Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the PacificAuthor: David Dollar, Brookings Institution
The notion of a ‘middle-income trap’ has entered the lexicon of policymakers in emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere. Many leaders of countries that have experienced fast growth — such as Chinese Premier Li Keqiang — worry that economic growth will come off the boil as their countries reach middle-income status. Read more…
Authors: Vikas Kumar, Azim Premji University; and Ankush Agrawal, IIT
The growing clamour for evidence-based policymaking in India has increased the importance of data quality. Unfortunately, government statistics for marginalised communities, such as tribes, are often unreliable. Read more…
Author: Pradumna Bickram Rana, RSIS
After the 25 April 2015 earthquake, and the massive aftershock on 12 May, Nepal is entering the second phase of its recovery and reconstruction. Losses are still being tallied, so it is not yet possible to detail a complete list of the required long-term policies and strategies. But if the country’s governance were to improve and appropriate policies were adopted, a stronger and more picturesque Nepal could emerge from the crisis. Read more…
Author: Heikki Oksanen, University of Helsinki
The Peoples’ Bank of China (PBoC) has maintained a close relationship between the renminbi (RMB) and the US dollar since the RMB was first pegged in 1994. Twenty years on, after the PBoC has made the RMB somewhat more flexible, pegging it to a genuine broad trade-weighted basket would promote stability for China and its trading partners. Read more…
Author: Narushige Michishita, GRIPS
Japan’s most important foreign policy goal is to create an environment under which China’s rise will be peaceful and cooperative. In strategic terms, maintaining the balance of power in the region and creating crisis prevention and management mechanisms are the most effective means of achieving this policy goal. Read more…
Author: Rajiv Kumar, CPR
There is no doubt that Modi works hard and drives his government at a similar hectic pace. Midnight oil is burnt regularly in the Prime Minister’s Office, which now resembles an omnipotent and omnipresent command station. Read more…
Authors: Ihsan Ali-Fauzi, Paramadina University, and Ben Hillman, ANU
During the past decade attacks on religious minorities have cast a shadow over Indonesia’s reputation as a tolerant and moderate Muslim-majority nation. Across the archipelago Christian, Buddhist, Ahmadi and Shi’ite communities have been exposed to increasing levels of discrimination, harassment, intimidation and violence, largely at the hands of Sunni hardliners. Read more…
Author: Adam P. MacDonald, Halifax
A number of major issues threaten to degrade, if not entirely disrupt, Myanmar’s elections scheduled for November. These issues include ongoing fighting between the military and various armed ethnic armies, violent social and religious tensions between Buddhists and Muslims, and the lethargic pace of constitutional reforms. Read more…
Authors: James Laurenceson and Hannah Bretherton, ACRI
What does China’s rise as a major power mean for Australia? The answer depends on who you ask.
In March 2015 the Sydney Morning Herald’s International Editor, Peter Hartcher, described China as a fascist state that bullies its own citizens and neighbouring countries alike. That about sums up the ‘China threat’ view. Read more…
Author: Melissa Crouch, UNSW
Constitutional reform is an important part of Myanmar’s transition from military rule. Although widespread political reforms have been enacted since 2011, these have not yet been accompanied by constitutional change. The next few months will determine whether constitutional amendment will take place before the elections scheduled in November. This will affect the very legitimacy of the election itself. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International
Over the past six years, unilateral and escalatory actions by claimants to territories in the South China Sea have exacerbated tensions in the region.
China has not been the precipitator of the tensions in these waters — whether it be in initiating resource exploration activities in disputed areas, introducing military vessels to enforce jurisdictional claims, or conducting land reclamation work in the adjoining waters. Read more…
Author: Jerome A. Cohen, NYU
Seldom has the death of a great Asian leader commanded as much appreciation in the West as the passing of Lee Kuan Yew. The mind numbs at the number of well-earned tributes to the man who led Singapore to become a successful and influential nation-state. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, East Asia Forum
Recent talk that would encourage government messing with Australian iron ore markets sits awkwardly in the context of the core strategic importance of raw materials in Australia’s economic relationships with Asia, both sides round. Read more…
Author: Luke Hurst, ANU
As Australia moves away from a decade of resource-driven prosperity, it is even more important that it avoid mistakes that previously might have been papered over by the boom times. Yet there are loud voices calling for the mistakes of the past to be made again. One of the loudest is that of Australian mining company Fortescue’s non-executive chairman, Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest. Read more…
Author: Annmarie Elijah, Hazel Moir and Andrew Willcocks, ANU
Australian federal government policymakers need to have broader and more robust consultations with business, consumers and state governments when it comes to trade treaties. As an open economy that is heavily dependent on trade for its wellbeing, it is important for Australia to get trade and economic integration right. Read more…
