As a policy pronouncement marking six months since the February 1 coup d’etat, Myanmar’s military chief and head of the State Administration Council (SAC) Senior General Min Aung Hlaing exhibited the same strained relationship with the real world since he seized power. Read More Here
By virtue of its highly formalized institutional structure, ASEAN is designed to make radical change hard to come by, and is thus ill-equipped to implement it in Myanmar, let alone articulate a vision for what the country’s future might look like. Read More Here
The Biden administration held its first summit-level meeting with Quad allies in March but is only now stepping up its ASEAN-related diplomacy, notably with less robust senior-level engagement. Washington has paid lip service to “ASEAN centrality” in recent statements, but in practice is it really aiming for “Quad centrality?” Read More Here
Despite placing Asia at the center of his foreign policy agenda, as part of a grand bid to constrain China’s ambitions, US President Joseph Biden has been playing catch-up in building relations with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Read Here
The fate of Myanmar, though, will not be determined around a table where the people of Myanmar are not represented. Myanmar’s protestors remain resolute in rejecting the military’s attempted coup. Meanwhile, the military has stated that it will only recognize ASEAN’s mediation role once the “situation returns to stability.” Read Here | The National Interest
Given Myanmar’s strategic location, violent turmoil there could destabilize the entire region. Already, the crisis caused by the military coup is shaking a key pillar of regional order, with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations split over how to respond. Read Here | Project Syndicate
China’s State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi answers questions about the country’s foreign policy and external relations at a press conference on Sunday during the fourth session of the 13th National People’s Congress, China’s top legislature. Read Here | China Daily
The signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), the world’s biggest trade pact, by 15 Asia-Pacific countries Sunday represents a victory for multilateralism over unilateralism and free trade over protectionism. Read Here | People’s Daily Also Read | Welcome To The Might-Is-Right Global Trade Era
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 […]
The Indo-Pacific has prospered under American hegemony for the previous 40 years not just because of their huge investments — $328.8 billion in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations alone and a further $107 billion in China — but also because of the security blanket that it provides. China might have replaced the US as the […]
