Asia-Pacific

Photo: AFRICOM commander, U.S. Army Gen. Stephen Townsend, conducts engagements in Somalia and a visit to the amphibious assault ship USS Makin Island, operating off the coast of Somalia, January 16-18.

Biden Administration Has an Opportunity to Emerge as A Reliable Partner with African Countries

Viewpoint by Daniel Haile*

COLLEGE STATION, Texas | USA (IDN) – The lack of engagement with African countries economically, politically, and militarily could haunt the United States in the coming decades. Washington needs to forget the trauma of the infamous "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia and draft a new policy for mutually beneficial cooperation with African states. China, the European Union (EU), and Russia have been engaging with a great number of African countries while the United States watches from the sidelines.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 January 2021

Photo: Election Campaign in Myanmar. Source: Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

New Opportunities for Aung San Suu Kyi After Elections

Viewpoint by Enze Han

The writer is an Associate Professor at the Department of Politics and Public Administration, the University of Hong Kong.

HONG KONG (IDN) – Amid the worsening domestic COVID-19 situation, Myanmar’s election in November 2020 brought a landslide victory for the National League for Democracy (NLD) under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi. Despite voting restrictions in parts of Rakhine and Shan states, the election was overall a step in the right direction, and the NLD increased its majority in the Pyithu Hluttaw (lower house) and Amyotha Hluttaw (upper house).

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 24 January 2021

Asia Welcomes An “Engaging” US President Biden

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) – Asian newspapers have welcomed the new American President Biden’s “engaging with the world” message in his inauguration speech to that of his predecessor Trump’s “America First” rhetoric. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has welcomed President Biden’s “engaging” tone in his speech on January 20.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 22 January 2021

Photo: A worker observes construction at a harbor in Colombo, Sri Lanka, commissioned by China Harbour Engineering Co Ltd on Dec 1. Credit: XINHUA

2021 Yet Another Testing Year for COVID-19 Hemmed Sri Lanka’s Economy

Viewpoint by Dushni Weerakoon

The writer is the Executive Director and Head of the Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO (IDN) — The unprecedented disruptions of COVID-19 are causing a geopolitical reset — and as the global order is redrawn, small emerging market economies like Sri Lanka are vulnerable to the fallout. Sri Lanka straddles vital shipping routes and is at the centre of diplomatic spats between China and the United States, who called on Sri Lanka to make ‘difficult but necessary choices’ over its growing economic and political ties to China.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; SUSTAINABILITY; Health & Well Being; 20 January 2021

Photo: American cartoon, published in 1898: "Remember the Maine! And Don't Forget the Starving Cubans!" Source: Wikimedia Commons

Is China Seeking to Remake the World in Its Own Image?

Viewpoint by Richard Hanania*

This is the second of a four-part series. Click here for Part 1

NEW YORK (IDN) – No other state was considered a fundamental threat to the U.S. over the issue, with a mix of external pressure and internal incentives leading them to ultimately develop more rigorous patent laws and enforcement. Many corporations, the parties most directly affected, treat the problem as the price of doing business.

Perhaps, then, the threat is that China seeks to remake the world in its own image? This is a popular trope among the national security establishment.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 08 January 2021

Photo: Secretary of State John Kerry and Vice President Joe Biden host a State Luncheon in honor of Chinese President Xi Jinping at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on September 25, 2015. Source: U.S. Department of State

What Is the U.S. Afraid of China Actually Doing?

Viewpoint by Richard Hanania*

This is the first of a four-part series.

NEW YORK (IDN) – Across the political spectrum, there is widespread agreement that America must get serious about the threat posed by China. As the Trump administration comes to a close, the State Department has just released a document called ‘The Elements of the China Challenge’. A distillation of conventional wisdom among national security experts and government officials, it argues that the U.S. needs a concerted effort to push back against Beijing. On its first page, the document tells us that “the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has triggered a new era of great-power competition.”

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 07 January 2021

Photo: From left to right, former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger chat at the State Luncheon in honour of the Prime Minister at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on March 10, 2016. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]

Encourage USA To Compromise with Russia, Iran, China and The Islamic World

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power*

LUND, Sweden (IDN) – We are waiting. Waiting for a quick decision on whether the US will renew its agreement with Russia to extend the New Start Treaty, that cuts the long-range nuclear weapons each possesses by 1550 (a 30% cut). It’s due to expire in just over a month on February 5. The Russians have said they want to renew it. President Donald Trump has done nothing about nuclear arms control- despite ridiculously being accused at home of being in President Vladimir Putin’s pocket. Indeed, he has made Russia more vulnerable to a nuclear attack than it was before he came into office.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 29 December 2020

ASEAN Holds the Reins in The South China Sea

Viewpoint by Sourabh Gupta

The author is a resident senior fellow at the Institute for China-America Studies (ICAS), Washington DC. This article first appeared on EASTASIAFORUM on 18 December 2020.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN) – On 6 May 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam jointly notified a submission to the UN Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS). The submission implicitly declared that the Spratly islands were incapable of generating entitlements beyond their 12 nautical mile territorial sea limit.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; OPINION; 26 December 2020

Locked-In, Australians Help to Keep Tourism Sector Alive

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SILVERTON (IDN) – With over 9.3 million international visitors spending close to $34 billion in Australia last year, Tourism Australia’s executive director Bob East predicted a rosy picture for the county' tourism sector, in its annual report for 2018-19 released at the beginning of this year. He said the sector has seen “exceptional achievements” in the past year, and thousands of tourism operators are “making a good living from a strong and sustainable industry”.

Even before the rosy report could be properly distributed, the tourism sector came crashing down, when Australia became the first country in the world to seal its borders in January this year. It was just before the peak of the international visitor arrivals during the lunar new year holidays in Asia.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 December 2020

Photo: UN Resident Coordinator in Kenya, Siddharth Chatterjee, appointed as UN Resident Coordinator in China.

UN Chief Appoints an Eminent Indian National as Resident Coordinator in China

By J Nastranis

NEW YORK (IDN) – The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Siddharth Chatterjee, an eminent Indian national at the world body, as UN "resident coordinator" to China, who has the same rank as an ambassador of a foreign state accredited to that country. The Chinese government' has formally accepted the UN Secretary-General’s selection.

Observers consider this important particularly as Chatterjee is also an Indian Army Special Forces veteran. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the National Defence Academy in India.