Asia-Pacific

Photo credit: Cover image of the study 'Ready for the Dry Years: Building Resilience to Drought in South-East Asia'.

Drought Looms for South-East Asia

By Sean Buchanan

LONDON (IDN) – South-East Asia is expected to experience a future of many dry years and the hardest hit will be the poor, especially farming communities that rely on regular rainfall for their annual crops and have few resources to fall back on during periods of rain shortfall.

This is the prospect for the region outlined in a just-released study by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) entitled Ready for the Dry Years: Building Resilience to Drought in South-East Asia.

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 25 April 2019

Photo: North Korea's Kim Jong Un has photo session with newly-elected members of Party and State leadership bodies. Credit: KCNA.

North Korea Stays in Focus Amid Talk About Next Summits

By Kelsey Davenport and Alicia Sanders-Zakre*

WASHINGTON, D.C. (IDN-INPS) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump have both said they are willing to meet for a third summit but are looking for certain conditions to be met ahead of any meeting. Kim said the United States must be more flexible and Trump is looking for North Korea to demonstrate its willingness to give up nuclear weapons.

U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton said in an April 17 interview with Bloomberg that Washington is looking for a “real indication from North Korea that they’ve made the strategic decision to give up nuclear weapons.”

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; ARMAMENTS; Nuclear Weapons; 19 April 2019

Photo: IDN-INPS collage of pictures by from Commonwealth Secretariat. Left: Aelan Ltd hires local women from the next village to make organic products. Right: Adding value to coconut. Bottom: Vanuatu Deputy Prime Minister Bob Loughman wants the country to focus on value addition and moving up global value chains.

Ensuring the Future of Coconut, the 'Tree of Life'

By Josephine Latu-Sanft

For the eminent American actor and director Dustin Hoffman sunshine and coconut milk are "the two basic items necessary to sustain life". The German playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht compared love to a coconut "which is good while it is fresh". In the Pacific, coconut is king, writes Josephine Latu-Sanft.

LONDON | PORT VILA (IDN) – Known as the ‘tree of life’, locals make use of every part of the tree to survive – the fruit for eating, husks for fuelling fires, fronds for making multiuse baskets, and the trunk for building houses.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 18 April 2019

Photo: Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s record on the economy compares unfavourably with his predecessor Dr.Manmohan Singh government’s growth, which for one year hit 10 percent and for a number of years was over 8 percent. Source: Press Information Bureau on behalf of Prime Minister's Office, Government of India.

Vibrant Democracy Is India's Trump Card against China

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – Conversation with Manmohan Singh was always fascinating at the time he was prime minister of India. It was difficult to challenge his superior intellect. He could, in his calm, disciplined way, out-argue anyone. He saw where India was going with a degree of exactness that dwarfed other observers. On the economic front it was, for his Congress Party government, all about ending poverty which he thought doable, although achieving a fairer income distribution was much more difficult.

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 16 April 2019

India Between Democracy and Religious Nationalism

By Milan Vaishnav

The following are extensive excerpts from the Executive Summary of a study on 'The BJP in Power: Indian Democracy and Religious Nationalism' published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.The views represented herein are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie, its staff, or its trustees. The article refers to the general elections under way in India, the country’s seventeenth held since independence in 1947. Nearly 900 million Indians are eligible to cast their ballots. – The Editor

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 14 April 2019

Photo: PNG Minister Maru presents a gift to ACP Secretary-Genral Dr. Gomes during their bilateral Meeting in N’Djamena, Chad.

The Pacific Reaffirms Commitment to the ACP Group of States

By ACP Press

BRUSSELS (ACP-IDN) – Minister for National Planning and Monitoring of Papua New Guinea, Richard Maru, has assured the African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) Group that Papua New Guinea will continue to play an active role in the affairs of the ACP Group of States.

Minister Maru met the ACP Secretary General, Dr. Patrick Gomes, at the margins of the ACP-EU Ministerial Meeting in N’Djamena, Capital of the Republic of Chad, Central Africa, on April 3 where they discussed, among other things, Papua New Guinea’s role in the current ACP-EU post-Cotonou negotiations.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; GLOBAL GOVERNANCE; ACP Group of States; 08 April 2019

Photo: New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern visits members of the Muslim community at the Phillipstown Community Centre, 16 March 2019 less than 24 hours after a terror attack to two mosques left 50 people dead and dozens seriously injured in Christchurch. Credit: Kirk Hargreaves/Christchurch city council.

Terrorism Comes Unannounced to Laid Back New Zealand

By Dr Palitha Kohona

The writer, former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations, and former Foreign Secretary, returned recently from a visit to New Zealand.

COLOMBO (IDN) – White extremism and terrorism may appear to be uncoordinated and spontaneous. It certainly lacks the 'viciousness incarnate' tag conferred by the media and certain commentators when referring to Islamic terrorism associated with the brands of Al Qaeda, Hezbollah or ISIS or to Tamil terrorism in the form of the LTTE.

: Dr. Palitha Kohona; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 06 April 2019

Photo: Participants in the April 1-3 meeting in Apia. Credit: SPREP

15 Pacific States Build Resilience to Climate Change

By Reinhard Jacobsen

BRUSSELS | APIA, Samoa (ACP-IDN) – Leaders of the Pacific Island Forum, the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation, have repeatedly identified climate change as the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and well-being of the peoples of the Pacific. A three-day meeting, concluded on April 3 in Apia, Samoa, marked a major milestone in helping to build Pacific island resilience to this threat with the start of a EUR 12 million project spanning 15 countries.

: Reinhard Jacobsen; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 04 April 2019

Photo: ESCAP Executive Secretary Dr. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana. Credit: ESCAP

New Study Asks Asia-Pacific to Raise Ambitions Beyond Mere Economic Growth

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 the Pacific (ESCAP).

BANGKOK (IDN) – Three years of implementation of the transformative 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific shows the region has some catching up to do.

Despite much progress, the region is not on track to reach the 17 Sustainable Development Goals set out in the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

: IDN-INPS UN Bureau; OPINION; 04 April 2019

Image: Map – China’s military base on the Chinese-Afghan-Tajik frontier. Credit: Centre for Eastern Studies.

China Thwarts India’s Central Asian Ambitions

By Micha’el Tanchum*

TEL AVIV (IDN-INPS) – A recent investigation revealed that Chinese troops are stationed on Tajikistan’s south-eastern border, 30 kilometres from Pakistan-administered Kashmir across Afghanistan’s Wakhan corridor. India has unsuccessfully sought to establish its own military base in Tajikistan for over 15 years. The discovery of Chinese troops constitutes a severe setback to New Delhi’s Central Asian ambitions.

Soldiers from the base reportedly wear the insignia of the Xinjiang units of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).