China’s “Asian way” is an all-embracing idea and a coded language to discredit other countries’ actions that are deemed harmful to China’s strategic interests.
Category Archives: Commentaries
Promoting Inclusive Growth with Digital Identification in ASEAN
Digital identification could be a silver bullet to increase tax revenues for ASEAN governments while pulling the region’s poorest out of poverty by redistributing wealth.
Offered but Not Taken: Why Are Businesses Not Using Government Support?
Time and again, surveys show that SME owner-operators prefer to get their information from peers, friends, family and local business organisations. This is followed by third-party professional advisers. Governments usually come last.
Frugal Innovations: New Delhi’s Soft Power Potential in ASEAN
India has the opportunity to boost its soft power in ASEAN, including by promoting and sharing its lauded ‘frugal innovations’ to help low-income Southeast Asians to improve their lives.
Content Moderation of Social Media in Southeast Asia: Contestations and Control
There is an increasing need for content moderation on social media, which puts pressure on regional governments and tech companies to reach new understandings about mediating online content to serve the political and social good.
Shinzo Abe’s Legacy: The Centrality of Southeast Asia
Shinzo Abe learned that Japan’s security did not lie in its military, but Japan’s good citizenship in a free-trading rules-based order. Southeast Asia was central to his pursuit of a free and open Indo-Pacific.
The U.S.-China Strategic Competition in the Pacific: Something ASEAN Needs to Watch
Beijing’s recent moves to establish security cooperation with Pacific Island states have riled the U.S. and Australia. ASEAN needs to watch the ongoing great power competition there closely to draw lessons for its own security.
Anies Baswedan: Potential Kingmaker in Indonesia’s 2024 Presidential Race?
The race for Indonesia’s 2024 presidential elections remains wide open. Among the top three contenders, Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan is the one with the most options. If he does not make a run for the nation’s top job himself, he is well-placed to become a kingmaker.
No Room at the Inn? ASEAN Should Not Delay Timor-Leste’s Membership
Timor-Leste hopes to become a fully-fledged ASEAN member in 2023 when Indonesia takes over as ASEAN Chair. The regional grouping should allow its admission, even if embracing this newest member, the most democratic in the region by some measures, might prove to be uncomfortable.
India-ASEAN Relations: The Need to Reconsider RCEP
There was no mention of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership when the foreign ministers of India and ASEAN met in New Delhi last month. India opted out of RCEP negotiations in 2019. New Delhi might want to reconsider its position.