Author: David Camroux, Sciences Po (CERI)
Madeleine Albright, one of several scholar–statespersons the unique American spoils system used to produce as secretary of state, characterised the United States as ‘the indispensable power’. In relation to East Asia today, that description seems no longer salient. In this vein, perhaps thirty years from now we will look back on US President Donald Trump’s first official visit to East Asia as the moment when the United States abandoned a superpower role in Asia and grudgingly accepted that hegemonic power in the region would be shared with China. Read more…
Author: TJ Pempel, University of California, Berkeley
In the twelve months since the 2016 elections, the United States has undergone an unrelenting series of attacks on its constitutional provisions, its regulatory regime, its democratic procedures and its social cohesion. US President Donald Trump has been the knife-edge of these assaults. Read more…
Author: Damien Kingsbury, Deakin University
A year that started so well for Timor-Leste has ended badly. The country is in a constitutional crisis, its minority government had refused to reconvene the Parliament and there is the prospect of another round of elections in 2018. Read more…
Author: Helen E S Nesadurai, Monash University Malaysia
Palm oil has gained notoriety for its links to tropical deforestation, biodiversity loss, greenhouse gas emissions, disturbance of carbon-rich peat land, exploitation of workers and land grabs. Despite various non-governmental organisation (NGO) campaigns against palm oil since 1997, its principal producers and exporters (Malaysia and Indonesia) had previously been reluctant to do more to regulate its production. Read more…
Author: Kalvin Fung, Waseda University
After more than six years of negotiations (including a failed attempt to become part of the ASEAN–China free trade agreement) Hong Kong has finally signed the long-awaited ASEAN–Hong Kong free trade agreement (AHKFTA). Read more…
Author: Sujeev Shakya, Nepal Economic Forum
The completion of federal and provincial elections in December 2017 marks the end of an almost 12-year political transition and the beginning of a new economic future for Nepal. Read more…
Author: Christopher Findlay, University of Adelaide
It has not been an easy year for Australia or the Asia Pacific and many of the challenges the region has faced will continue over into 2018.
The first is to find new sources of growth. Read more…
Author: Farooq Yousaf, University of Newcastle
Pakistan’s 2017 was a mixed bag. Unlike what the ruling party had expected, the country’s opposition parties and electronic media were still clinging on to the Panama leaks issue that started in 2016 and were still asking former Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif to resign. The year also saw a stark decline of trust between the civilian leadership and the Pakistani military establishment. Read more…
Author: Hwa Ryung Lee, Korea Development Institute
While every year has its challenges, 2017 was no ordinary year for South Korea. In the aftermath of former president Park Geun-hye’s impeachment, a presidential election was held in May 2017 — much earlier than originally planned. This election saw the key economic priorities of the former government (deregulation and innovation) give way to a new regime focused on values of fairness and mutual prosperity. Read more…
Author: Stephen Levine, Victoria University of Wellington
In September 2017, the New Zealand National Party lost office after being in power for nine years. It was unable to secure a parliamentary majority after two of its coalition partners failed to return to Parliament and a third, ACT New Zealand, retained only its one seat. Read more…
Author: Bec Strating, La Trobe University
Timor-Leste ends 2017 with great uncertainty over the future of the Greater Sunrise gas field, over the stability of its government and over its ambitions to become a member of ASEAN.
In the long-running Timor Sea dispute between Australia and Timor-Leste, the year started with a bombshell. Read more…
Author: Ashley South, CMU
In October 2015, during the last months of Thein Sein’s military-backed regime, the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement (NCA) was signed between the government, the Myanmar armed forces (Tatmadaw) and eight of the country’s 21 main ethnic-armed organisations (EAOs). EAOs are militias recruited from the local population from different parts of Myanmar, some of which are aligned with the government. Read more…
Author: Editorial Board, East Asia Forum
The Japanese economy slumped into a lost decade of growth after the spectacular asset bubble burst in 1991. In the decade that followed, growth was even slower at less than 1 per cent a year on average. Japan hasn’t yet broken free of its economic malaise, and is well on the way to its third lost decade. But how does that square with a Japan that still appears prosperous, safe, clean and whose people live the longest in the world? Read more…
Author: Masahiko Takeda, Hitotsubashi University
The Japanese economy is in very good shape. Japan is experiencing its second-longest period of continuous economic upswing since the end of World War II and many expect this to continue to become the longest in the country’s post-war history. Read more…
Author: Anil Sigdel, Nepal Matters for America
The Himalayan nation of Nepal, which has been mired in violence and political chaos for two decades, has taken a great leap forward with the peaceful conclusion of multi-phased federal elections on 7 December 2017 after an 11-year transition period. Read more…
