SUSTAINABILITY
Rarely before has Indonesia’s rainy season, which began in September 2019, been so eagerly anticipated. In Jakarta, the vast metropolis that is home to 30…
ANALYSIS
- by Husna Yuni Wulansari and Tadzkia Nurshafira, Universitas Gadjah Mada
ENVIRONMENT
Climate change touches on all spheres of life in every corner of the world. It is a policy issue requiring responses at national, international and…
ANALYSIS
- by Victor Mponda-Banda, 2019 AsiaGlobal Fellow, Asia Global Institute, The University of Hong Kong
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Global Compact on Refugees and the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration in December 2018. These…
ANALYSIS
- by Isabella Seif and Kelley Loper, The University of Hong Kong
DIPLOMACY
On November 20, Shinzo Abe became Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, surpassing a predecessor who had ruled over 100 years ago. Until Abe, who took office…
ANALYSIS
- by Yoshikazu Kato, Asia Global Institute
SECURITY
With the liberal international system under stress as the US retreats from multilateralism, China is spearheading a push for a new regional order in Asia…
ANALYSIS
- by Nicola P Contessi, York Centre for Asian Research, York University
GEOPOLITICS
In the second decade of the 21st Century, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is changing its foreign policy stance from defensive to proactive. Beijing is…
ANALYSIS
- by Mher D Sahakyan, China-Eurasia Council for Political and Strategic Research
TECHNOLOGY
The 1990s and early 2000s were one of the most difficult periods in post-World War II Japanese history. With eight prime ministers in as many…
ANALYSIS
- by Jay Rajasekera, Tokyo International University
TECHNOLOGY
What happens when the Fourth Industrial Revolution collides with the need and desire to improve the state of the world? To be more specific: What…
ANALYSIS
- by Samir Sathe, Wadhwani Foundation
SECURITY
Prior to his fifth official visit to China in August, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced that he would raise with his host, President Xi Jinping,…
ANALYSIS
- by Renato Cruz De Castro, De La Salle University (DLSU), Manila
FINANCE
Although cryptocurrencies have been around for about a decade, it was no more than three or four years ago that regulators began to feel intense…
ANALYSIS
- by Tipsuda Thavaramara, Thai Fintech Association
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Those working in international affairs would not be surprised to observe that a small number of countries and institutions spearhead a “global peace policy agenda”.…
ANALYSIS
- by Cecilia Milesi, Asia Global Institute, University of Hong Kong, and Lauren Hess, Georgetown University
HEALTH
Western medicine has been the main driver of modern healthcare systems, but a recent global resurgence of interest in traditional Chinese medicine raises the question:…
ANALYSIS
- by Edwin Yu Chau-leung, Chinese University of Hong Kong
HEALTH
Almost half of Asia is online, and its internet users comprise 51 percent of the world’s total online population. But digitalization, miraculous as it seems,…
ANALYSIS
- by Christopher H Lim and Henrick Z Tsjeng, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
INVESTMENT
Pohang Iron and Steel Company (POSCO), the world’s fifth-largest steel producer from South Korea, decided to cease its US$12 billion investment project for the eastern…
ANALYSIS
- by Sojin Shin, Tokyo International University
ECONOMY
At first glance, it might be absurd to suggest that India has witnessed a lost decade in terms of economic opportunity and outcomes. India has…
ANALYSIS
- by Vasuki Shastry, Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs)
GENDER
Every time a person instructs Siri or Alexa to do something, that user might unwittingly be compounding gender inequality. A United Nations report suggests that…
ANALYSIS
- by Brigid Trenerry, Gayathri Haridas and Sun Sun Lim, Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD)
US-CHINA RELATIONS
Since the US-China trade war started in March 2018, the two countries have been slinging tariffs at each other in between the 12 rounds of…
ANALYSIS
- by Zhiwu Chen and Heribert Dieter, Asia Global Institute
REGIONALIZATION
The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) require a collective US$2.76 trillion in infrastructure spending between 2016 and 2030, according to…
ANALYSIS
- by Truong-Minh Vu, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University-Ho Chi Minh City
GEOPOLITICS
The June 23 decision by members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to adopt the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) represents a…
ANALYSIS
- by Evan A. Laksmana, Centre for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), Jakarta
STRATEGY
With economic growth, increasing incomes, better sanitation and improvements in healthcare, people are living longer. Lengthening life expectancy is proof of the success of economic…
ANALYSIS
- by Arun Maira, HelpAge International
DIPLOMACY
The ongoing dispute between Japan and Korea has caused uncertainties beyond trade. Seoul unilaterally abandoned the General Security of Military Information Agreement (GSOMIA) – its…
ANALYSIS
- by Yoshikazu Kato, Asia Global Institute
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Australia’s isolation at the recent Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) was glaring, despite its recent geopolitically inspired Pacific “step up”. Relationships in the region are splintering…
ANALYSIS
- by David Morris, UNESCAP Sustainable Business Network
DIPLOMACY
Ever since people inhabited the the Korean peninsula and the Japanese islands three millennia ago, Koreans and the people of Japan have had relations. The…
ANALYSIS
- by In-bum Chun, Republic of Korea Army (retired)
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
As he prepares to welcome his G7 counterparts to their summit in Biarritz on August 24-26, French President Emmanuel Macron may be wondering if he…
ANALYSIS
- by Alejandro Reyes, Asia Global Institute
INVESTMENT
As of 2016, China’s foreign direct investment (FDI) in agriculture totaled US$26 billion, with investments in 100 countries. Although only a small part of China’s…
ANALYSIS
- by Thomas David DuBois, Fudan University Development Institute
ETHICS
Trust in the financial services sector plunged around the world in the wake of the global financial crisis over a decade ago. Surveys show that…
ANALYSIS
- by Eva Tsahuridu, RMIT University
GLOBAL GOVERNANCE
For many years now, Asian policymakers, journalists and academics have fulminated about inequities in the selection of the heads of the Bretton Woods institutions, the…
ANALYSIS
- by Vasuki Shastry, Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs)
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Chinese government has set an example for the rest of the world with its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It is supporting the improvement…
ANALYSIS
- by Heribert Dieter, University of Potsdam and the German Institute for International and Security Affairs
ECONOMICS
Through its Belt and Road Initative (BRI), China is offering support for long-term development in infrastructure-poor regions. It provides opportunities for financing much-needed projects to…
ANALYSIS
- by George Abonyi, Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn University
GEOPOLITICS
Perhaps one of the most ambitious foreign policy proposals ever made by China, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is a clear indication of the…
ANALYSIS
- by Xue Gong, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
SECURITY
The late Anglo-American essayist and poet T. S. Eliot once said, “We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will…
ANALYSIS
- by Graham Ong-Webb, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University (NTU)
ASIA-PACIFIC
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as the host of G20 Summit in Osaka, sat between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, trying…
ANALYSIS
- by Yoshikazu Kato, Asia Global Institute
POLITICS
In the summer of 1989, when Francis Fukuyama published his article “The End of History?” in The National Interest and suggested that the battle of…
ANALYSIS
- by Hiroyuki Yamamoto, Tokyo International University
INFRASTRUCTURE
As Japan readies to host the leaders of G20 nations on June 28-29 in Osaka, it has signaled its resolve to tackle an aspect of…
ANALYSIS
- by Motoko Aizawa, Observatory for Sustainable Infrastructure
REGIONALIZATION
Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan was speaking for the rest of Asia when he told a Washington, DC, audience last month that the protracted US-China…
ANALYSIS
- by Vasuki Shastry, Chatham House (The Royal Institute of International Affairs)
ECONOMY
It is no exaggeration to say that the escalation of the trade war has put the likelihood of a new global recession triggered by the…
ANALYSIS
- by George Magnus, China Centre, Oxford University, and the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London
GEOPOLITICS
When Narendra Modi was sworn in as prime minister of India in May 2014, among the guests at the ceremony was Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime…
ANALYSIS
- by Salil Tripathi, journalist and author, "The Colonel Who Would Not Repent: The Bangladesh War and its Unquiet Legacy"
DIPLOMACY
Founded on the principle of the rule of law, the United States is largely governed by lawyers, though not as much as decades ago. The…
ANALYSIS
- by Zhiwu Chen, Asia Global Institute
TRADE
The US and China are in the middle of a tit-for-tat escalation of their year-long trade war. The first eight rounds of negotiations pushed the…
ANALYSIS
- by Zhiwu Chen, Asia Global Institute
ECONOMY
The election victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was extraordinary and unexpected. Opinion polling and recent state election…
ANALYSIS
- by Alan Rosling, ECube Investment Advisors; author, "Boom Country?: The New Wave of Indian Enterprise"
GEOPOLITICS
The conversations I have enjoyed more than many others have been those I have had on my way to or from the airport. Chats with…
ANALYSIS
- by Preeti Singh, 9.9 Insights
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Foreign policy barely rated a mention during Australia’s election campaign. Prime Minister Scott Morrison, whose center-right Coalition government was returned to office on May 18,…
ANALYSIS
- by John Blaxland, Australian National University (ANU)
HEALTHCARE
The origin of the word “pharmaceutical” is the Ancient Greek word phármakon, meaning “medicine” or “cure”. It can also mean “poison”. Throughout history, cures-cum-poisons were…
ANALYSIS
- by Kathryn Ibata-Arens, DePaul University
ACCOUNTABILITY
Combating human trafficking and modern slavery in Asia-Pacific supply chains is a serious challenge. The region is an engine of global economic growth, and home…
ANALYSIS
- by Bonny Ling, University of Zurich
PACIFIC ISLANDS
Charlot Salwai, prime minister of Vanuatu, and Liu Quan, Chinese ambassador to Vanuatu, 2017. Since 2011, China has provided US$1.26 billion to Pacific Island countries,…
ANALYSIS
- by Denghua Zhang, The Australian National University
SOCIAL MEDIA
Social media has the potential to make us feel worse about ourselves because we have a natural tendency to make social comparisons. So in order…
ANALYSIS
- by Danielle Wagstaff, Federation University
FINANCE
With volatility often cited as one of the greatest barriers to cryptoasset adoption, stable-value coins pegged to common units of account such United States dollars…
ANALYSIS
- by Daniel Wang and Matthew Finestone, Loopring
INFRASTRUCTURE
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by United Nations member states in 2015, seek to promote social and economic development while recognizing environmental limits. But…
ANALYSIS
- by Bradley Hiller, Global Sustainability Institute
ENVIRONMENT
Agricultural expansion has been the major driver of deforestation across the Asia-Pacific region for over a century, but declining rates of deforestation and tree cover…
ANALYSIS
- by Robin L. Chazdon, University of the Sunshine Coast
FINANCE
The initial coin offering (ICO) has become a viable if controversial means of raising capital and growing a user base for start-ups around the world.…
ANALYSIS
- by Arnat Leemakdej, Thammasat University, and Chiraphol N. Chiyachantana, Singapore Management University
INDUSTRY
In 2016 and 2017, thousands of disgruntled workers at the Sino-German car giant FAW-Volkswagen (Changchun) held a series of protests. They were so-called “dispatch workers,”…
ANALYSIS
- by Jenny Chan, Hong Kong Polytechnic University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
U.S. President Donald Trump’s much-anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of February ended early...
ANALYSIS
- by Markus Bell and Marco Milani, University of Sheffield
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The Chinese Communist Party began its annual fortnight-long National People’s Congress this week. This year’s session is of particular interest to the international community as…
ANALYSIS
- by Yoshikazu Kato, Asia Global Institute
INCLUSIVENESS
The past few years have seen workers in Asia becoming increasingly restive and concerned over pensions. Demands for reform have erupted into street protests in…
ANALYSIS
- by Donghyun Park, Asian Development Bank
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
There is an old idea in retail: a shop should always have a loss leader, something flashy in the front that lures in passers-by. The…
ANALYSIS
- by Ryan Manuel, Asia Global Institute
FINANCE
“Great powers,” says the Nobel-laureate economist Robert Mundell, “have great currencies.” So where is China’s? In the years following the 2008 financial crisis, things seemed…
ANALYSIS
- by David Lubin, Citi
SECURITY
The standoff over territorial rights to the South China Sea has exposed the depth of the Philippines’ reliance on the waterway for food and energy…
ANALYSIS
- by Richard Javad Heydarian, De La Salle University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
China’s role in Africa is growing, and is becoming key to the continent’s economic rise. Already, China is Africa’s largest trade partner. The volume of…
ANALYSIS
- by Chibueze Nnanna Anyanwu, TAC
INCLUSIVENESS
Regardless of how an individual racially or ethnically self-identifies, they will see a DNA test result showing multiple divisions in their bloodline, simplified by many…
ANALYSIS
- by Yinghong Cheng, Delaware State University
ENVIRONMENT
“Anthropocene” is a widely proposed name for the geological epoch that covers human impact on our planet. But it is not synonymous with “climate change,”…
ANALYSIS
- by Julia Adeney Thomas, University of Notre Dame
TRADE
Mr. and Mrs. Alhaji (names have been changed) are the owners of a successful textile wholesaling firm in Lagos, Nigeria. They import from a variety…
ANALYSIS
- by Shelby Grossman, University of Memphis, and Meredith Startz, Stanford Center on Global Poverty and Development
INCLUSIVENESS
The findings of a new study highlight the importance of gender diversity in a boardroom in making environmental decisions: firms with more female directors on…
ANALYSIS
- by Chelsea Liu, University of Adelaide
ENVIRONMENT
While the toll that breathing polluted air exacts on health and physical wellbeing is richly documented, lesser known is its impact on human intelligence. In…
ANALYSIS
- by Xiaobo Zhang, International Food Policy Research Institute, and Xi Chen, Yale University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Over the course of his presidency so far, Xi Jinping has carefully but explicitly reoriented China from diplomacy with major powers to diplomacy as a…
ANALYSIS
- by Yoshikazu Kato and George Lwanda, Asia Global Institute
ENVIRONMENT
The current linear economic model—also known as “take, make, and dispose”—is often criticized for the high pressure it puts on the environment, leading to pollution…
ANALYSIS
- by Julie Metta and Shauhrat S. Chopra, City University of Hong Kong
DEMOCRACY
South Korea was recently shaken by a series of corruption scandals that led to the impeachment and imprisonment of former President Park Geun-hye. Several chaebol,…
ANALYSIS
- by Juliette Schwak, Tokyo International University
INCLUSIVENESS
In July 2018, the European Commission imposed a fine of €4.34 billion on the U.S. internet company Google for breaching E.U. antitrust rules. Specifically, Google…
ANALYSIS
- by Anupam Manur, Takshashila Institution
ENVIRONMENT
Transboundary haze is a form of seasonal air pollution affecting up to six Southeast Asian countries on an almost annual basis. The first reports of…
ANALYSIS
- by Helena Varkkey, University of Malaya
ENVIRONMENT
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) distinguishes itself by being a laggard in terms of renewable energy deployment...
INSIGHT
- by Assaad Razzouk, Sindicatum Renewable Energy
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Across policy and academic circles, experts have been debating the future of the liberal international order and implications for regional governance. In the United States…
ANALYSIS
- by Andrew Yeo, The Catholic University of America
SECURITY
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (I.N.F.) took seven years to negotiate, contributed to the end of the Cold War, and ushered in three decades of…
ANALYSIS
- by Ramesh Thakur, Australian National University
MIGRATION
In the United States, the administration of President Donald Trump has launched a full assault on all forms of immigration, whether undocumented, refugee, temporary, or…
ANALYSIS
- by Amy Bhatt, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste provides an interesting example of how different states view maritime entitlements...
ANALYSIS
- by Rebecca Strating, La Trobe University
MIGRATION
Within the global asylum system, nation states have traditionally had ownership of tasks such as determining one’s asylum status and providing access to temporary housing…
ANALYSIS
- by Jennifer Ferng, University of Sydney
ENVIRONMENT
The three most common categories of government assistance to agriculture during a drought are subsidies for farm business, income supplements for low-income farm families, and…
ANALYSIS
- by John Freebairn, University of Melbourne
TRADE
It has become conventional today to deride the World Trade Organization—with its patchy record of occasionally successful, but more usually interminable, negotiations—as the lowest common…
ANALYSIS
- by Stuart Harbinson, Asia Global Institute
ENVIRONMENT
China has made substantial progress in reducing pollution, particularly since the start of the 11th Five-Year Plan in 2006. At the 2014 National People’s Congress,…
ANALYSIS
- by Bing Zhang, Nanjing University
FINANCE
Soon after U.S. President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Beijing last year, China announced that it would relax or eliminate…
ANALYSIS
- by Alicia García-Herrero, Natixis
FINANCE
As the global community grows increasingly concerned about environmental and societal issues, governments across the world are gradually transitioning to “green growth.” This involves aligning…
ANALYSIS
- by Alexandra Tracy, Hoi Ping Ventures
MIGRATION
Many countries are currently wrestling with immigration policies, especially around the number of migrants to allow, the type of new people that should be allowed…
ANALYSIS
- by Chizuko Hayakawa, Saga University
CITIES
The way forward for legal casino gambling, or gaming, as it is known within the industry, in the Asia-Pacific is multifaceted compounds that include hotels,…
ANALYSIS
- by Desmond Lam, University of Macau
DEMOCRACY
In a major policy speech on September 10, 2018, United States National Security Advisor John Bolton launched a virulent attack...
ANALYSIS
- by Ramesh Thakur, Australian National University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The rise of international trade and free movement of capital, which facilitated the post-World War II period of unprecedented growth and prosperity, may now be…
INSIGHT
- by Satyajit Das
ENVIRONMENT
A visit to a grocery store means navigating thousands of products to find those that we want to purchase. Checking the provenance and safety of…
ANALYSIS
- by Nicolas Sternsdorff-Cisterna, Southern Methodist University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
An April 2018 report that China was in talks to build a military base in Vanuatu highlighted how crowded and complex the geopolitics of the…
ANALYSIS
- by Joanne Wallis, Australian National University, and Anna Powles, Massey University
ENVIRONMENT
Climate change has been the subject of intense public policy discussion for at least 25 years, since the 1992 landmark Earth Summit in Rio de…
INSIGHT
- by Paula DiPerna, CDP
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
In recent years, China and its Belt and Road Initiative have comprehensively appropriated the term “Silk Road.” But before China, one of the first East…
ANALYSIS
- by Timur Dadabaev, University of Tsukuba
DEMOCRACY
Following shocking revelations in the wake of the Brexit referendum and Donald Trump’s election, the terms “fake news factories” and “troll armies” entered the global…
ANALYSIS
- by Jonathan Corpus Ong, University of Massachusetts Amherst
DEMOCRACY
By any measure, China’s inequality in wealth and income has risen at an alarming pace, reaching new heights in recent years. A Peking University study…
ANALYSIS
- by Minxin Pei, Claremont McKenna College
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
Promoters of the “Indo-Pacific” concept claim that growing economic and security links are contributing to the integration...
ANALYSIS
- by Priya Chacko, University of Adelaide, and David Willis, Flinders University
ENVIRONMENT
“Good food”—food that nourishes communities and sustains healthy ecologies—has been at the center of social movements around the world over the past four decades. The…
INSIGHT
- by Caroline Merrifield, Yale University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
In an article from early 2017, titled “China’s Debt-Trap Diplomacy,” geopolitics pundit Brahma Chellaney argued that China has sought to purposely ensnare some of its…
ANALYSIS
- by Matt Ferchen, Carnegie-Tsinghua Center for Global Policy
ENVIRONMENT
Energy has been in the global spotlight for some time, including in the fast-growing economies of Southeast Asia. While governments and media showcase the steps…
ANALYSIS
- by Mattijs Smits, Wageningen University and Research
CITIES
As the science around smart cities becomes ever more sophisticated, the sensibilities of their inhabitants may yet be increasingly offended...
ANALYSIS
- by Sun Sun Lim and Roland Bouffanais, Singapore University of Technology and Design
SECURITY
On July 27, 2018, the Japanese government updated its cybersecurity strategy, calling for the strengthening of infrastructural protection, including that of international undersea cables. Given…
ANALYSIS
- by Motohiro Tsuchiya, Keio University
SECURITY
Does technology help decide who rules the world? This question is on many minds at the moment, especially vis-à-vis China and the United States, two…
ANALYSIS
- by Eric Tagliacozzo, Cornell University
EDUCATION
We take it for granted that science always moves us forward. A cursory look at contemporary popular discussions about science, which feature, among other long-debunked…
ANALYSIS
- by Sun Kwok, The University of Hong Kong
INDUSTRY
Many Asian economies are focusing on innovation and regional emerging markets to drive growth. The economic model “Thailand 4.0,” for example, presents a broad development…
ANALYSIS
- by George Abonyi, Sasin School of Management, Chulalongkorn University
ENVIRONMENT
Air pollution, and especially particulate matter, is one of the greatest threats to human health. It leads to respiratory and heart diseases, strokes, and lung…
ANALYSIS
- by Michael Greenstone, University of Chicago
ENVIRONMENT
Contaminants both obvious and subtle have made a home within our rivers. These pollutants include pesticides, fertilizers, industrial effluent, and human sewage—a mélange of chemicals…
INSIGHT
- by Xiaomei Chen
ENVIRONMENT
Many of the great cities of the modern world are intertwined with their rivers: London and the Thames, New York and the Hudson, Paris and…
ANALYSIS
- by Victor Mallet
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The Pan-Asia Railway, a marquee project in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), is to be a network of contiguous track that would stretch from…
ANALYSIS
- by Will Doig
DEMOCRACY
Every organization—even a government—needs a vision. But who audits governments’ results? Political scientists would tell you that voters do. Economists would tell you that investors…
INSIGHT
- by Bryane Michael, The University of Hong Kong
ENVIRONMENT
Japan is experiencing dramatic demographic change due to rapid aging and, since 2008, depopulation. Conventionally, these are considered to be economic “problems” to be “solved,”…
ANALYSIS
- by Peter Matanle, University of Sheffield
DEMOCRACY
“Corruption is man’s inheritance.” – Anacletus Corruption is the next battleground in the development of the Asia-Pacific. It has hampered inclusive and sustainable development and…
INSIGHT
- by Masato Abe, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
INDUSTRY
Today, each person eats, on average, about twice as much fish as 50 years ago. But according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the…
ANALYSIS
- by Hongzhou Zhang, Nanyang Technological University
DEMOCRACY
In the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president in the United States and the result of the United Kingdom’s Brexit vote to leave the…
ANALYSIS
- by Ross Tapsell, Australian National University
INDUSTRY
The Copenhagen Fashion Summit is an annual event that takes a critical look at the apparel industry’s sustainability. The 2018 event, held on May 15-16,…
INSIGHT
- by Pamela Mar, Fung Academy
INCLUSIVENESS
Personal wealth in Asia is not only at an all-time high; it continues to grow at an unprecedented pace. Asia accounts for 30% of the…
INSIGHT
- by Mehvesh Mumtaz Ahmed, Centre for Asian Philanthropy and Society
INDUSTRY
Corporate social responsibility (CSR) made its first official appearance in China in the 2006 Company Law. In December 2007, the Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges…
ANALYSIS
- by Danqing Wang, The University of Hong Kong
INDUSTRY
The enshrining of the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) in China’s constitution in October 2017 ensures that it will guide vast swaths of Chinese foreign…
ANALYSIS
- by Salvatore Babones, University of Sydney
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The Asia-Africa Growth Corridor (AAGC) is a cooperation framework between Asia and Africa, led by India and Japan. In a way that mirrors...
ANALYSIS
- by Jagannath Panda, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
INDUSTRY
The devastating human cost of natural disasters cannot be overstated, and rightly receives the lion’s share of media and academic attention on the subject. There…
ANALYSIS
- by Hsiao-Hui Lee and Po-Hsuan Hsu, The University of Hong Kong
INCLUSIVENESS
Earlier this year, Mitsutoki Shigeta, a 28-year-old unmarried, wealthy Japanese man, gained custody of his 13 surrogate children in Thailand, having gained custody of three…
ANALYSIS
- by Izumi Nakayama, The University of Hong Kong
FINANCE
In the past few decades, the rise in prosperity in Asia has made it easier for Asians to engage in stock trading. Some do this…
ANALYSIS
- by Tse-Chun Lin, The University of Hong Kong
TRADE
When most people think of globalization, they think of Apple, Samsung, McDonald’s, Huawei—vast corporations with globally recognized brands...
ANALYSIS
- by Gordon Mathews, Chinese University of Hong Kong
INDUSTRY
It is irrefutable that China has achieved great success in economic growth. It has been the world’s second-largest economy since 2010, and is, by some…
ANALYSIS
- by Manoranjan Mohanty, Council for Social Development, New Delhi
DEMOCRACY
China is looking to restore “trust” and “sincerity” in society by making a digital “social credit system.” In this kaleidoscopic system of ratings and blacklists,…
ANALYSIS
- by Séverine Arsène, Asia Global Institute
DEMOCRACY
Politicians and regulators are focusing on how social media can be used as a weapon in polls. But Facebook undermines other parts of representative democracy,…
ANALYSIS
- by Ronan Lee, Deakin University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or “the Quad” (US, Japan, Australia, and India), is widely regarded as a counter to China’s rising wealth, power, and ambitions.…
ANALYSIS
- by Tai Wei Lim, National University of Singapore
DEMOCRACY
Asia is the new battleground for the digitization of elections and social media use. Social networking platforms are remaking the idea of what is public…
ANALYSIS
- by Netina Tan, McMaster University
HEALTH
An unmanned aerial vehicle soars above the land, on a mission to deliver blood to a remote health center. High-resolution satellite imagery is analyzed for…
ANALYSIS
- by Robert Peckham, The University of Hong Kong
INDUSTRY
Huawei, China’s leading telecom equipment company, recently announced its intention to begin operations on a new submarine telecom system connecting Asia and Africa. The project,…
ANALYSIS
- by Iginio Gagliardone, University of the Witwatersrand
SECURITY
In striking Syria with missiles on April 13 and 14, the U.S., UK, and France said the aim was to uphold international law against the…
ANALYSIS
- by Ramesh Thakur, Australian National University
TRADE
Filmmaker Jed Rothstein’s documentary The China Hustle tracks a number of fraudulent Chinese companies that have listed on US stock markets. Despite the illegality of…
ANALYSIS
- by Bryane Michael, The University of Hong Kong
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The 50-year-old Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) prides itself on developing an open regional architecture, that brings together many more countries than just…
ANALYSIS
- by Dewi Fortuna Anwar, Indonesian Institute of Sciences
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
How does India, the “strategic fulcrum” of the Indo-Pacific, perceive the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or the Quad, comprising Australia, India, Japan, and the United States?…
ANALYSIS
- by Jagannath Panda, Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The first session of the 13th National People’s Congress (NPC) ended on March 20, 2018. The meeting brought together the approximately 3000 delegates...
ANALYSIS
- by Tai Wei Lim, National University of Singapore
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
A popular catchphrase in the Chinese government today is that the Communist Party will ensure the “great renaissance of the Chinese nation.” What this renaissance…
ANALYSIS
- by Ryan Manuel, Asia Global Institute
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
In the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War, the U.S. planted the seeds for an “Asian century” to be realized in the…
ANALYSIS
- by John West, Asian Century Institute
SECURITY
India has one of the oldest space programs in the world—in operation for more than five decades—and is considered an established spacefaring power. Today, the…
ANALYSIS
- by Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan, Observer Research Foundation
SECURITY
Ideally, a Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) should provide intellectual guidance to military planners; reassure Americans, allies, and friends; and deter would-be adversaries. It also shapes…
ANALYSIS
- by Ramesh Thakur, Australian National University
FINTECH
Over the past few years, China has become a global leader in cryptocurrencies. At a peak point, China was home to approximately three-quarters of global…
INSIGHT
- by Andy Yee, Visa
SECURITY
Ever since oil was discovered in the Gulf area in the 20th century, the maritime route from the Gulf region to East Asia passing through…
ANALYSIS
- by Tai Wei Lim, National University of Singapore
CITIES
What could be more common than a trip to a shopping mall in any Southeast Asian city? Asian cities boast some of the largest shopping…
ANALYSIS
- by Marlyne Sahakian, University of Geneva
INDUSTRY
One hot summer day in the early 1990s, I traveled to Beijing to see a well-heeled friend, who met me at the train station holding…
ANALYSIS
- by Thomas David DuBois, Fudan University Development Institute
DEMOCRACY
The Philippines is under a dark spell. Since May 2016, it has been ruled by a strongman who has called for the “genocide” of drug…
ANALYSIS
- by Nicole Curato, University of Canberra
EDUCATION
“Forget liberal arts. If you want a job, you had better get a business or STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) degree.” Since the time…
ANALYSIS
- by Gray Kochhar-Lindgren, The University of Hong Kong
MIGRATION
Today, we know a great deal about why rural villagers across Asia travel abroad to become migrant workers, as well as their struggles in destination…
ANALYSIS
- by Johan Lindquist, Stockholm University
INDUSTRY
In the last few decades, animal cloning has been hotly discussed in key economic sectors such as the pharmaceutical and agricultural industries. More and more…
INSIGHT
- by Florencia Daud, 2017 AsiaGlobal Fellow
INDUSTRY
Today in China, technology is removing the need for service staff in the most casual of experiences. Cameras equipped with facial recognition technology are being…
INSIGHT
- by Pamela Mar, Fung Academy
INCLUSIVENESS
Lucas Chancel: Global inequality is rising. But the different trajectories between countries show there is room to manoeuver. (4’50”) Instead of basing its findings only…
ANALYSIS
- by Séverine Arsène, Asia Global Institute
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
No country has benefited economically more than Australia from China’s recent, historically unprecedented growth and development. Yet few countries are more worried about the possible…
BOOK REVIEW
- by Mark Beeson, University of Western Australia
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
On February 9, 2018, the Winter Olympic Games will officially begin in the South Korean town of Pyeongchang. But Olympics-induced games of a diplomatic sort…
ANALYSIS
- by Guoqi Xu, The University of Hong Kong
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
We are living in an age of technological revolution unlike anything humankind has experienced before. The confluence of the internet, big data...
INSIGHT
- by Andy Yee, Visa
INCLUSIVENESS
Since 1980, many economies have experienced two concurrent trends: rising wealth-income ratios and increasing income inequality. These trends have been playing out particularly spectacularly in…
ANALYSIS
- by Filip Novokmet and Li Yang, Paris School of Economics
FINTECH
However problematical “global currency” may be to define, we in general know it when we use it. That currency today is the U.S. dollar, but…
ANALYSIS
- by Peter Gordon and Juan José Morales
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
President Xi Jinping is wholly committed to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). He made this clear in front of a large gathering of world…
ANALYSIS
- by Fengshi Wu, Nanyang Technological University
EDUCATION
Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have sent shockwaves through higher education by opening up course content to any learner with internet access, free of charge.…
INSIGHT
- by Gina Marchetti, Aaron Han Joon Magnan-Park, and Stacilee Ford, The University of Hong Kong
MIGRATION
It was a typical Sunday for Nur Halimah. Early in the morning, she and her friends from the Hong Kong Indonesian Migrant Workers Co-op were…
INSIGHT
- by Benny Hari Juliawan, Sanata Dharma University
GENDER
What do we imagine when we refer to “the global” or “globalization”? As many scholars have pointed out, the Anglo-European experience has often been considered…
ANALYSIS
- by Michael J. Hathaway, Simon Fraser University
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
During the 19th Communist Party Congress in Beijing, much of the global attention was focused on changes to the political leadership; even after the event…
ANALYSIS
- by Srikanth Kondapalli, Jawaharlal Nehru University
CITIES
I was always told to make change, loads of change, as much change as I can muster, and make my mark on the world. Growing…
INSIGHT
- by Kat Roma Greer, Micro Galleries
INDUSTRY
What makes a country innovative? One of the many ways to delve into this question is via the Global Innovation Index (GII) report, which I…
ANALYSIS
- by Soumitra Dutta, Cornell University
GENDER
With the recent collapse of the Islamic State’s headquarters in Raqqa, one is led to wonder: what will happen to those fighters who managed to…
INSIGHT
- by Noor Huda Ismail, Institute for International Peace Building and Monash University
ENVIRONMENT
Typhoon Haiyan killed over 6000 people in the Philippines in 2013. Monsoon floods claimed 1200 lives in Bangladesh, India, and Nepal in 2017, with 40…
ANALYSIS
- by Helen James, Australian National University
INCLUSIVENESS
The global economy is experiencing the first acceleration in synchronized growth in 10 years; growth is picking up in all the major economies and regions…
ANALYSIS
- by Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate, New York University
TRADE
Instances of contact between distant societies during the 16th and 17th centuries often form part of the “great narrative” of the “Westernization of the world.”…
ANALYSIS
- by Romain Bertrand, Centre for International Research and Studies, Sciences Po
INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS
The move towards one global privacy law is not a matter of “if,” but “when.” Business is increasingly conducted online and over transnational cloud computing…
INSIGHT
- by Ryan Ko, Mark Rodrigues, Aleksey Ladur, and Craig Scoon, Data Privacy Foundation
EDUCATION
What is leadership? An adage that I like, adapted from one uttered by American politician Bob Ehrlich, is that I don’t know what leadership is,…
INSIGHT
- by Peter Mathieson, The University of Hong Kong
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