Author: Yang Razali Kassim, RSIS

Singapore is seeking to ensure its food security through research and development in urban agribusiness.

Singapore’s approach to food security is set to undergo a fundamental rethink — from being a passive food-importer to a more active contributor to the regional and global food system. Read more…

Author: Yongsheng Zhang, DRC

China’s 12th Five Year Plan enshrines a commitment to transforming China’s development model.

A top priority is commitment to moving from the current low-efficiency, high-growth model of development to a more balanced approach that addresses a wider range of concerns. Read more…

Authors: Celia Reyes and Aubrey Tabuga, PIDS

Despite the Philippine economy having enjoyed one of its best growth periods in recent years, the poverty rate continues to rise, putting a strain on achieving the Millennium Development Goal targets the country has vowed to achieve come 2015.

Inequitable growth across sectors and geographical units combined with various natural and man-made crises have produced some damaging results. Likewise, poverty-reduction programs designed without taking into account the characteristics of poverty have not helped. Read more…

Authors: Nadia Rocha and Robert Teh, WTO

Participation in preferential trade agreements (PTAs) has grown rapidly in recent years.

In 1990, there were only about 70 PTAs in force. Thereafter, PTA activity accelerated noticeably; by 2010 the number of PTAs in force was close to 300. Read more…

Author: Cai Fang, CASS

The rapid increase in the wages of unskilled workers in China is well documented. Since the initial appearance of labour shortages in 2003, wages have increased substantially in all sectors.

In the period 2003 to 2008, the annual growth rate of monthly wages in real terms was 10.5 per cent in manufacturing, 9.8 per cent in construction, and 10.2 per cent for migrant workers. Read more…

Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, EAF

A year or so ago nuclear energy was seen in Japan as the way forward to securing a clean energy future, with a government plan to boost nuclear power to 50 per cent of the total from its pre-Fukushima share of just over 30 per cent by 2030.

Since the Tohoku earthquake and the partial meltdown at Tokyo Electric Power Company’s (TEPCO’s) Fukushima plant, there has been a profound reversal of sentiment on nuclear power in Japan. Read more…

Author: Richard Samuels, MIT

Energy policy in Japan seems set to face sweeping institutional reforms as a result of the 11 March disasters.

It is one of the very few areas where Japanese Prime Minister Kan and public opinion are fully aligned. The Japanese public has been treated to a torrent of stories about the villainy of TEPCO and its sibling utility companies. Read more…

Author: Yawei Liu, Carter Centre

No Chinese Communist leader has ever said democracy is a bad thing.

When asked how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) would avoid the notorious dynastic cycles of the previous emperors, Mao Zedong proudly said that the CCP had found a miraculous mechanism to keep them away: democracy. Read more…

Authors: Alexander Vorontsov, Russian Academy of Sciences and Oleg Revenko

Despite Libya and North Korea’s geographical distance many analysts have drawn parallels and even forecast similar fates for their leaders.

The NATO intervention in Libya poses the following question: In the contemporary world can a small country conduct an independent foreign policy, regardless of the approval of the global ruling class, without running the risk of being punished for it? Read more…

Authors: Nabeel A Mancheri and Shantanu S, NIAS

The India–Brazil–South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA), founded by the Brasilia Declaration in 2003, serves as a coordinating mechanism between its member states.

The Declaration cited three major reasons as the basis for closer cooperation: shared democratic credentials, developing country status and desire to act on a global scale. Read more…

Author: Rajiv Kumar, FICCI

The Supreme Court of India seems to have created a crisis after imposing a large-scale ban on iron ore mining in the Bellary district of Karnataka.

Although the Supreme Court has subsequently allowed the public sector entity National Mineral Development Corporation to continue operations, its imposition of a ban on iron ore mining in Bellary remains an extreme step. Read more…

Author: Shen Chuanliang, CCPS

Membership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has grown from over 50 members in 1921 to more than 80 million in 2011.

Under the leadership of the CCP, China, with its ancient traditions, regained a youthful vitality and has become a powerful economy with the second largest GDP in the world. Read more…

Author: Alfred Oehlers, APCSS

Seasoned observers of the Pacific may be experiencing a sense of déjà vu.

Not long after the ‘truce’ between China and Taiwan, suspending their competitive bidding for diplomatic recognition among Pacific island states, the game has seemingly returned. Read more…