The Brahmaputra River is a source of life for more than 130 million people in China, India, and Bangladesh, but also a persistent irritant. The three riparian states, unlike those in other regional river basins, have never concluded a water-sharing agreement, and upstream dam construction by China and India is often viewed as a threat by downstream countries.
Read Here | WarOnTheRocks
Even after Asia’s economies climb out of the COVID-19 recession, China’s strategy of frenetically building dams and reservoirs on transnational rivers will confront them with a more permanent barrier to long-term economic prosperity: water scarcity.
Read Here | Project Syndicate
Joe Biden should follow the course set by Donald Trump; there should be no U-turn based on naive hopes that goodwill can temper President Xi Jinping’s growing and increasingly impatient desire to pressure Taiwan into capitulation.
Read Here | The National Interest
The bigger question behind Wang’s charm offensive is of long-term global significance. Can a stable, confident, assertive and economically rising China leverage Japan and South Korea away from a chaotic, self-loathing, self-questioning and economically flailing United States?
Read Here | Asia Times
An initially more modest Asian NATO might start with a budget of less than $1 billion, a small secretariat based in Japan or Australia, and naval-only forces committed on a purely rotational basis. It would send a strong message to China without being explicitly directed against it.
Read Here | Foreign Policy
The US has sent an Indo-Pacific Command intelligence officer to Taiwan on an unannounced visit that is certain to irk Beijing. Analysts said the visit of Rear Admiral Michael Studeman, director of intelligence at the command, was “unusual and unprecedented” and would further push Beijing to take a hardline approach towards the island.
Read Here | South China Morning Post
The NLD has scored largely because of Suu Kyi. This is despite the patchy record of the current NLD government in terms of pushing the country’s development or in taking forward the ethnic peace and reconciliation process. Hugely popular still, she is seen as someone who could stand up to the military.
Read Here | The Indian Express
As Asia comes to terms with the reality of US president-elect Joe Biden taking over the White House, relief and hopes of economic and environmental revival jostle with needling anxiety and fears of inattention. From security to trade to climate change, a powerful US reach extends to nearly every corner of the Asia-Pacific region.
Read Here | Taipei Times
Many officials in Japan, India and some Southeast Asian countries are reportedly worried that a Joe Biden administration will be too weak in its dealings with China. These officials like Trump’s tough approach toward Beijing enough to forgive the sometimes awkward implementation.
Read Here | Asia Times
By choosing Vietnam and Indonesia as first destinations abroad, Suga has underscored Japan’s commitment to Southeast Asia, as well as providing a counterbalance to China. Expanding Japan’s defense and strategic ties with both Vietnam and Indonesia, Suga emphasized the centrality of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to regional security, and reinforced Japan’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” policy.
Read Here | Nikkei Asia
