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: Robert A. Manning, Atlantic Council

Successful summits tend to be more about symbolism than substance.

South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s summit with US President Barack Obama certainly had its share of symbolism:the first foreign trip of South Korea’s new first woman President; the 60th anniversary of the US–ROK alliance; and US–ROK messages to North Korea, Japan and China. Read more…

Author: Ganeshan Wignaraja, ADBI

Mega-regional trade deals are in vogue.

Negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are grabbing headlines around the world. Meanwhile, Asia’s own mega-regional trade deal — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) — is quietly being negotiated. Read more…

Author: Dmitri Streltsov, MGIMO University

On 29–30 April 2013, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe paid a visit to Moscow.

It was the first official visit of a Japanese prime minister to Russia since Junichiro Koizumi’s trip to Moscow in January 2003. In many ways, the recent summit can be seen as not just an important meeting but even as a landmark event in the history of Russo–Japanese relations. Read more…

Author: John Gillespie, Monash University

The Vietnamese government is currently mulling over six-million public responses to proposed amendments to the Land Law. Most responses concern land grabs by provincial officials, which have dramatically increased since the law’s enactment in 2003.

In the last decade, the area of land taken from farmers has reached one-million hectares, significantly greater than the 810,000 hectares redistributed during the socialist land reforms in the 1950s. Currently land grab cases comprise over 30 per cent of all land disputes reaching officials and the courts.  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: Carlyle A. Thayer, UNSW Canberra

China’s increasing assertiveness in the South China Sea is challenging US primacy in the Asia Pacific.

Even before Washington announced its official policy of rebalancing its force posture to the Asia Pacific, the United States had undertaken steps to strengthen its military posture by deploying more nuclear attack submarines to the region and negotiating arrangements with Australia to rotate Marines through Darwin. Read more…

Author: Peter Drysdale, Editor, East Asia Forum.

The Abe administration in Japan swung quickly into action with policies aimed at lifting the economy out of its long lasting doldrums. Prime Minister Abe appointed Haruhiko Kuroda, after eight years distinguished service at the Asia Development Bank, to implement a strong reflationary program through the Bank of Japan (BOJ): the first arrow of his three arrow revival strategy. Read more…

Author: Kazuo Ueda, University of Tokyo

Japanese asset prices have responded in a surprising way to the announcement of a policy package by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Bank of Japan (BOJ) — they have gone up.
Read more…

Author: Adam Fforde, Victoria University

It is now about a generation and a half since Vietnam opened up to the West, and a generation since Cambodia did the same.

Both countries have changed greatly, with rapid economic growth and the emergence of an internationally integrated middle class. Read more…

Author: Cristelle Maurin, University of Stellenbosch

A decade of sustained upward trends in the market value of metals found in seabed mineral deposits and considerable advances made in subsea technologies have reignited interest for offshore minerals exploration.

Pacific Island Countries (PICs), holding sovereign rights over vast areas of the seabed with promising mineral potential stand at the forefront of this new pioneering venture. Read more…

Author: Binod Nepal, Canberra

AIDS has already claimed as many as 30 million human lives worldwide. An estimated 34 million people, mostly adults of working age, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Despite this UNAIDS, the peak UN agency that coordinates AIDS control programs worldwide, optimistically affirmed in its 2012 Global Report that the epidemic has come under control in much of the world. Read more…

Author: Hai Hong Nguyen, UQ

Vietnam has embarked on one of the greatest and most exciting political reforms in the last two decades — the rewriting of the national Constitution.

Many constitutional issues are up for debate — the role of the ruling Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in state organs and in society; the role of the armed forces; state versus private management and ownership of land; and the mechanisms needed to protect citizens’ and human rights.  Read more…

Author: Alicia Mollaun, ANU

Pakistan’s forthcoming elections on 11 May are monumental not just for Pakistan but for the West, which should be watching with great interest.

For Pakistan, this year’s elections mark the first time in its history that one democratically elected government will be replaced by another democratically elected government. Read more…

Author: Vinh Duc Nguyen, Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences

The infant and child mortality rate has declined remarkably in most countries since 1950.

But despite worldwide efforts, the target laid down in the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) — to reduce the under-five mortality rate by two-thirds between 1990 and 2015 — appears to be unachievable, not only at the global level but also in Asia. Read more…