Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU

Washington has now moderated Secretary for Defense Leon Panetta’s statement that the US, as a fighting force, would be in the barracks by mid-2013.

US forces may now come out to fight as and when necessary until their departure at the end of 2014. Read more…

Author: Renu Kohli, ICRIER

The recent depreciation of the rupee has been a costly shock for India’s financial and real economy.

The large and abrupt drop in the currency’s value has negatively impacted businesses and households by pushing up costs in an inflationary phase, increased price uncertainty and volatility, dented economic confidence, and worsened the critical macroeconomic aggregates. Read more…

Author: Dolores A. Donovan, USF

On 22 December 2011 the new Cambodian Civil Code went into effect. Its promulgation marked a turning point in the establishment of the rule of law in Cambodia.

Until its enactment, the country’s civil-law system had been dominated by public-law concepts that established the powers and structures of the state and delineated the duties, and only occasionally the rights, of citizens — a legacy of royal and Asian tradition. Read more…

Author: Vikram Nehru, Carnegie Endowment

With elections expected to be held in Malaysia this year, there is reason for concern that tensions could rise in the event of a close result — and a misstep by either side could lead to violence.

National elections have to take place by March 2013, but Prime Minister Najib Razak has indicated that they could likely be sooner. Read more…

Author: Shankaran Nambiar, MIU, Malaysia

The Najib government has given renewed focus to Malaysia’s international economic relations, including liberalisation and increasing interaction with the global economy.

This approach is understandable for a small, open economy that is particularly dependent on export-driven growth, and faces considerable pressure to attract FDI and increase its exports. Read more…

Author: Cheng Li, Brookings

Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping’s current visit to the United States is important to both nations, but for different reasons.

Xi is expected to soon take over from Hu Jintao as leader of the world’s most populous country and second-largest economy. Read more…

Author: Chen-shen Yen, NCCU

With the ruling party returned to power after Taiwan’s recent presidential election, both Beijing and Washington have breathed a sigh of relief.

Peace across the Taiwan Strait appears to have been preserved for at least another four years. Read more…

Author: Suman Bery, IGC

India’s quick recovery from the post-Lehman slump of late 2008 is usually attributed to the relatively low global exposure of the country’s economy.

But this is an incomplete and perhaps misleading interpretation of what actually happened. Read more…

Author: Ronojoy Sen, NUS

State legislative assembly elections are being held in Uttar Pradesh (UP), India’s largest state, over seven phases between 8 February and 3 March.

UP elections are notoriously difficult to call because of the state’s size and the complex interplay of region, caste and religion. Read more…

Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum

The debate about rebalancing China’s economy so that growth is driven more by domestic consumption than by investment and exports intensified with the onset of the global financial crisis.

China’s high level of net savings and external surpluses, and industrial-country reliance on the cheap international capital that accompanied them, was no longer sustainable. Read more…

Author: Yiping Huang, Peking University

The international community, and particularly policy makers in the United States, put great expectations on the contribution that China can make to global economic recovery by rebalancing its economy through promoting consumption growth.

The Chinese authorities broadly accept this priority and have put in place a number of policy measures that aim to achieve it. Read more…

Author: Maria Monica Wihardja, CSIS, Jakarta

The world’s rapidly changing geopolitical, economic and social landscape demands that this year’s G20 Summit be different from previous years.

The last 12 months have witnessed the Japanese triple disaster, the Middle Eastern and North African ‘Arab Spring’, nuclear-powered North Korea’s leadership succession to a 27-year-old, Western condemnation of the Iranian nuclear power program, and the shift of US military strategy to the Asia Pacific. Read more…

Author: Kevin Placek, Melbourne

Having ruled Japan for the better half of a century, it is no surprise that the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has found it difficult to adapt to its role as Japan’s major opposition party.

But with the prospect of further political gridlock, it may be time for the LDP to reconsider its strategy. Read more…

Author: Matthew Hulbert, EER

This year presents a new set of challenges for Chinese energy endeavours, and nowhere more so than in oil.

Despite analysts bemoaning China’s ‘cavalier’ approach to risk as it strikes upstream deals in exotic locations, Beijing always knew it would have to cash in some of its chips when geopolitical cards were put on the table. Read more…

Author: Barry Wain, ISEAS

Malaysians expressed a collective sigh of relief when Opposition Leader Anwar Ibrahim was acquitted of sodomy charges in early January.

Their groan of dismay over the prosecution’s subsequent decision to appeal was equally palpable. Read more…