Author: Carlyle A. Thayer, UNSW Canberra
Chinese civilian maritime surveillance vessels carried out a number of aggressive activities in parts of the South China Sea claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam in early 2011, raising regional tensions and sparking concern in the US and throughout the region about maritime security.
This concern now seems largely abated, after diplomatic efforts produced a somewhat unexpected positive development. Read more…
Author: Jonathan Berkshire Miller, The Diplomat
The South Korean government indicated last year that it intends to construct a significant naval base on Ulleung Island in the Sea of Japan.
The Ministry of Defence announced that it will team up with the Ministry of Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs to build the complex and establish a port in Ulleung capable not only of maritime defence but also of force projection. Read more…
Author: Rajesh Basrur, RSIS
Though India is widely regarded as a ‘rising power’, the government has not publicly set out its grand strategy or the direction it is taking.
There is still much debate on critical issues such as the viability of its liberal economic model and its relationship with the United States. Read more…
Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum
With all the focus on the transition of power between China and the United States in the Asian Century, too little attention is given to how India might handle its growing weight in the world.
India is more often than not taken for granted, seen as a pawn in the growing power game between America and China, or so pre-occupied within its region as to stunt its potential global role. Read more…
Author: Colin McAskill, London
The death of Kim Jong-Il, and the dynastic succession of his youngest son Kim Jong-Un, brings negotiations over the DPRK’s nuclear program and objectives full circle.
When Kim Jong-Il succeeded his father there was then, just as now, no agreement in place that brought the DPRK’s nuclear programs and future ambitions under the auspices and supervision of any international nuclear monitoring authority.
Read more…
Author: Le Hong Hiep, Vietnam National University
The first Australia–Vietnam Joint Foreign Affairs Defence Strategic Dialogue was held in Canberra on 21 February 2012.
While this is evidence of the increasing importance the two countries accord each other as regional partners, the dialogue is also a useful mechanism for Australia and Vietnam to boost mutual understanding and trust, and to deepen cooperation for common strategic interests, regional peace and stability. Read more…
Author: Jiemian Yang, SIIS
The Asian Century, or Pacific Century, has become a catchphrase that places great emphasis on economic dynamism and political power shifts.
But the cultural and intellectual aspects of the Asian Century have somewhat been neglected. Read more…
Author: Robert E. Kelly, Pusan National University
With the EU regularly being ranked a top-five export market for South Korea, the two signed an FTA in 2009.
But while interest in future cooperation is high, deeper engagement beyond the FTA is unlikely, since neither side plays an important role in the basic security issues of the other. Read more…
Author: John Hemmings, CSIS, Honolulu
Some have speculated that South Korea’s electorate, unhappy with Lee Myung-bak’s handling of relations with North Korea, wants a return to Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun’s liberal policies — and with them, the Sunshine Policy, or greater engagement with Pyongyang.
With a new, young leader in power in North Korea, it would seem the right time to try something different — a new approach for a new era. Read more…
Author: Loro Horta, NPS
After nearly 500 years of Portuguese rule, Macau was returned to China in 1999.
While several diplomats and intellectuals from the former colonial power debated the future of Sino-Portuguese ties and Lisbon’s relation to its former enclave, most believed there was very little Portugal could do to retain its influence in the territory — if they gave the topic much thought at all.
Read more…
Author: Kama Maclean, UNSW
At the Sydney Cricket Ground on 5 January 2012, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard spoke confidently about the upswing in Australia–India relations — which had been strained since the violent attacks on Indian students in 2009 — citing cricket as the ‘common language’ of the relationship.
In the closing days of 2011, Gillard had also helped to remove an important irritant in the bilateral relationship as she championed and pushed through a change to Australian Labor Party policy, which had precluded the sale of uranium to India.
Read more…
Author: Prashanth Parameswaran, Tufts University
The 4 February vote on the Syrian crisis at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) has led many commentators to declare a ‘watershed’ in Indian foreign policy.
Instead of abstaining — as it has usually done on questions regarding the Arab Spring — India voted in favour of the resolution. Read more…
Author: Justin Li, ICE
Australia has a new foreign minister, Bob Carr, a former premier of New South Wales and a senior figure in Australian Labor politics, after the resignation of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd from the post in his spectacularly unsuccessful bid to challenge the current prime minister, Julia Gillard.
In an unusual route to the post, Mr Carr is coming from outside federal Australian Parliament to take up a Senate seat by appointment after the resignation of one of Gillard’s supporters, as is the convention for filling mid-term vacancies in the Australian Senate. Read more…
Author: Benjamin Ho, RSIS
Much has been made of Asia’s rise to global prominence and the continent’s increasingly important role in global politics.
But what does this mean for ASEAN, whose regional presence has also received growing attention from the global community of late? Read more…
Author: Nick Bisley, La Trobe University
Since the mid 1990s China has pursued a predominantly cautious approach to East Asia: it normalised relations with virtually all its neighbours, joined the region’s multilateral institutions and generally got on with being an ordinary member of Asia’s international society.
During this time, China’s approach largely conformed with Deng Xiaoping’s dictum to calmly bide one’s time and carefully hide one’s power and ambition. But since late 2009 China’s approach to its regional relations has undoubtedly become more assertive. Read more…
