Asia-Pacific

Photo: The assembly of Vietnamese officials, foreign diplomats and the UN family led by Resident Coordinator Kamal Malhotra welcoming on April 1, the day Viet Nam assumed the presidency of the Security Council, its first shipment of 811,200 COVID-19 vaccine doses shipped via the COVAX Facility at its National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology. Source: UNAI.

Walking History Through Viet Nam's Security Council Presidency

By Ramu Damodaran

The writer is Chief, United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) hosted in the Department of Global Communications. This OpEd was first published in #WhyWeCare on April 15.

NEW YORK (IDN | UNAI) — If, as Suzanne Nossel writes, “the United Nations remains the closest thing to a system of global governance that the world has ever known and may ever achieve,” much is owed to its unique convening capacity in bringing together erstwhile adversaries, even combatants, to a shared sense of participatory purpose which, at its finest, is reflected in the unanimity of resolutions consciously conceived in common cause.

: UN Bureau; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 20 April 2021

Photo: Catholics, Buddhists and Muslims hold silent protest to demand the truth about the Easter Sunday massacre. Credit: SL Time, Colombo Page News Desk.

Two Years On: Geopolitics of The 2019 Easter Sunday Crime in Sri Lanka and Cover-Up

The Weaponization of Religion Amid Hybrid Cold War in The Indian Ocean Region

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake

The writer is a cultural and medical anthropologist with research expertise in international political economy, peace, and development studies in South and South-East Asia. Her research spans issues in gender and women’s empowerment, migration and multiculturalism, ethno-religious identity politics, new and old Diasporas and global religion, particularly, transnational Theravada Buddhist networks in the Asia-Pacific region. Darini was a Senior Lecturer at the Open University of Sri Lanka. Her Bachelor’s degree is from Brandeis University and her MA and PhD are from Princeton University.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 April 2021

Photo: A Security Council meeting in progress. Credit: United Nations. Credit: UN

Did US Spies Read Russian Lips in the UN Security Council Chamber?

The following excerpts are from a newly-released, 220-page book titled “No Comment – and Don’t Quote me on That”, a rich collection of political anecdotes, both serious and hilarious, reflecting over 40 years of reporting from the United Nations*

By Thalif Deen

UNITED NATIONS, (IDN) — The United Nations, along with the 193 diplomatic missions located in New York, have long been veritable battlegrounds for spying, wire-tapping and electronic surveillance.

: Thalif Deen; OPINION; 13 April 2021

Image: Ushering in the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Source: UNCTAD.

Nepal Is Closely Following the Fourth Industrial Revolution Under Way

Viewpoint by Manish Uprety F.R.A.S. and Jainendra Karn*

KATHMANDU (IDN) — In December 2020, Dr. Leonel Fernández Reyna, former president of the Dominican Republic and President of Fundación Global Democracia y Desarrollo, presented his vision about “The global and regional challenges of the 4.0 world,” where he highlighted the need to facilitate access to technology for all citizens.

His observations are a clarion call to the international community as the world stands on the precipice of a great tectonic shift caused by the Fourth Industrial Revolution currently underway.

: Opinion Editor; SUSTAINABILITY; Sustainable Industrialisation; 08 April 2021

Photo: Sri Lanka Sinharaja Forest Preserve. CC BY-SA 2.0

‘Human Rights’ and Ecological Crisis in Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Dr Asoka Bandarage

The writer, a scholar and practitioner, has taught at Yale, Brandeis, Mount Holyoke (where she received tenure), Georgetown, American and other universities and colleges in the U.S. and abroad

COLOMBO (IDN) — The recent UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) resolution A/HRC/46/L.1/Rev.1 of March 16 has brought extensive charges against Sri Lanka over alleged human rights violations but is arguably seriously flawed.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 03 April 2021

Photo: Zhang Dezhen, a staff member at the Shanghai Fengxian Converter Station, patrols the power converter area. Credit: Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone.

China's Growing Network of Ultra-High Voltage Power Lines Has Hit Its Fair Share of Snags — Part Two

Please click here for Part One of this article.

By Ye Ruolin and Yuan Ye *

SHANGHAI (IDN | China Dialogue) — The Hunanese experience and other cases demonstrate how this vision may prove difficult to realise. The Baihetan dam, currently under construction on the Jinsha River straddling the border of Sichuan and Yunnan provinces, is set to become the world’s second-largest hydropower station after the Three Gorges Dam once it is fully completed in 2022.

From its inception, it was meant to connect to two UHV lines that would send power to Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces on China’s eastern coast. The project has been delayed, however, due to a conflict over who owns its electricity.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 April 2021

Photo: Power lines at Shanghai Fengxian Converter Station in January 2021 Credit: Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone.Photo: Power lines at Shanghai Fengxian Converter Station in January 2021 Credit: Wu Huiyuan/Sixth Tone.

China's Growing Network of Ultra-High Voltage Power Lines Has Hit Its Fair Share of Snags — Part One

By Ye Ruolin and Yuan Ye *

SHANGHAI (IDN | China Dialogue) — With few coal reserves to call its own and winter rains too erratic to rely on hydropower, central China’s Hunan province had long faced frequent electricity blackouts, an annoyance to residents and a hindrance to economic growth. So, when an ultra-high voltage power line was approved in 2015, hopes were high.

The new Ultra-High Voltage (UHV) connection would run all the way from the energy-rich Jiuquan region in northwestern Gansu province, and bring in enough coal, wind, and solar power to answer a quarter of Hunan’s energy needs.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 02 April 2021

COVID-19 Bares Chronic Development Fault Lines in Asia-Pacific

Viewpoint by Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana

The writer is United Nations-Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) — The world is emerging from the biggest social and economic shock in living memory, but it will be a long time before the deep scars of the COVID-19 pandemic on human well-being fully heal.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 30 March 2021

Photo credit: China Global Television Network, or CGTN.

Internal Conflict Over Carbon Neutral China by 2060

Viewpoint by Alexander Kallweit

Last year, President Xi Jinping announced ambitious climate targets. But China's reluctant state apparatus struggles to reconcile high growth and climate policy, writes Dr Alexander Kallweit, who heads the office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in Beijing. Previously, he led the foundation's International Dialogue Department in Berlin. This article first appeared in the International Politics & Society Journal.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 30 March 2021

Photo: Tibet President Lobsang Sangay in Vienna, Austria, in 2012. CC BY-SA 3.0

The World Must Stand with Tibet

Viewpoint by Lobsang Sangay

The author is President of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, called as Central Tibetan Administration.

DARJEELING, India (IDN) — Tibet, famously called the roof of the world, a state in the Himalayas neighbored by India and China has for long been in a state of the tussle with Beijing. China lays the claim over the entire Tibet and calls it its own territory; however, Tibet has always strived for an independent existence. This is among the many conflicts currently brewing in South Asia, probably the worse as far as the power imbalance is concerned.