Law courts in many Asian countries are overburdened. A perfect storm of factors including rapid economic growth, urbanisation, industrialisation and the withering away of traditional governance systems has caused the number of criminal and civil cases to […]
Vietnam’s top leadership positions, the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) and the president, are traditionally held by two different people. This separation ceased to exist on October 23, 2018 when the […]
Russian President Vladimir Putin made his first-ever state visit to Singapore on November 13, 2018. Coinciding with the 33rd Asean summit, 3rd Asean–Russia summit, 13th East Asia Summit (EAS), and 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations […]
Six years in the making, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) is slated to transform the region into an Asean-centric, comprehensive free trade area, poised to make a large contribution to Asian and global economic […]
Despite the substantial contribution women-led or -owned small and medium enterprises (WSMEs) make to the Indonesian economy, their aspirations are not effectively facilitated by policymakers. Three areas require greater attention: increasing the accessibility of information, […]
The rumblings of a currency crisis in emerging markets is only getting louder. Argentina’s Central Bank raised interest rates to 40 per cent to protect its peso in May 2018. When this did little to help, Argentina […]
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) and navies from 10 Asean member states carried out a field-training exercise in the South China Sea (SCS) between October 22 and 28 2018. The joint naval manoeuvre […]
Since mid-June 2018, numerous anti-China protests have been reported in Vietnam. Demonstrations of this kind have not been seen since the widespread anti-China protests in the country in 2008 and 2014. Protesters rallied to express […]
During its year as Asean chair Singapore has continued the association’s work in developing measures to help mitigate tensions in the South China Sea. In recent years communications hotlines between respective foreign ministries have been […]
The 51st Asean Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (AMM) and related meetings held in Singapore from July 30 to August 4 were hailed as a success. Most notably, there were no delays in the issuance of a […]
April 2018 marked the second anniversary of Aung San Suu Kyi assuming the position of state councillor of Myanmar. Despite predictions that Myanmar’s tentative steps towards democracy would weaken the country’s long-standing relationship with Beijing, […]
More than four years after it seized power in May 2014, Thailand’s military government appears intent on holding onto it indefinitely. Led by General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has […]