Financial crises, rapid technological advances, shifting competitive advantages, and the pandemic are straining emerging Asian economies.
Running the government while finding ways to work with the powerful military has been made more complicated by Covid-19 and the resulting economic challenges.
While RCEP is useful and highlights the benefits of lower trade restrictions, it is not a major breakthrough.
APEC should lay out a strategic framework that sets a positive direction for reform and growth for the region and gives businesses the confidence to plan for the future.
Apart from collaboration in health and medicine, ASEAN has been inconsistent – even confrontational – in matters where cooperation would be the best course of action.
A mentorship program to develop and guide the next generation of Asian leaders is urgently needed.
Is Cambodia's dependency on China profitable and sustainable?
The push-and-pull between China and the US is applying more and more pressure on ASEAN neutrality. Can ASEAN maintain its centrality?
In Southeast Asia, rampant corruption has fueled an illegal trade in plastic waste, a source of much pollution through dumping, leaching and burning.
Europe might have done better to conduct a more informal, consultative approach involving all stakeholders instead of a unilateral ban on palm oil imports.
As Covid-19 grips the world, the Filipino workforce looks increasingly vulnerable, despite strong growth in recent years.
Vietnam will have to improve in a number of areas – including sustainability and infrastructure – to maintain any kind of post-pandemic economic momentum.
The purpose of the Chiang Mai Initiative should be renewed and deploying it would be a step towards ASEAN regional financial integration.
Acute respiratory distress syndrome, which has long been linked to polluted air, has been a major cause of Covid-19-related deaths.
Robin Ramcharan of the Asia Centre in Bangkok offers an approach for strengthening democratization in the region.
Behind Duterte's façade of triviality and pettiness is a concerted plan to shift the Philippines away from the US and closer to China.
Vasuki Shastry, Associate Asia Fellow of Chatham House in London, offers lessons from the past year and considers what they may portend at the beginning of a new decade.
Vietnam’s taking the ASEAN chair in January 2020 offers a diplomatic opportunity, says Vietnam scholar Truong-Minh Vu.