Asia-Pacific

Photo: Sri Lanka police withdrew the stay-home order issued on July 8. Source: ndtv

The Elephant in the Room: Geopolitics and the 'Great Reset' in Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake*

“But to watch cricket, there has to be a country left for us to watch it in, no?” A fan at the Galle Test Match that ended with an innings victory for Sri Lanka. July 11, 2022.

COLOMBO (IDN) — Spirits were high on July 11 when the Sri Lankan cricket team beat the visiting Aussies by an innings even though the country was in its worst economic crisis ever due to a lack of Dollars to buy fuel caused by an International Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Staged Default.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 21 July 2022

Photo: Antan0, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Sri Lanka Faces Uncertain Future Amid Unmitigated 'People Power'

Viewpoint by Alan Keenan

Alan Keenan is Senior Consultant, Sri Lanka, at the International Crisis Group.

LONDON (IDN) — In a stunning display of “people power”, massive crowds overcame large deployments of police and soldiers and other obstacles to storm the official residence and offices of Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in Colombo on July 9, leading the former to flee the country and both to agree to resign.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 20 July 2022

“Weaponizing Trade” Has Gained New Impetus and Focus

This article was issued by COUNTERCURRENTS and is being republished courtesy of them.

Viewpoint by Anis Chowdhury*

SYDNEY (IDN) — “Weaponising trade”, i.e., using trade as a tool of foreign policy aspirations and marginalising rivals instead of as an opportunity for economic growth, is not new.

It is well known that “the United States bears a good share of responsibility” for increasingly weaponising trade among most countries. The US and its allies have used trade embargoes, and sanctions against countries, such as Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela, and recently against Russia, that have been/are deemed ‘unfriendly’ to them.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 18 July 2022

Image: File picture of UNHCR where Sri Lanka has been censured many times.

Something Is Rotten in the State of Sri Lanka

Viewpoint by Asoka N.I. Ekanayaka

Prof. Asoka N.I. Ekanayaka is an Emeritus Professor of Community Dentistry and former Dean of the Faculty of Dental Science University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka.

COLOMBO (IDN) — This article is not primarily about the woeful record of the present government. Nor is it about the abomination of governance by a family oligarchy in whose stranglehold a nation groans in every part as if being slowly crushed by the constricting coils of some giant Anaconda.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 17 July 2022

Image: Sri Lanka protestors storming presidential palace. Source: Hurriyet Daily News

Lessons to be Learnt from Sri Lankan Crisis

Viewpoint by Dr Ram Puniyani

This article is the 22nd in a series of joint productions of South Asian Outlook and IDN-InDepthNews, the flagship of the International Press Syndicate. The writer is a former professor of biomedical engineering and former senior medical officer affiliated with the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (now Mumbai) and, meanwhile, a social activist and commentator.

: Asia Editor; OPINION; 15 July 2022

Photo: File photo dated 01 July 1997 shows a Chinese soldier (2nd L) holding the national flag prior to its raising as the British military march at right during the handover ceremony at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, marking the end of 156 years of British colonial rule over the territory. Credit: Paul Lakatos/AFP.

Hong Kong: China Never Expected the British to Capitulate So Easily

Viewpoint by Jonathan Power

LUND, Sweden (IDN) — The British emissary to Hong Kong who seriously misread the situation got recalled to London by fast clipper and reposted as consul-general to Texas.

Charles Elliot became unstuck because, as Queen Victoria put it, "all we wanted might have been obtained if it had not been for the unaccountably strange conduct of Charles Elliot. He tried to obtain the lowest terms from the Chinese."

: Jonathan Power; OPINION; 12 July 2022

Dark Clouds Over North Korea

Viewpoint by Herbert Wulf

This article was issued by the Toda Peace Institute and is being republished with their permission.

BONN (IDN) — In the shadow of the Ukraine war and far from international attention, three problematic developments can be observed in North Korea: COVID-19 infections are a cause for concern, the election of the South Korean president signals a hardening of the fronts and, encouraged by Russia's war in Ukraine, Kim Jong-un’s government continues to focus on the expansion of its nuclear capabilities. This gives rise to fears of nuclear proliferation in Asia.

: Opinion Editor; OPINION; 12 July 2022

Photo: Beautiful morning view of Padma Bridge under construction, in a November Morning. CC BY-SA 4.0

Bangladesh’s New Mega-Infrastructure to Impact Ruling Party’s Popularity

By Bahauddin Foizee

DHAKA (IDN) — A historic infrastructure milestone for Bangladesh and now the longest bridge of the country, the newly-built Padma Multipurpose Bridge would now help grow Bangladesh’s GDP by 1.3% annually.

The US$ 3.86 billion worth mega-infrastructure was inaugurated on June 25 and is forecast to increase jobs, service sector activity and tourism in the country’s southwestern districts, connectivity to which was poor even a day before the opening of this bridge.

: Asia Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 09 July 2022

Photo: Sri Lanka in crisis. Source: Daily Times

Sri Lanka Needs a Balanced Economic and Foreign Policy

Viewpoint by Darini Rajasingham-Senanayake *

COLOMBO (IDN) — A shortage of exorbitantly privileged American Dollars, the global reserve fiat currency, which is not backed by gold, silver, oil or drugs, is the purported reason for Sri Lanka's compounding crisis and the international media narrative of 'famine' in the country.

The financial crisis that has brought the strategic Indian Ocean Island nation to a standstill, which coincidentally stymies protests, originated with an International Sovereign Bond (ISB), debt trap and Default in April this year.

: Opinion Editor; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 July 2022

Photo: Anthony Albanese being sworn in as prime minister by Governor-General David Hurley, Governor-General of Australia. CC BY 3.0

Australian PM Slated for Secret Ukraine Visit Amid Floods Back Home

By Kalinga Seneviratne

SYDNEY (IDN) — Australia's new Labour Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, has been criticised on Twitter and some media for secretly making a trip to Ukraine to meet Volodymyr Zelensky and pledge $100 million of military aid. At the same time, thousands of families across Australia were being evacuated from rising flood waters, with emergency services seemingly underfunded. Some families have evacuated their homes for the second or third time this year.