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Asia Pacific

Economy

Sealing Borders Leads Only to a Pyrrhic Victory

Wednesday, May 13, 2020

While drastic actions may yield success in controlling the spread of the coronavirus, they will likely lead to severe damage to economies that may be felt for years

Environment

After the Covid-19 Pandemic, Asia Should Invest in the Environment

Wednesday, April 29, 2020

Asian leaders should prioritize climate initiatives before environmental distress raises the costs of action and the prospects of political and economic crises.

Covid-19

Covid-19 and the Decade of Risk

Wednesday, April 1, 2020

A dangerous decade lies ahead for the global economy as well as for health and safety, and only a fundamental rethink about how nations can collaborate will be the cure.

Environment

Rising from the Ashes: How Australia Should Combat Climate Change

Thursday, March 5, 2020

The unprecedented Australian bushfire crisis has been a wake-up call on climate change, highlighting an underlying threat to the country: the lack of water resources.

Geopolitics

Crossing the Rubicon: Duterte Moves to End the Philippine-US Alliance

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Behind Duterte's façade of triviality and pettiness is a concerted plan to shift the Philippines away from the US and closer to China.

Security

Rethinking US Alliances and Partnerships as Insurance Contracts

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Alliances and partnerships with the US should be viewed as insurance contracts to hedge against the uncertainties of Beijing’s growing power and influence.

Environment

Will the Australian Wildfires Crisis Usher in a New Global Climate Security Paradigm?

Wednesday, January 29, 2020

Governments worldwide will increasingly have to turn to their armed forces to deal with climate-related disasters, requiring new ways of thinking.

Geopolitics

Asia 2020: Learn the Lessons of 2019

Thursday, January 2, 2020

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.

Geopolitics

Flawed Assumptions: Why the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific is Defective

Thursday, September 19, 2019

Foreign ministers including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo (4th from left) and China's Wang Yi (far right) demonstrate ASEAN centrality

Geopolitics

Australia’s Pacific “Step Up” Stumbles

Thursday, September 5, 2019

Australia must find its home in the region instead of looking like the uncomfortable colonial among strangers.

Money

Lessons from Australia’s Financial Misconduct Shock

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Persistent and widespread misconduct has fueled distrust in the financial services sector. After an investigation lasting over a year, a commission of inquiry in Australia uncovered a shocking level of systemic malpractice and the culture of self-interest and lack of accountability that led to it. Asia-Pacific countries, where economies and services sectors are expanding rapidly, would be wise to learn from those mistakes, writes business ethics expert Eva Tsahuridu of RMIT University in Melbourne.

Politics

Is Asia Serious About Running the IMF?

Thursday, July 25, 2019

With the process for selecting a new managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) starting, Vasuki Shastry, who worked in senior communications and public affairs roles at the organization, argues that Asian countries should overcome their traditional reluctance and geopolitical impediments and differences to support a candidate from the region.

Economy

Splintering Global Supply Chains: Asia’s Worst Nightmare?

Thursday, June 13, 2019

Disruption, diversification...decoupling?: The fracturing of global supply chains is a major concern for Asian economies

Geopolitics

Staying the Course: Australia Set to Continue Asia-Pacific Strategy

Thursday, May 23, 2019

Australia faces a range of complex geopolitical and security challenges, which include managing its close strategic and economic ties with the United States and its important trading relationship with China. The unexpected election victory of Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s center-right Coalition government means that Canberra is likely to maintain its current foreign and defense policies, writes John Blaxland of Australian National University (ANU).

Health

How Asia Can Avoid the Lifestyle Drug Trap

Wednesday, May 15, 2019

In a fast-paced high-growth economy – picture any big city in Asia – urban professionals are under pressure to “get back to work” even when they feel ill. The resulting demand for “fast-fix” remedies could lead to over-prescription and societal ills. Opioid abuse that is plaguing the United States and other Western countries could well become a major problem in Asia. Governments and pharmaceutical companies in the region should continue to focus on driving innovation in the development of treatments and resist the temptation to pursue the easy profits of the lifestyle-drug approach, Kathryn Ibata-Arens from DePaul University writes.

Population & Society

How New Rules Aim to Reduce Slave Labor in Asia

Thursday, May 9, 2019

The complex nature of global supply chains means that using exploitative labor at any stage, even indirectly, may harm a company's brand and risk legal liability. Consumers do not want to be associated with trafficked workers and will shun goods produced with slave labor. Nations are passing laws to address this problem. Mandatory reporting of anti-slavery actions may provide some protection for both businesses and workers.

Population & Society

How Social Enterprises Can Serve Asia’s Underserved

Thursday, April 11, 2019

Why are mobile phones and bottles of Coca-Cola available in even the most remote parts of Asia, but reliable essential services, such as drinking water, electricity, and clean cooking fuels, are not? More inclusive and effective basic service delivery models are needed to benefit the poor, and the social enterprise sector may hold the key.

Environment

Restoring Forests the Natural Way: The Best Bargain Ever

Thursday, April 4, 2019

Deforestation lets countries develop economically through commodity production, mining, and infrastructure-building, but makes many previously forested areas unsuitable for people and animals. The solution to this isn’t reforestation—it’s natural regeneration. Nature is our best ally and business partner.