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Asia Pacific Insights Archive
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ASEAN foreign ministers meet in Hanoi
ASEAN foreign ministers met in Hanoi on Tuesday July 20, ahead of the 17th ASEAN Regional Forum on Friday. One of the main issues discussed was the Korean Peninsula tension following the sinking of a South Korean warship on March 26. The ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting spokesman Tran Ngoc An said at a news briefing [...] -
China now world’s top energy user
China over took the USA last year to become the world’s largest energy user, the International Energy Agency revealed yesterday. With this new status, China is expected to be more influential in the global energy markets in determining prices and how it is used. Fatih Birol, the IEA’s chief economist, said: “In the 2000, the US [...] -
Oil spill in Yellow sea after pipeline explosion
Two pipelines at an oil storage belonging to the China National Petroleum Corp, China’s biggest oil company, exploded in Dalian’s Xingang Harbour in Liaoning province on Friday July 16. The blast, which happened after a Libyan-flagged tanker discharged its load at the port, triggered a spill of approximately 1,500 tonnes of crude oil into the [...] -
US to Join East Asia Summit
US President Barack Obama will attend the 2011 East Asia Summit in Jakarta, Indonesia, say reports quoting informed sources in Washington. The decision is a significant one as the US had not previously engaged at the highest level with ASEAN-centric regional processes, though its leaders have attended APEC, which has a different membership and mandate. The East [...] -
Malaysia to hang three Indonesian drug traffickers
On July 18, the Malaysian High Court sentenced three Indonesian men to death for drug trafficking. Amri Alamsyah, aged 42; Iskandar Ibrahim, aged 33; and Muham¬madiah Hassan, aged 31; all from Aceh, were arrested in April 2005, and found guilty of trafficking 1,858.6 grams of cannabis in front of a motorcycle shop on Jalan Kampung [...] -
ASEAN Foreign Ministers meet in Hanoi for ARF and AMM
The ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) and ASEAN Ministerial Meeting (AMM) are scheduled to be held in Hanoi, Vietnam from 19-23 July 2010. The current focus areas of the meetings are the sinking of the South Korean warship, regional architecture and non-proliferation. Foreign ministers of ASEAN shared “deep concern” at the sinking of a South Korean warship, [...] -
Leading garment brands look to ASEAN as production base
South East Asia appears as an attractive location for the world’s leading fashion brand to base their production. Last month, major fashion brands like Guess, Marks and Spencer, Mango, and Polo Ralph Lauren, along with many others, met with the owners and executives of textile mills and garment factories of South East Asia. Following this [...] -
MM Lee at the FutureChina Global Forum, Singapore
Speaking at the inaugural FutureChina Global Forum at the Ritz Carlton, Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew tackled a host of issues, ranging from United States-China relations to political succession in China and bilingualism. The FutureChina Global Forum, organised by Business China in celebration of 20 years of diplomatic ties between Singapore and China, hopes to build [...] -
Thirteen countries meet in Bali to discuss tiger conservation
Delegates from 13 countries are meeting in Bali, Indonesia from 12-14 July at the Pre-Tiger Summit Partners’ Dialogue to discuss plans to prevent tiger extinction. The meeting, sponsored by the World Bank’s Global Tiger Initiatives program, is attended by senior officials from countries which still have wild tiger population, namely India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, China, [...] -
DPJ Faces Defeat in Polls
Japan’s ruling party Democratic Party of Japan faced the prospect of political gridlock Monday as bad losses in weekend parliamentary elections undermine its attempts to reduce the second-largest economy’s ballooning budget deficit and revive growth. The DPJ won only 44 out of 242 seats — far below its stated goal of 54. The shattering defeat results [...] -
Google is back in China
After Google’s decision in March to shut down its service in China due to dispute over internet censorship, Chinese official said on Sunday July 11 that the government has agreed to renew Google’s operation license once again. This approval came after Beijing Guxiang Information Technology Co. Ltd, the operator of Google’s China website, submitted an [...] -
Chinese demand fuels German export growth
Germany’s exports were up 9.2% in May, thanks in large part to the Euro’s fall in value but also due to an increase in demand from China. Quotes in a Financial Times article by experts emphasizing the importance of Chinese demand include: “Without China we would hardly have seen this recovery – it’s a frightening trend,” said [...] -
Taiwanese parliament fight over ECFA
Clash erupted between members of the Kuomintang (KMT) and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on Thursday July 8, the first day of parliament debate over the controversial ECFA trade agreement with China. The fight broke out after the Legislative speaker Wang Jin-pyng announced that the ECFA ratification bill will go on to the second reading, [...] -
Charges against alleged Russian spies
Three alleged members of a Russian spy ring go before court on Wednesday, accused of operating deep under cover for the Kremlin in the United States since the 1990s.They are accused of “conspiring to act as secret agents in the United States on behalf of the Russian Federation,” the formal indictment said. Moves to gather [...] -
Thailand state of emergency to continue in 19 provinces
The Thai cabinet announced on Tuesday July 6 that the Emergency Rule which drags on since April will be extended for three more months in Bangkok and 18 other provinces. Citing instability in the area, the government explained that the red-shirts have not stopped their anti-government moves, and without the emergency law in place, they [...] -
North Korea contracts after trade cut-off
North Korea’s economy has been slowly shrinking after South Korea cut-off its trade in protest to the sinking of a warship. “The North is very likely to see its economy shrink this year,” said the report from South Korea’s state-run Korea Development Institute (KDI), without estimating a figure. A further shrinkage this year could spark [...] -
Julia Gillard comments on APC
The new Prime minister, Julia Gillard has cast doubt on the “Asia Pacific Community” proposed by her predecessor, Kevin Rudd. The “Asia-Pacific Community” is seen as a broader alternative to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) and Association of South East Asian Nations(ASEAN). “It seems to me that we’re unlikely to see that degree of movement,” Jullia Gillard said. [...] -
Indian Opposition Party led a strike against high fuel prices
India’s Hindu nationalist opposition party Bharatiya Janata called on a nationwide strike on Monday July 5 to protest the government decision last month to raise fuel prices. Across India, businesses in financial capital Mumbai were largely shut, colleges and schools were closed; plane flights, local trains, and bus services were cancelled. Opposition-ruled states were completely [...] -
“Recovery and New beginnings”: Harper’s G-20 Summit
Leaders of the Group of Twenty (G-20) issued a communiqué that includes aggressive deficit-cutting targets and allows individual countries to devise their own approach to meeting those goals. The communiqué said “These (actions) will be differentiated and tailored to national circumstances.” The communiqué saw advanced economies making commitments to halve deficits by 2013. The G20 saw [...] -
Wage strikes spread in South East Asia
Following the labor unrest in China which resulted in minimum wage raises in at least nine Chinese provinces and cities, similar worker dissatisfaction and dispute grow in many South East Asian countries. In Cambodia, factory workers are to stage a three-day strike this month to demand for a higher minimum wage. In a country with [...] -
Thaksin’s aide seeks US help in Washington
Noppadon Pattama, a former foreign minister and a legal adviser to Mr. Thaksin, visited Washington DC to seek the United States’ help for the political turmoil in Thailand. His mission comes two weeks after Prime Minister Abhisit dispatched a special envoy, Kiat Sittheeamorn, to Washington to explain the government’s reconciliation roadmap to President Barack Obama’s [...] -
Mainland and Taiwan to sign trade agreement
The Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) between Mainland China and Taiwan is scheduled to be signed on June 29 in the city of Chongqing, after trade officials from both sides finalized the deal yesterday. This unprecedented agreement will ease cross-strait tension, and bring economic ties between the two parties closer than [...] -
ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting Plus Eight – the ASEAN-centered Asia Pacific Security Structure
There is a promising new addition to the Asia-Pacific’s security architecture – the ASEAN Defence Ministers-Plus Eight (ADMM+8) meeting. This new arrangement does more than simply adding to the existing “alphabet soup” of institutions. The ADMM-Plus Eight brings to the table American and Russian defence ministers alongside their ASEAN+6 counterparts and aims to deal with [...] -
Vietnam power shortages stoke calls to dissolve monopoly
The rolling blackouts in Vietnam this summer have fueled calls for major reform: to break up state energy company Electricity Vietnam (EVN). EVN is at the center of criticism for discouraging foreign investment in new power plants through its monopoly over power distribution and government-regulated low energy prices. Meanwhile, demand for electricity [...] -
Singapore and Malaysia to finalize land swap deal in three months
After the meeting between the Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and the Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak in Putrajaya, Malaysia on June 22, an announcement was made that the land swap proposal between the two countries will be finalized in three months. The plan is part of the project [...] -
Australia’s Rudd Delivers Final Address
Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said “I’ve given it my all” during his final address on Thursday. His popularity had plummeted following setbacks on his mining tax plans and the shelving of an emissions trading scheme, causing his deposal in a sudden party ballot. Rudd, flanked by his family, repeatedly paused to choke back tears [...] -
Red Shirts send off Seh Daeng
Thousands of Thai Red Shirts assembled for the cremation of a rogue general shot during opposition protests, staging their biggest gathering since the army quashed their rally last month. About 1,000 police were deployed in the capital but the cremation at a Buddhist temple passed off peacefully. Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, or commonly known as Seh [...] -
Indonesia puts on hold plan for nuclear power plant
The President of Indonesia Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on June 18 that his government currently has no plan for a nuclear power plant, and that the discussion on the topic is temporarily halted. Future governments may finally reconsider such a plan, “but for now, the current government has no definitive plan for that,” Yudhoyono explained. [...] -
Australia and China Sign Major Deals
Australia and China signed new deals worth A$10 billion dollars on Monday, vowing to push for an early free trade agreement as they ignored diplomatic concerns to focus on economic ties. Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warmly welcomed China’s Vice-President Xi Jinping to Canberra as he spoke of the booming economic ties with Australia’s biggest trading [...] -
China Pledges Yuan Flexibility
On Sunday, China stated that any appreciation in its currency value would be gradual, a day after announcing that it would allow a more flexible currency. This move is a clear attempt to reassure the Chinese people that there would not be a disruptive change, many of whom view the appreciation as a sign of [...] -
China’s Xi in Australia to strengthen ties
Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping is in Australia for a five-day visit, in which he hopes to strengthen ties and discuss a proposal for an iron ore tax. It is the first official high-level visit by a Chinese official since Australian national Stern Hu was jailed in March. Since that row however, [...] -
Malaysia terror bombing plot revealed
The Malaysian police revealed for the first time on June 17 the alleged terrorist plot by ten Islamic extremists arrested on January 22. According to the report, the group planned to blow up two houses of worship in Penang and Selangor to protest against the government whom they felt was failing [...] -
Thailand to consider amnesty for red-shirt protesters
Deputy Prime Minister and Center for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) Director Suthep Thaugsuban, said that the CRES is to consider an amnesty decree for the convicted “red-shirt” protesters who are charged with minor offenses after the two-month-long mass rally from March 12 to May 19. No amnesty, however, [...] -
South Korea fails second rocket launch attempt
On June 10, South Korea’s space rocket, the KLSV-1, exploded 137.19 seconds after blastoff from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province, said the Minister of Education, Science and Technology Ahn Byong-man. The space rocket, carrying an observation satellite designed to study global warming and climate change, exploded at [...] -
Aquino wins Philippines election
Benigno Aquino III, son of former president Corazon Aquino, won the 2010 May elections, according to a congressional count. An opposition leader, Binay, was elected Vice President. Aquino, won about 15 million votes, an estimated 5.7 million more than his closest opponent, Joseph Estrada. Aquino, whose victory, is seen as a result of his promise to [...] -
North Korea Warns UN against South’s Accusation
North Korea has sent a letter addressed to the UN Security Council, rejecting claims it sank a South Korean warship and warning the council not to debate the issue. Urging the council to facilitate Pyongyang’s own investigation into the incident, the letter comes as Seoul said it had finished installing loud speakers on its borders [...] -
New Japanese PM to be Sworn In
New centre-left Prime Minister Naoto Kan and his cabinet are due to formally take over the Japanese government on Tuesday with their swearing in by Emperor Akihito. Mr Kan replaced Yukio Hatoyama last week, who stepped down after apologising for breaking an election pledge to move a US airbase off Okinawa island and for political [...] -
Shangri-La Dialogue discusses deepening regional ties
The ministers at the Shangri la dialogue – held on 4-6 June 2010 – discussed the importance of deepening regional ties. Military ties between US and China, sinking of a South Korean corvette that killed 46 people, Five Power Defence Arrangement (FPDA), were the key issues on the second day of the Asian Security Summit. [...] -
New Thai cabinet ministers sworn in before King
On June 7 at Siriraj hospital, the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva led his new cabinet ministers to take oath of office in front of His Majesty the King. The eight newly-appointed ministers and deputy ministers include Chaiwuti Bannawat, the Industry Minister; Chaiyos Jiramethakorn, the Deputy Education Minister; Chalerm Sri-on, the [...] -
ASEAN and GCC ministers reach two-year action plan to foster relations
At the second ASEAN-GCC ministerial meeting at the Sentosa Golf Club on June 1, the ministers of ASEAN and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) agreed on a two-year action plan to enhance relations between the two regions. The plan outlines measures for cooperation in various areas including trade and investment, economic [...] -
Japan’s Hatoyama Steps Down over Base Row
According to national broadcaster NHK, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama will announce his resignation at an emergency plenary meeting of ruling party lawmakers later today. Hatoyama’s broken campaign promise to move a US Marine base off Okinawa caused protests to erupt and approval ratings for the Democratic Party of Japan to drop severely. This announcement comes [...] -
Malaysia joins international community in condemning Israeli raid on Turkish ship
Malaysia condemns the Israeli raid on the Turkish ship, Mavi Marmara, on the morning of May 31, which has left the fate of eleven Malaysians on board unknown. Eleven Malaysians, including nine volunteers and two members of the media, were on board the ship, which was attacked by Israeli naval commandos off the Gaza coast. [...] -
China Neglects to Censure North Korea at Summit
The tragic sinking of the Cheonan dominated the recent tri-nation summit held in South Korea, a conference originally meant to discuss trade relations. Resisting pressure from South Korean and Japanese leaders during two days of talks, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao of China gave no indication that his government was ready to join in reproaching North [...] -
Thai Criminal Court Issued Thaksin Terror Warrant
The Criminal Court of Thailand has approved a request from the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) for a warrant against former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on terrorism charges. Following court testimony including clips of Mr. Thaksin speaking to the red-shirt protestors via video links, the terror warrant charges him of masterminding and funding the violent [...] -
ASEAN and European Union express concern over Korea
The South East Asian nations and countries of the European Union, expressed ‘deep concern’ over the rising tensions in the Korean peninsula. Tensions in the Korean peninsula have been rising, due to the sinking of the South Korean corvette on March 26 and the investigation that ensued. Investigators have said that they have overwhelming evidence that [...] -
North Korea to Sever All Ties with South
In a protest against allegations that they torpedoed one of the South’s warships, North Korea will be severing all ties with South Korea. This drastic move includes expelling all of South Korean personnel from a jointly-run industrial factory north of the border, and prohibiting South Korean ships and planes from its territorial waters and airspace. [...] -
China and USA commence talks on trade and North Korea
The United States and China begin high-level talks in Beijing, today. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner begin their Strategic Economic dialogue with their counterparts in China. Topping the agenda of the talks will be Korean tensions after a multinational panel on Thursday blamed a North Korean submarine for torpedoing the [...] -
Relocation of Futenma airbase, Okinawa, Japan
Mr. Hatoyama has announced that the Futenma airbase would be moved elsewhere on the island of Okinawa. Although this decision has been commended by the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it may not go down well with the Okinawans. But, the tensions on the Korean Peninsula could ease the pressure on the Prime Minister. Japan has [...] -
ADMM Plus- New regional architecture
Important steps were taken at the 4th ASEAN Defence Ministers Meeting (ADMM), held on May 10-11 in Hanoi, Vietnam. The ASEAN members signed a joint declaration for the formation of ADMM-Plus – being “a key feature of regional security architecture”. As the international centre of economics and security is moving towards East Asia, the challenge lies [...] -
Curfew Imposed in Bangkok After Arson Attack
A third of Thailand spent the night under curfew after an arson and looting attack destroyed at least 27 buildings in Bangkok’s premier district while most demonstrators dispersed from the Red Shirt encampment. The work of militant protesters, some of the buildings set ablaze include Central World, one of Southeast Asia’s largest shopping centres, [...]
