Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Laldinkima Sailo, NUS
In a recent survey released by the Canada-based Fraser Institute, Indonesia was ranked as the world’s least-attractive place to do business in the mining sector. And how to deal with foreign investors was the subject of intense debate in Indonesia last year after the government decided to make changes that required foreign Read more…
Author: Lynette Ong, University of Toronto
Credit has been the subject of much scrutiny in China, where there have been broad concerns about rising non-performing loans and wasteful lending to state-owned enterprises.
While major government-owned banks steal the most headlines, it’s also important to understand how credit operates at the grassroots levels. Unsurprisingly, that system has risks and inefficiencies of its own. Read more…
Author: K. Yhome, Observer Research Foundation
China’s state-run China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) completed construction of a natural gas pipeline from Myanmar to China on 28 May 2013 and is close to finishing an oil pipeline.
The pipeline will start delivering gas from Myanmar’s west coast in the Bay of Bengal to Kunming (the capital of China’s Yunnan province) on 1 July, while the oil pipeline will transport China’s crude shipments from the Persian Gulf and Africa when it is completed later this year. Read more…
Authors: Rohit Sinha and Geethanjali Nataraj, ORF
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s recent visit to Japan will do as much to invigorate the Indian growth story as it will to strengthen diplomatic relations in the Asia Pacific.
With India investing heavily in infrastructure, Japanese assistance — both technical and financial — has been of great benefit. Read more…
Author: Llewelyn Hughes, GWU
Last year the US and Japanese governments affirmed their joint commitment to fight climate change by cooperating in developing clean energy. Both countries are also pursuing green innovation independently. These efforts are crucial in responding to climate change.
The emerging battle between auto manufacturers in Japan, the United States and Europe over standards for electric vehicles shows, however, that green innovation is as much about competitiveness Read more…
Author: Takatoshi Ito, University of Tokyo
It is almost certain that the 21st century is the Asian century in terms of real side of the economy — growth, trade, consumption, and investment. What is not certain is how Asia will integrate financially and what will happen to Asian currencies.
When the West feared the rise of the Japanese economy in the 1980s, some predicted that the yen would become an international reserve currency. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
Almost anyone, looking from the outside on the excitement about the various territorial disputes in the East China and South China Seas, is inclined to wonder what all the fuss is about: an inclination no doubt that is deeply offensive to almost all the protagonists involved. Read more…
Author: Donald R. Rothwell, ANU
The decision handed down by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on 19 November 2012 in the Nicaragua v Columbia case has several implications for the South China Sea disputes, particularly with respect to the status of the disputed maritime features under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (LOSC). Read more…
Author: K.V. Kesavan, ORF
The India–Japan partnership has matured into an important component of the new security and economic architecture of the Indo-Pacific region.
For a long time, the partnership was centered on economic matters such as development loans, trade and investment. Read more…
Author: Toshiya Takahashi, ANU
Constitutional revision will be a key issue in Japanese politics in the coming years.
Prime Minister Abe, who is rather popular because of his new economic policy, clearly states that his government and the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) will seek to revise the Constitution of Japan after this year’s Upper House elections.
Author: Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, University of the Philippines Asian Center
Manila and Taipei are presently locked in a maritime row after an incident on 9 May in which Philippine maritime authorities shot and killed a Taiwanese fisherman in waters belonging to northern Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone.
Responding to intense public pressure, Taipei has demanded an official apology, compensation for the victim’s family, a speedy inquiry on the incident and talks on a fishery agreement. Read more…
Author: Geethanjali Nataraj, ORF
The India–EU FTA has been on the anvil for a long time, with no major breakthroughs in sight. A week-long intergovernmental meeting in Delhi from 13–15 May failed to iron out differences and ensure progress towards striking a deal.
India has a lot to gain from an FTA with the EU, particularly in regard to preferential and duty-free access to the European market. Read more…
Authors: Anders Engvall, SSE and Soe Nandar Linn, MDRI-CESD
Under the transition process led by President U Thein Sein, the Myanmar government is seeking to simultaneously pursue complex economic and political reforms as well as resolve ethnic conflicts and achieve national reconciliation. These challenges are intrinsically related — reforms will pave the way for reconciliation but increased violent conflict has emerged as a key threat to continued reform. Read more…
Author: Razeen Sally, NUS
The defining feature of early 21st-century international trade is global value chains (GVCs).
Trade in GVCs is the fastest growing part of international trade, and a critical driver of productivity, growth and employment in both developed and developing countries. Read more…
Author: Sourabh Gupta, Samuels International
During the last week of May, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a return visit to Tokyo, in keeping with a tradition inaugurated by him and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2007, to exchange summit-level visits on an annual basis.
Modest progress was reached on resuming negotiations towards a bilateral civil nuclear cooperation accord.
Read more…
