Are Beijing and Washington testing the dark forest hypothesis?
Last week, Netflix released Three-Body Problem, its widely anticipated TV adaptation of the acclaimed novels by science fiction author Liu Cixin. While met with broadly positive…
Mind the gap: China’s megaproject promises fall short of reality in Southeast Asia
Mind the gap: China’s megaproject promises fall short of reality in Southeast Asia
In Bangkok in 2010, Chinese and Thai authorities were discussing a dream: the possibility of working together on a high-speed rail project, which would be Southeast Asia’s first…
North Korea’s new threat: “Core central striking means”
North Korea’s new threat: “Core central striking means”
North Korea regularly threatens to turn the South Korean capital Seoul into a “sea of fire” but it is conventional artillery weapons – not nuclear strikes – that have long been…
A closer look at the rising popularity of Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa
A closer look at the rising popularity of Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa
In September 2023, Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa became the first female foreign minister of Japan in 20 years, and she has since showed off her skills as an effective…
China and the great global AI governance divide
China and the great global AI governance divide
For all the common global purpose on the need to manage the risks associated with the rapid development of Artificial Intelligence, deep fissures about how to govern this new…
Mapping the oceans is the new front in the battle for influence in the Indian Ocean
Mapping the oceans is the new front in the battle for influence in the Indian Ocean
Hydrography, the mapping of bodies of water and surrounding coastal details, is the new front in the battle for influence in the Indian Ocean. There is growing competition among…
Should Japan expand its security partnerships in the Pacific?
Should Japan expand its security partnerships in the Pacific?
This month, Japan hosted defence and security officials from 14 Pacific Island countries and Western allies for the 2nd Japan Pacific Islands Defence Dialogue. The multilateral…
Opium and the colonial narco-state
Opium and the colonial narco-state
Book review: Smoke and ashes: Opium’s hidden histories by Amitav Ghosh (Murray, 2024) Switching for a while from fiction to fact, Amitav Ghosh has written an account of …