Author: Tess Newton Cain, Griffith Asia Institute
In the Pacific islands region, the COVID-19 story is one of contrasts. There have been few confirmed cases of infection. Many Pacific island countries are COVID-19-free thanks to the swift and decisive actions of governments in closing borders early and keeping them firmly shut. But the danger is not over yet so there is no room for complacency. Significant risk factors are still present in Pacific island countries, including a prevalence of chronic disease and weak healthcare systems despite recent international efforts to provide support by way of funding and equipment.
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Author: Shivkrit Rai, Delhi High Court
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, two incidents highlighted the fault lines in India’s healthcare system. In 2017, over 60 children died due to lack of oxygen cylinders amid an encephalitis outbreak in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh. In 2019, a similar incident occurred in Muzaffarpur. Reports suggested that the outbreak could have been prevented if Uttar Pradesh state authorities had taken adequate measures. Read more…
Author: Juzhong Zhuang, ADB
A public health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic destroys economic growth and pushes millions into poverty. Without policy interventions, it will also worsen income inequality.
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Author: Kimkong Heng, University of Queensland
Unlike Europe, North America and recently Russia, Southeast Asia does not seem to have been hit as hard by the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of total deaths and confirmed cases. Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia are the worst affected countries in the region, but Vietnam, Cambodia and previously Singapore, have managed to contain the spread of COVID-19.
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Author: Jeffrey Robertson, ANU
Contemporary understanding of middle-power diplomacy is tied to a bygone era. Behavioural characteristics like activist diplomacy, coalition building, niche diplomacy and good international citizenship, which underpin norm entrepreneurship, always ultimately relied upon the support of the dominant power. That era may be over, and hopes of a revival rest on the illusion of a middle-power moment. So, what happens to middle powers after the middle-power moment?
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Author: Christopher M Dent, Edge Hill University
History shows that the deepest economic and social changes occur in the aftermath of major crises, catastrophes or conflicts. They have catalytic, disruptive effects on existing orders, creating new realities and different ways of thinking about the future. East Asia is now in an important phase of its history.
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Author: Vo Xuan Vinh and Chu Duc Manh, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City
State-owned enterprises were viewed as a dominant contributor to the development of Vietnam’s economy. But because the state sector is inefficient, and Vietnam is increasingly integrating internationally, the private sector is growing. Over 100,000 new private enterprises have registered under the new Law on Enterprises, promulgated in 2000 as the government’s first attempt to boost private sector development. Read more…
Authors: Peter Drysdale, ANU and Chatib Basri, University of Indonesia
As the world contemplates the savage impact of the COVID-19 virus on the global economy, there’s need to seize initiative in global cooperation to escape the slump caused by the health lockdown. International economic cooperation will be vital to managing the crisis and to supporting the recovery through trade, stabilising markets, faster reopening of business supply chains and international travel. Without it, the world is facing a prolonged health crisis and lasting economic stagnation on a scale not seen since the Great Depression.
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Authors: Fatimah Abolanle Odusote, Kiat Wah Ng, Lida No and Alfred M Wu, Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy
How developing countries handle the headwinds of COVID-19 will have substantial implications for the global joint effort to fight the virus and boost post-COVID-19 recovery. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), South America has now become a COVID-19 epicentre, raising more questions around how the developing world can endure the attack of COVID-19. Read more…
Author: Paola Subacchi, Queen Mary University of London and University of Bologna
Even before the outbreak of COVID-19, the level of global debt was high by historic standards. According to the Institute of International Finance, by late 2019 global debt (including private and public debt) was more than US$250 trillion. Public debt, in particular, has increased everywhere since the global financial crisis of 2008.
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Author: Kerry Brown, King’s College London
China’s convening of its annual parliament, the National People’s Congress (NPC), delayed due to COVID-19, finally took place from 22 to 28 May. It delivered predictably mixed messages. On the economic front, the tone was almost conciliatory and focussed on the tried and tested message of delivering growth, opening up to the world and regaining the momentum of reform. On the political front, however, the message on Hong Kong showed a totally different aspect. Read more…
Author: Nobuaki Hamaguchi, Kobe University
The United States and Europe tend to associate South America with Amazon rainforest burning, pink-tide leftist ideology, drug trafficking, corruption and illegal migration. These issues oppose their values of justice, social stability and global order. For China, whose 2016 Policy Paper on Latin America and the Caribbean states a position of ‘non-interference in each other’s internal affairs’, these are not of concern.
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Authors: Lex Rieffel, Stimson Center and Michael Castle-Miller, Politas Consulting
Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s announcement last August that a new capital would be built in East Kalimantan has been widely met with scepticism. While this scepticism is warranted, some of the project’s potential upsides are being overlooked by both outsiders and the government. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, ANU
The global economy has taken a huge hit as the world’s major economies shut down activity in turn to fight the spread of COVID-19. The GDP of China, Australia’s largest trading partner, dropped 6.8 per cent in the first quarter this year. Its total trade fell 6.4 per cent (exports 11.4 and imports 0.7 per cent). In that period, Japan’s GDP dropped 3.4 per cent and the United States’ fell 4.8 per cent. The crisis hit China first and hard. Read more…
Authors: Jason Q Nguyen and Quan V Le, Vin University
With a supply chain that over relies on only a few key partners, Vietnam’s textile and garment industry is among the country’s hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more…
