Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Andrew Carr, ANU
To be a middle power requires a modest disbelief in power. These states take their medium-sized resources and direct them towards big objectives. This may be reactive, searching for self-preservation in the face of a hostile larger power. It might also be proactive, trying to shape institutions and norms to build a more hospitable environment. Read more…
Authors: Elizabeth Thurbon, UNSW and Linda Weiss, Sydney University
Stark differences are emerging in how national authorities in advanced democracies are grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic. Compare the strategic responses of Denmark, Taiwan, and South Korea with the more faltering actions of the United States, Italy and Spain. Read more…
Author: Stephen Olson, Hinrich Foundation
The coronavirus pandemic has called into question several assumptions which have underpinned global trade for decades. By the time the dust settles, the world’s approach to trade could look quite different. Read more…
Author: Deepanshu Mohan, OP Jindal Global University
While the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the global economy is more dramatic than any other shock in recent history, the consequences of the virus for the geopolitical order could be even more consequential. A radical shift in the global political economy may be imminent in the post-COVID-19 world. Read more…
Author: Ye Yu, Shanghai Institutes for International Studies
COVID-19 is still raging around the planet without any signs of retreat. Worryingly, despite the belated commitment of G20 and G7 leaders to act together, in reality every country is still only looking out for itself. Europe’s union is fractured now that it has been an epicentre of the epidemic and the embattled relationship between China and the United States has been further poisoned by COVID-19. Read more…
Authors: Heather Smith, Canberra and Allan Gyngell, ANU
In 1941, even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbour, Paul Hasluck, then a public servant and later an Australian Liberal Party foreign minister, recommended the establishment in the Australian Department of External Affairs of a Post-Hostilities Section. Read more…
Authors: Alex Rouse and Adam Triggs, ANU
The COVID-19 pandemic is a test for the multilateral system — one that could not have come at a worse time. The multilateral system is vital to keep supply chains open, allow medical supplies to flow freely, resist trade protectionism, deal with the international economic and financial repercussions and coordinate financial assistance to countries in need.
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
The Wuhan lockdown has now been lifted and the Chinese government’s new challenge is to restart its economy while guarding against a second wave of infections. It took 40 days from the peak of the health crisis until its containment. Restoring economic growth will take at least 40 days, even if everything goes more or less right.
Authors: Jeffrey J Schott, Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Euijin Jung, PIIE
The G20 record on trade is spotty and ineffectual — commitments to resist protectionism and strengthen world trading rules are regularly issued but almost never implemented. Since 2017, even the facade of cooperation has faded as US officials refuse to accept commitments without caveats that accommodate US restrictions on trade and investment.
Authors: Alan S Alexandroff, University of Toronto, Colin Bradford, Brookings and Yves Tiberghien, UBC
The COVID-19 pandemic is the latest and most dramatic manifestation of globalisation impacting people around the world. While the pandemic calls for global collective action, leading states and global institutions don’t appear prepared to come together and act decisively.
Author: Editorial Board, ANU
A US$1 trillion increase in the IMF’s crisis-fighting war chest, US$5 trillion in coordinated fiscal stimulus, US$250 billion to support trade finance, US$100 billion of additional lending by the multilateral development banks, the creation of new international institutions and reforms to existing ones, a commitment to reform global finance and a pledge not to impose any trade protectionist measures.
Author: Allan Gyngell, ANU
COVID-19 has done more to close borders, reverse globalisation, decouple supply chains and marginalise multilateral institutions than the most fervent efforts of the world’s populist nationalists.
Author: Gary Clyde Hufbauer and Euijin Jung, PIIE
Globalisation was under threat even before the pandemic. US President Donald Trump set the tone by declaring himself ‘tariff man’, imposing bogus ‘national security’ tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from allies while launching a trade war with China and eviscerating the WTO Appellate Body. But Trump was not alone in attacking the global trading system.
Author: Kazuhiko Togo, Kyoto Sangyo University
The Osaka G20 summit was an opportunity for Japan to demonstrate its leadership to the world. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe successfully navigated competing interests and tension at the summit, achieving fragile compromises between states. But this may not be enough to contain the rivalry among major global powers. Read more…
Authors: Ligang Song, ANU, Yixiao Zhou, ANU, and Luke Hurst, Asialink Business
The highly publicised meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the recent G20 Osaka summit signals a temporary truce in the trade war between the world’s two largest economies. While the return of China and the United States to the negotiating table may give international markets some breathing space, big questions about global growth remain. Read more…
