COMMENTARIES

14 Jul 2025

Caught in the Crossfire: Vietnam and the Chinese Transshipment Dilemma

Le Hong Hiep

Vietnam is caught in the middle as the US seeks to clamp down on China using it as a backdoor into the American market.

14 Jul 2025

Myanmar’s Opposition to Timor-Leste’s ASEAN Membership

Max Lane

ASEAN faces an intriguing test of its own decision-making procedures, as consensus might be elusive given the apparent obstruction of one member to the full accession of its eleventh member.

ASEAN Myanmar Timor-Leste

11 Jul 2025

The 2016 South China Sea Ruling at Nine: Where Does ASEAN Stand?

Pham Ngoc Minh Trang

Nine years after an international arbitral tribunal ruled in the Philippines’ favour against China on the two parties’ disputed claims in the South China Sea, there are some glimmers of a more coherent – but still imperfect and incomplete – ASEAN position on the hotspot issue.

ASEAN China China-Philippine Relations Philippine South China Sea

11 Jul 2025

Thailand’s Climate Change Law Should Be Fortified Before It is Enacted

Paul Chambers|Watcharapol Supajakwattana

Thailand’s Climate Change Act is timely and responsive to public concern, but the current version is a frail gesture addressing a complex problem.

Climate Change Law Thailand

10 Jul 2025

Data Centres, Energy Demand and Sustainability: Can Malaysia Strike the Right Balance?

Sara Loo

Malaysia’s ambitions to be a digital powerhouse demand urgent consideration of rapidly increasing energy demands. Based on current figures, Malaysia appears to have overcommitted to data centre expansion, especially in Johor, without sufficiently robust sustainability guidelines in place.

Malaysia Malaysian Economy Sustainable Development

10 Jul 2025

Rethinking Thailand’s State Welfare Card: Addressing Targeting Flaws for Greater Impact

Wannaphong Durongkaveroj

Thailand’s poverty alleviation programme needs reform as the existing system of self-targeting to access welfare cards excludes many low-income individuals while allowing some better-off ones to receive undeserved benefits.

Poverty Thailand Welfare

10 Jul 2025

Mahathir Mohamad at 100: Monumental Achievements, Mixed Legacies

Tricia Yeoh|Francis E. Hutchinson

To live a long political life in Malaysia is not unusual; to have a century’s longevity and the lengthiest career guarantees its two-time former premier ‘Dr M’ a unique place in the history books.

Malaysia Malaysian Politics

9 Jul 2025

Eating Chinese Soft Power

Isabelle Chua

Isabelle Chua analyses the rapid expansion of Chinese food brands, highlighting how this trend has become an informal yet influential form of Chinese soft power in Southeast Asia.

ASEAN ASEAN-China Relations ASEANFocus China F&B

9 Jul 2025

The Divorce Debate in the Philippines: Why Not a People’s Referendum?

Dennis Blanco

Divorce elicits a multitude of opinions in the devoutly Catholic nation, both supporting and opposing it. Only a definitive public consensus can help resolve the issue.

Civil Society Philippines