Economics, Politics and Public Policy in East Asia and the Pacific
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
Pakistan has just experienced the first democratic change of government in its history.
It did so despite a violent campaign by religious extremists to derail the election, and targeted at secular-oriented parties such as the ousted Pakistan People’s Party (PPP). Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The standoff between China and India in Ladakh has been resolved, at least for now.
After China set up five tents for 40 personnel 19 kilometres inside what India regards as the line of control, India set up similar tents facing them. Both lots of tents are now to be removed, but it is still unclear whether India is to remove any of the structures at Fukche and Chumar, as demanded by the Chinese. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
Sri Lanka is a small country of about the population of Australia.
Its location astride the major energy sea lanes of communication of the Indian Ocean and just south of India, however, puts it in a strategic box seat for the forthcoming struggle for influence over the liquid energy requirements of the East Asian economic giants, including China. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The Indian economy continued to struggle through 2012. Growth remained sluggish at about 5.3 per cent of GDP for the September quarter (year on year).
Although starting to fall, inflation — always politically sensitive in India — remains high.
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
On 8 September, India and Pakistan agreed to liberalise their visa arrangements.
The deal came during a three-day meeting between Pakistani foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar and her Indian counterpart S.M. Krishna in Islamabad. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
Some 48 people were killed in the Indian state of Assam in late July following clashes between the Bodo ethnic group (a Tibetan-Burmese people who are now predominantly Christian and Hindu) and Muslim Bengali immigrants, mainly from Bangladesh and its previous incarnations.
Approximately 400,000 people have also been displaced from their villages. These are by no means the first such ethnic clashes in Assam. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
India seems to have found itself in the enviable position of being courted by both the US and China, thus confirming its status as the ‘swing state’ of Asia.
Two recent meetings highlight India’s emerging role in Asian security. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The Indian Ocean is Australia’s backyard — at least if you live in the west — and it plays a major role in transporting energy from the oil- and gas-rich Persian Gulf to Australia’s principal trading partners, China and Japan.
With each passing year, these and other East Asian powers become more dependent on the free passage of oil over the Indian Ocean. Read more…
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: Sandy Gordon, ANU
South Asia is a vast region encompassing eight nations (if we include Afghanistan) and over one-fifth of humanity.
It is difficult to do it justice in this short summary of the year’s events. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, would have been more politically comfortable had she left the issue of uranium sales to India rusting in the ‘parking lot’.
The pressing question is therefore: why visit the issue now? Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The CIA considers India a ‘swing state’ in Asia, meaning that the way in which it chooses to lock into existing security structures will have important implications for the Asian security order.
India’s emergence is especially important in the context of China’s rise and the apparent relative decline of the US. This confronts Australia with stark choices between its economic imperative not to alienate China and its long-standing strategic reliance on the US. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
India claims there is a strong connection between its need to lift an estimated 440 million people out of poverty, and its stance on trade liberalisation and climate change.
The country’s Planning Commission recently estimated India’s poverty rate at 37 per cent. Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
South Asia and the Indian Ocean region were locked in a four-power ‘quadrilateral’ structure for significant periods during the Cold War.
On one side were India and the former Soviet Union. On the other side Pakistan stood beside the US against Soviet and ‘leftist’ influence, at one point even being a member of the Central Treaty Organisation (CENTO). Read more…
Author: Sandy Gordon, ANU
The idea that nation states possess a ‘strategic culture’ that directs their actions on the world stage was once popular.
George Tanham of Rand Corporation claimed that India’s international outlook was shaped by the hierarchical attitude deriving from caste and the then Brahmin-caste domination of key institutions. Read more…