Thursday links: Taiwan, Syria's children, Crimea, ASEAN, Nepal and more

6 March 2014 13:27

Two on Taiwan: an opposition party releases a report showing an alarming military imbalance with China (thanks Malcolm), and John Mearsheimer argues that China's rise is really, really bad news for Taipei.
Critics of politically appointed ambassadors assume that professional diplomats are uniformly brilliant, says Michael Fullilove.
Caijing summarises Premier Li Keqiang's speech to the National People's Congress.
To strengthen ASEAN, the Carnegie Endowment is looking for leadership from Indonesia.
Crimea in the news again: the region's politics may be in turmoil, but that doesn't stop the local shipyard producing giant hovercraft for the Chinese navy.
Nepal is adopting the classic strategy of a small country surrounded by great powers: it plays them off against each other. (Thanks Malcolm.)
Grueling ad from Britain's Save the Children campaign for Syria's children (thanks Hugh):

Reinforcing Indonesia–Australia defence relations: The case for maritime recalibration