India-ASEAN: Missing Steps
For all the flurry of recent activity in ASEAN–India relations, the status of the relationship remains decidedly mixed. Read Here – The Diplomat
Tag: Laos
Southeast Asia’s Big Land Grab
Conflict over land tenure in Southeast Asia’s rural areas has emerged as a key issue for the region. To achieve goals such as economic development and poverty reduction in rural areas, governments in the region have pursued policies to attract investment from large corporate entities both domestically and internationally, to undertake projects on “vacant” and […]
Burma: Risk in The Golden Land
Two years ago this month, Burma’s current government took office amid broad international condemnation for the rigged election — replete with fraud and intimidation — that put it there. Despite this inauspicious start, Burma politics have opened in the last year and a half, and the country’s economy has liberalized more quickly than any other […]
The Asian Sleepwalkers
Whether East Asia’s politicians and pundits like it or not, the region’s current international relations are more akin to nineteenth-century European balance-of-power politics than to the stable Europe of today. Witness East Asia’s rising nationalism, territorial disputes, and lack of effective institutional mechanisms for security cooperation. While economic interdependence among China, Japan, South Korea, and […]
India Looks East
The heads of nine of the ten member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations traveled to New Delhi two weeks ago to celebrate 20 years of ties between their organization and India. At the two-day “Commemorative Summit,” ASEAN leaders toasted Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and signed a free-trade pact covering services and […]
India, Asean Closer to Critical Trade Pacts
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have concluded negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) in services and investments. The background work clears the way for greater economic and political integration between India and the bloc of 10 countries that accounts for a GDP of about […]
Big Summits, Old Problems
Outgoing Chinese Premier Wei Jiabao returned to Beijing this week office after disappointing ASEAN and East Asia summits that failed to live-up to years of diplomatic posturing and positioning, designed to protect his country’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. The pro-Beijing lobby will no doubt praise his efforts in Cambodia where China successfully thwarted attempts […]
China, Asean Downplay Sea Disputes as Economic Concerns Grow
Southeast Asian leaders sought to ease tensions with China over maritime disputes before a regional summit tomorrow involving U.S. President Barack Obama as concerns persist over weaker demand in the global economy. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations will confine discussions on a set of rules for operating in the South China Sea to the bloc’s meetings with China, […]
ASEAN Wants India To Play A More Pro-Active Role, But Where’s India?
For many, India is a natural balancer in this region. New Delhi struck roots here hundreds of years ago, and there are signs all around. But in the current strategic debate roiling the region, India is a peripheral presence. New Delhi’s only statement so far has been to endorse the importance of ensuring freedom of […]
Can Indonesia Heal The Deepening Rifts In South-East Asia As China Makes Maritime Claims?
Read Here – The Economist
looking beyond borders 