Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: John Uhr, ANU
Australia’s national policymaking rarely throws up such puzzles as those currently in Canberra.
As Parliament continues on its scheduled but very welcome two-week break, many Australians hope it will be a break from the policy uncertainty and instability that has come to dominate national politics. They should not hold their breath. Read more…
Author: Zhang Zhiming, CCPS
China’s success with domestic reforms and international opening up is largely the product of adopting an innovative approach to governance and reform.
Because of its origins as an economically and culturally backward country, building socialism in China has been a long and difficult process. Read more…
Author: Harry Kazianis, e-IR
A lot of talk has surrounded China’s new anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM), the DF-21D, over the last two years.
The missile is fired from a mobile truck-mounted launcher into the atmosphere, with over-the-horizon radar, satellite tracking and possibly unmanned aerial vehicles each providing guidance. Read more…
Author: Ron Huisken, ANU
In 1996, President Clinton told a joint sitting of the Australian Parliament that ‘the way [China] defines its greatness for the future will help decide whether the next century is one of conflict or cooperation’.
Fifteen years on, China’s trajectory has unmistakably lived up to Clinton’s expectations of ‘greatness’. Read more…
Author: Shan Yu, CCPS
Public crises cause significant disruption to social order and include both natural events, such as earthquakes, floods and epidemics, as well as man-made events such as economic fluctuations and terrorist activities.
Public crisis management is in the public administration of these events through the establishment of crisis response mechanisms, which are series of measures aimed at preventing and defusing crises and restore social order. Read more…
Author: Ganeshan Wignaraja, ADB
While rapid trade-led growth has enabled China to surge ahead of other developing economies in recent decades, a number of analysts are projecting that India’s growth rates will soon outpace China’s.
India’s democratic political culture and favourable demographics, both of which are viewed as being more conducive to sustaining rapid economic growth over the long-term, are often cited as reasons for this. But amid such speculation, several key factors — including market conditions, economic policies and supply-side factors — suggest that China will continue to outperform India over the next decade. Read more…
Author: Risti Permani, University of Adelaide
French mining company Eramet is increasing its investment in nickel mining in the eastern Indonesian region of Halmahera, North Maluku.
The project enjoys strong political support but faces criticism over the potential negative impacts it may have on local communities and on the environment. Read more…
Author: Ezra F Vogel, Harvard University
When Deng Xiaoping became pre-eminent leader of China in December 1978, China was still in the chaos from the Cultural Revolution. Per capita annual income was less than US$100.
By the time he stepped down in 1992, several hundred million Chinese citizens had been lifted out of poverty, and China was rapidly becoming stronger, richer and more modern.
Author: Suman Bery, IGC
Following the torpor of the August holidays on both sides of the Atlantic, each September marks the revival of the international diplomatic calendar.
On the political side, the centrepiece is the annual meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York; on the economic side, a similar marker is the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, held in Washington twice every three years. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
If you ask the average punter in most countries around the region, from Canada through Asia to Australia, upwards of three quarters, it would appear, nominate China as the nation that will wield the most power ten years down the track.
The Chinese economy will almost certainly overtake that of the United States to become the world’s biggest economy in aggregate, though not in per capita terms, somewhere in the next 10 to 20 years, although there are few who suggest that it will match America’s military might any time soon. Read more…
Author: Yiping Huang, Peking University and ANU
The current international economic system is defined by three key features.
First, the United States is a dominant leader in designing and enforcing the international economic rules.
Author: Michael Cucek, MIT
As Yoshihiko Noda, Japan’s sixth prime minister in five years, settles into office, much speculation surrounds the various internal party appointments taking place inside the troubled ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
In particular, the purported return to influence of Ichiro Ozawa, via Noda’s appointment to prominent positions of numerous Ozawa allies, is attracting much attention. Read more…
Authors: Sergei DeSilva-Ranasinghe, FDI, James Brazier and Lilit Gevorgyan, IHS Global Insight
Since the Central Asian republics attained independence from the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, Pakistan has entertained serious ambitions of cultivating and strengthening relations with Central Asia.
Unfortunately, strategic myopia has skewed Pakistan’s focus towards securing influence in Afghanistan, limiting its success at building inroads into Central Asia. Read more…
Author: Aurelia George Mulgan, UNSW Canberra
One of the big questions hanging over the newly formed Noda administration is whether the prime minister will be able to restore harmony within the ruling DPJ after the internal party discord that characterised the Kan administration.
Noda appeared to take a step in the direction of party unity by making a number of DPJ executive and cabinet appointments from among close supporters of party kingpin Ichiro Ozawa. Read more…
Author: Maria Monica Wihardja, CSIS, Jakarta
Indonesia has made numerous global, regional and national commitments on structural reform via its (mostly non-binding) commitments in the G20, APEC, OECD and ASEAN.
The challenge is how to translate these commitments into domestic priorities, plans and policies. Read more…