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  • 6 hours ago
    • Asia
    • Asean
    • China
    • India
    • Laos
    • North Korea
    • Sri Lanka
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Defence & Security
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • United Nations

    With caution and tact: How Asian countries voted on Ukraine at the UN 

    Stéphanie Fillion
    A resolution forces nations to show their hand. After Russia’s invasion, consistency has not been to everyone’s liking.
  • 2 days ago
    • China
    • Japan
    • Thailand
    • United States

    Power in Asia: six surprising facts

    Jack Sato , Susannah Patton
    Following the launch of the 2023 Asia Power Index, the authors dig into data that reveals how power is shifting in Asia.
  • 24 Aug 2022
    • Thailand

    Will Thailand’s prime minister defy time?

    Shaun Cameron
    Depending on how you count it, Prayut Chan-o-cha’s tenure could be up in 2023 … or not. In politics, numbers matter.
  • 27 Jul 2022
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • International law
    • Sustainability

    What Vietnam can learn from Thailand’s fight against illegal fishing

    Thư Nguyễn Hoàng Anh
    After being issued a yellow card, Hanoi must look to its neighbours and international laws for the way forward.
  • 9 Jun 2022
    • Russia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Philippines
    • Ukraine

    Thailand seeking to profit from a global food crisis

    Craig Keating
    The war in Ukraine has highlighted weaknesses in Thailand’s policymaking and prompted cartel behaviour … again.
  • 6 Jun 2022
    • Thailand
    • Malaysia
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    Proceed with caution: high-speed rail for Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur

    Wu Shang-Su
    The potential connectivity benefits for two of Asia’s big cities are huge. The obstacles are many.
  • 16 May 2022
    • Sustainability
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos
    • Environment

    Diplomacy is indispensable to manage the Mekong

    Anoulak Kittikhoun
    The goal of a healthy river won’t be helped by misreading the shared mission of the Mekong River Commission.
  • 12 Apr 2022
    • Sustainability
    • Myanmar
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos

    How the Mekong River Commission ignores reality

    Milton Osborne
    Nothing is worth celebrating in how a once mighty wild river has been cruelly tamed.
  • 7 Mar 2022
    • Asean
    • Indonesia
    • Russia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Singapore
    • Laos
    • Ukraine

    Reading Southeast Asia on Ukraine 

    Susannah Patton
    Russia’s invasion has unified the West with new clarity, yet exposed ambiguity and uncertainty in Southeast Asia.
  • 1 Dec 2021
    • Thailand

    Increasingly illiberal Thailand

    Craig Keating
    By stifling free expression, authorities are shutting off any prospect of change that is broadly acceptable to all.
  • 26 Nov 2021
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia

    Trouble on the Mekong

    Mark Tilly
    Countries along one of Asia’s longest rivers need to address the effects of climate change and overdevelopment.
  • 15 Nov 2021
    • Thailand

    Thailand’s regressive royal insult law

    David Hopkins
    The kingdom’s youth and others are speaking out about their monarchy, at great personal expense.
  • 13 Oct 2021
    • Thailand

    Thailand’s military and human rights

    Craig Keating
    A history of violence against troops and civilians is finally being recognised, and justice is creeping in.
  • 22 Sep 2021
    • Thailand

    By land or sea: Thailand perseveres with the Kra Canal

    Shaun Cameron
    The fabled Thai waterway meant to bypass the Strait of Malacca has been mooted for centuries. Could its time have come?
  • 30 Aug 2021
    • Thailand

    Thai lives matter, too

    Craig Keating
    Alleged police brutality captured in a widely shared video puts a spotlight on abuses and demands for reform.
  • 14 Jul 2021
    • Thailand
    • Coronavirus

    Sun, surf and a sandbox escape from a pandemic

    Erin Cook
    Thailand’s holiday island Phuket is trialling vaccine tourism in a bid to recover from the Covid-19 wave.
  • 27 May 2021
    • Thailand
    • Coronavirus

    Thailand’s overcrowded prisons hit by Covid-19 surge

    David Hopkins
    Amid one of the world’s highest incarceration rates, an outbreak was always a risk. But the government has struggled.
  • 15 Apr 2021
    • United Nations
    • Thailand
    • Human rights

    Thailand’s sweeping associations law courts disaster

    Michael Altman-Lupu  , Matthew Bugher
    Draft legislation to strictly control all kinds of groups could crush civil society and drive out foreign organisations.
  • 9 Dec 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Thailand

    A reckoning for Thailand’s indigenous defence industry

    Hadrien T. Saperstein
    The Covid pandemic forced into action long-held plans to remodel defence procurement, but it’s a big challenge.
  • 28 Oct 2020
    • Thailand

    Thailand: Military, monarchy and the masses

    Craig Keating
    To understand today’s protests, look to the decades past and the country’s incomplete transition to democracy.
  • 16 Oct 2020
    • Thailand

    Progressive politics in Thailand’s polarised polity

    David Hopkins
    A new “hyperleader” has capitalised on the mood of a younger generation fed up with being patronised.
  • 10 Sep 2020
    • Thailand

    Rising protests and a sinking economy spell trouble in Thailand

    Michael Sainsbury
    A wave of dissatisfaction with the ruling elite and a Covid-induced recession have shaken the country’s foundations.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • Sustainability
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia
    • Laos

    Chinese dams and the Mekong drought

    Milton Osborne
    The environmental impact of China’s dam building upstream is undeniable. The silence from some quarters is surprising.
  • 28 Jul 2020
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Southeast Asia
    • Laos

    What’s the secret to Southeast Asia’s Covid success stories?

    Dominic Meagher
    There is no secret.
  • 24 Jul 2020
    • Thailand
    • Review

    Book review: The memory of a massacre in Thailand

    David Hopkins
    Survivors and perpetrators alike have preferred silence as a way of coping with a traumatic past.
  • 3 Jul 2020
    • Australia
    • Myanmar
    • Cambodia
    • Indonesia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Philippines
    • Southeast Asia
    • Coronavirus
    • Human rights

    Southeast Asian democracies in declining health amid Covid-19

    Melissa Crouch
    An illiberal turn across the region has been exacerbated by the pandemic. Australia should take note.
  • 12 Jun 2020
    • Cambodia
    • Thailand
    • Human rights

    Thailand: Another dissenter disappears

    Craig Keating
    A fresh abduction case raises serious questions, not for the first time, about the reach of Thai authorities.
  • 6 May 2020
    • Terrorism
    • Thailand

    Thailand: Killings of insurgents ends southern separatist ceasefire

    Craig Keating
    The focus is the Thai state. Foreigners and foreign interest are not targets in this fight.
  • 14 Apr 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • Thailand
    • Coronavirus

    Covid-19 ceasefire unlikely to hasten peace in Thailand’s south

    Craig Keating
    The tempo of violence in the long-running insurgency has slowed for years, yet the virus may not stop it altogether.
  • 10 Mar 2020
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Laos

    On the Mekong, Khon Pi rapids saved – for now

    Milton Osborne
    The drive to dam the river continues to outpace real understanding of the dams’ impact.
  • 18 Jul 2019
    • Asia
    • Indonesia
    • Thailand
    • Philippines
    • Malaysia
    • Southeast Asia

    After the voting, personality beats policy in Southeast Asia

    Greg Earl
    Malaysia is not the only country consumed by speculation about who takes over from a conspicuous and captivating leader.
  • 2 Apr 2019
    • Thailand

    The frustrated wait for Thailand’s election outcome

    Andrew Nachemson
    The military already stacked the odds in its favour, and suspicion about missing ballots have only compounded doubts.
  • 13 Mar 2019
    • Thailand

    Military on the front line in Thai election

    Greg Raymond
    An ex-army general poised to become prime minister and a junta-manipulated constitution has many Thais fired up.
  • 13 Feb 2019
    • Australia
    • Thailand

    The long tail of the al-Araibi case

    JJ Rose
    A case where Bahrain didn’t need to win to send a chill of horror up the spines of other dissidents watching on.
  • 11 Feb 2019
    • Myanmar
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Laos

    The fight to preserve the Khon Pi Luang rapids

    Milton Osborne
    China is pushing to expand its navigation of the Mekong River, raising tricky questions of sovereignty and environment.
  • 8 Feb 2019
    • Thailand

    Thailand: the Princess vs the General

    Hervé Lemahieu
    It’s very unusual for key players from the country’s two most powerful institutions to publicly showcase divisions.
  • 26 Nov 2018
    • Asean
    • Thailand

    Thailand should lead ASEAN with a migrant worker agenda

    Ruji Auethavornpipat
    Bangkok’s ambition of leading ASEAN, stymied by domestic strife, can be achieved by combating labour trafficking.
  • 31 Oct 2018
    • Thailand

    Caught in the net: slavery on Southeast Asian seas

    JJ Rose
    The seafood you bought from your local market could have been caught by a slave.
  • 6 Aug 2018
    • Thailand

    Wanted: Yingluck

    Elliot Brennan
    The requested extradition of Thailand’s former prime minister warns of trouble ahead for free and fair elections.
  • 16 Jul 2018
    • Thailand

    Thai cave rescue: no country for Wild Boars

    Erin Harris
    Attention has turned to the “stateless” problem of three of the boys, their coach, and maybe 3 million more in Thailand.
  • 5 Jul 2018
    • Diplomacy
    • Thailand

    International rescue: the Thai cave response

    Daniel Flitton
    The latest dramatic rescue has spurred a huge international response – but cooperation never seems to outlast a crisis.
  • 1 Mar 2018
    • Thailand

    Elections in Thailand, maybe, but still in the middle of a muddle

    Elliot Brennan
    The coup-installed government is living on borrowed time.
  • 11 Dec 2017
    • Australia in the World
    • Defence & Security
    • United States
    • China
    • Thailand

    Learning to trust: Lessons from Thailand, the US and China

    Greg Raymond , John Blaxland
    Attitudes about friend or foe shift dramatically when countries work together on a serious security problem.
  • 25 Aug 2017
    • Thailand

    From trial to exile?: What's next for Thailand’s Yingluck

    Elliot Brennan
    Three years after the military coup, the trial of Yingluck rehashes old grievances and threatens to unsettle the relative calm.
  • 14 Aug 2017
    • China
    • Thailand

    The Kra Canal: Double bypass

    David Brewster
    Reports that Thailand, with Chinese money, is planning to build a new canal between the Pacific and Indian Oceans have set off a new wave of alarm bells over China’s plans to dominate the region.
  • 10 Aug 2017
    • Asia
    • Myanmar
    • China
    • India
    • Thailand

    Growing extremism as source of strategic instability in Asia

    Chietigj Bajpaee
    The proclivity for extremism in Asia has spread beyond the ‘usual suspects’.
  • 25 Jul 2017
    • Thailand

    Thailand: The case for optimism

    Greg Raymond
    A clean, elected, non-Thaksin Thailand government might be able to walk a narrow path by pursuing more progressive social and economic policy without offending the powerful elites.
  • 7 Jul 2017
    • China
    • Thailand

    Enter the dragon: Thailand gets closer to China

    Patrick Jory
    Thailand’s deepening economic relations with China come at a time of acute political polarisation and instability for the country.

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