Southeast Asia

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…
A multilateral bank for the Indo-Pacific?
A multilateral bank for the Indo-Pacific?
Governments around the world are facing complex intersecting challenges: how to achieve supply chain diversification and resilience while simultaneously pursuing more ambitious…
Gender equality financing: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
Gender equality financing: Spotlight on Southeast Asia
You can’t manage what you can’t measure, as the adage goes. And in terms of measuring gender equality and women’s empowerment, considerable barriers exist. While significant…
The parts within the whole: Understanding Southeast Asia’s economies
The parts within the whole: Understanding Southeast Asia’s economies
Southeast Asia is home to almost 700 million people and collectively amounts to the fifth-largest economy in the world. Over the past two years, it has grown between 4-5 per cent,…
Israel-Hamas: A globalised conflict
Israel-Hamas: A globalised conflict
The atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on 7 October 2023 and the war in Gaza that followed caught much of the world off guard. Most governments appeared surprised both by the…
Go big or go home: Australia should invest at scale in Southeast Asia’s energy transition
Go big or go home: Australia should invest at scale in Southeast Asia’s energy transition
Australia is looking to lift its engagement with Southeast Asia. Australia’s Special Envoy to ASEAN, Nicholas Moore, last year set out a new economic strategy to deliver on that…
How to stop any repeat of the Australia-China sonar incident
How to stop any repeat of the Australia-China sonar incident
Soviet warships regularly sparred with Western navies during the Cold War years, conducting close-in ship-to-ship manoeuvres and pointing lasers against their foreign opponents at…
Southeast Asia's minerals: Opportunity knocks
Southeast Asia's minerals: Opportunity knocks
Minerals produced in Southeast Asia play an important role in global supply and local manufacturing and infrastructure. The region is a large-scale producer of minerals required…
Why is Myanmar’s new deep-sea port such hot property?
Why is Myanmar’s new deep-sea port such hot property?
In Myanmar’s westernmost state of Rakhine, the small fishing village of Kyaukphyu has become the focus of a US$7.3 billion deep-water port development by Chinese state-owned…
Australian development cooperation: Urgent and important, but “not a priority”
Australian development cooperation: Urgent and important, but “not a priority”
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is not one for hyperbole, so when she states that the “coming decade will be decisive for peace, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific”, in her…