There has been a series of events that have shaped the overall political landscape in East Asia, and all of the events which have been more or less significant are worth reflecting on. After all, this is the first place where we see the interests of the world’s two most powerful countries collide — the…
Chinese President Xi Jinping six years ago launched New Silk Roads, now better known as the Belt and Road Initiative, the largest, most ambitious, pan-Eurasian infrastructure project of the 21st century. Under the Trump administration, Belt and Road has been utterly demonized 24/7: a toxic cocktail of fear and doubt, with Beijing blamed for everything…
The United States is losing its status as a Pacific power. It can no longer control developments in East Asia. It still maintains a large military footprint in the region. But that military presence no longer translates into an ability to achieve the outcomes that Washington wants. For better or worse, the post-World War II…
Twenty years ago, a run on the Thai currency triggered a financial crisis that quickly devastated the economy of the entire region, sinking the currencies of Thailand, Indonesia, and South Korea and ultimately spreading as far as Russia and Brazil. Far from ‘lessons being learned’, history looks worryingly set to repeat itself. On July 22,…
