Navigating the middle: Japan-Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition

Written by Dr Sophal Ear

Cambodia offers a litmus test: if Japan can sustain influence there, it may do so across mainland Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia, East Asia9DLMay 29, 20259DASHLINE, Sophal Ear, Navigating the middle: Japan–Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia, Japan, United States, China, diplomacy, development, peacebuilding, foreign policy, agency, Great power rivalry, Tokyo, liberal values, Southeast Asia, defense diplomacy, Cambodia’s Ream base, 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), Official Development Assistance (ODA), aid, bilateral donor, Sihanoukville, soft infrastructure, authoritarianism, Phnom Penh, Strategic Partnership, international norms, rule of law, maritime security, ASEAN, South China Sea, Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) framework, Yōko Kamikawa, human resource development, digital connectivity, climate change, US tariffs, transhipment, public debt, United Nations Human Rights Council, debt trap, European Union, “Everything But Arms” scheme, sanctions, democratic backsliding, Hun Manet, “multi-vector” diplomacy, Beijing, alignment, national interest, liberal internationalism, Belt and Road Initiative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), civil society, Cultural diplomacy, Japan-Cambodia Kizuna Festival, Japanese pop culture, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, State of Southeast Asia surveys, Ream Naval Base, Vietnamese People’s Navy, South China Sea (SCS), multilateralisation, Cold War, Soviet, balancing, non-alignment, middle power, FDI, The Asia Foundation, Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC), Navigating the middle: Japan-Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition

Germany’s Indo-Pacific aspirations and realities

Written by Dr Rafal Ulatowski

Germany is too weak militarily to change the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific. Its military presence satisfies the expectations of the regional middle powers and of the United States while having only a minor adverse impact on Germany’s relations with China.

Europe and the Indo-Pacific9DLJanuary 10, 20249DashLine, Germany’s Indo-Pacific aspirations and realities, Rafal Ulatowski, Germany, Indo-Pacific, European Union, EU, bilateral, regional powers, liberal international order, open markets, China, trade, Chinese-German cooperation, intergovernmental consultations, German-Chinese partnership, Policy Guidelines for the Indo-Pacific, National Security Strategy, Strategy on China, German Navy, German frigate Bayern, German National Security Strategy, German Strategy on China, US-Chinese competition, diversifying, diversification, democratic values, German-Chinese relations, comprehensive strategic partnership, Federation of German Industries (BDI), partner, competitor, Italy, important partner, systemic rival, military presence, Bayern frigate, Operation Rapid Pacific, Australia, symbolic, middle powers, Japan, India, South Korea, Singapore, democracies, shared values, resilient supply chains, German arms exports, investments, export, Taiwan, Hing Kong, Hong Kong, malaysia, Thailand, FDI, Luxembourg, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, de-risking, decoupling, Alliance 90/The Greens, Social Democrats, German companies, sensitive technologies, United Kingdom, Bundeswehr, Zeitenwende, NATO, defence spending, 2 per cent goal, Berlin, United States, confrontation, strategic interests, SIPRI, Russia-Ukrainian war, dependence, great powers, COVID-19 pandemic

China, transnational organised crime, and Southeast Asia’s SEZs — is this Quid pro quo?

Written by Marco Neveu and Charlie Thame

Xi’s anti-corruption projects in the mainland seem to have sparked a degree of outward mobility by the triads from the authoritarian domestic core towards the more liminal and experimental periphery of Chinese influence.

Faultlines9DLNovember 11, 20229DashLine, China, transnational organised crime, and Southeast Asia’s SEZs: Quid pro quo?, Marco Neveu, Charlie Thame, crime, Southeast Asia, Radio Free Asia, Laos, Malaysian workers, Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), enclave, Laotian, Chinese, Hong Kong, Kings Roman Group, torture, slavery, Sexual Slavery, online scam, Special Economic Zone, ASEAN, organised crime, transnational organised criminal (TOC), UNODC, global supply chains, trafficking, human trafficking, corruption, Thai, Thailand, neo-colonialist, exploitation, Sexual exploitation, economic development, FDI, Xi Jinping, authoritarian, Cold War, Truman administration, United Nations, UN, Bretton Woods institutions, Asian Development Bank, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Sihanoukville SEZ, Sihanoukville, Cambodia, scam, China’s Ministry of Commerce, Overseas Trade and Cooperation, Myanmar, Belt and Road Initiative, Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), state-owned enterprises, China Communications Construction Company (CCCC), triad, triads, Han nationalist, secret societies, Qing dynasty, Kuomintang (KMT), Bamboo Union, Chang An-lo, Taiwan, anti-corruption campaign, gangs, spies, Intelligence, patriotism, Americas, Beijing, Chang An-lo (“White Wolf”), Wan Kuok-koi (“Broken Tooth”), Zhao Wei, Malaysia’s Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah, diplomacy, police, crime syndicate, Hun Sen, APEC 2022 forum, APEC

Campaigns, criminalisation and concessions: Indigenous land rights in Cambodia

Written by Bunly Soeung

In Cambodia, the violation of the land rights of indigenous peoples who have lived for thousands of years in their ancestral forests continues unabated.

Editor's Picks9DLAugust 31, 20229DashLine, Campaigns, criminalisation, and concessions: indigenous land rights in Cambodia, Bunly Soeung, Cambodia, indigenous communities, indigenous peoples, indigenous rights, chuncheat, Khmer, North Cambodia, North Eastern Cambodia, Ratanakiri, Mondulkiri, Kratie, Stung Treng, Kampong Thom, Preah Vihear, forests, natural resources, agricultural production, slash-and-burn cultivation, forest resources, Khmer Rouge, civil war, abolished private land ownership, vietnam, UNTAC, timber extraction, agro-industrial plantation, Department of Ethnic Minorities Development, Ministry of Rural Development and Land Law, Land Management and Administration Project, Sub-Decree on Economic Land Concessions, UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Protected Area Law, National Policy on the Development of Indigenous Peoples, Sub-Decree No. 83, registration of land, private industrial agriculture companies, LICADHO, economic land concessions, ELCs, state land, industrial agriculture investment, rural communities, large-scale industrial agriculture, granted lands, human rights, hydropower construction, exploitative mining, illegal logging, deforestation, displacement, environmental pollution, ruling elite, concessions, China, Foreign Direct Investment, FDI, patron-client networks, political elites, patronage system, corruption, land policy reform, politico-commercial elites, high-ranking officials, Try Pheap, TTY, Chinese Guangdong Hengfu Group, Communal land registration, legal communal land titles, Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Interior, Chong, Koh Kong, Areng Valley, hydropower dam, Ministry of Environment, lèse-majesté, Chut Wutty, Ven Vorn, Mother Nature Cambodia, Casotim, Phnom Penh, BUNLY SOEUNG

Italy pushes back against China’s technology transfer

Written by Francesca Ghiretti and Rebecca Arcesati

Mario Draghi’s new unit to screen FDI in strategic sectors should be concerned with more than inbound investments. Particularly, the new division should consider turning its attention towards research and innovation (R&I) exchanges.

Faultlines9DLJune 23, 20229DASHLINE, Francesca Ghiretti, Rebecca Arcesati, FDI, Foreign Direct Investment, Mario Draghi, Italy, Rome, China, Beijing, Europe, R&I, research and innovation, Technology, Golden Power, Shenzhen Investment Holdings, Lpe, semiconductors, epitaxy reactors, Verisem, Sygenta, Sinochem, Swiss, Zhejiang Jingsheng Mechanica, Hong Kong, American Applied Materials, solar power, EFORT, ROBOX, drones, Alpi Aviation, Mars Information Technology Co, Iveco, FAW Jiefang, Center for Security and Emerging Technology, China-Italy Technology Transfer Center, CITTC, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, Milan Polytechnic University, National University of Defense Technology, NUDT, University of Pavia, Microelectronics Innovation Lab, Huawei, US Department of Commerce’s Entity List, 5G, Sardinia, Xianjiang, COPASIR, Germany, Berlin, EU, Council of Ministers, cybersecurity, banking, insurance, water, healthcare, agriculture, food, Italy pushes back against China’s technology transfer, Syngenta, CCP, Xinjiang, Human Rights, MERICS, Mercator Institute for China Studies

The impact of the war in Ukraine on the Indian economy

Written by Anuttama Banerji

India has the opportunity to reassess its priorities and shift from being a fuel-dependent economy to a greener one, reducing its dependence on autocratic states.

India’s domestic manufacturing amidst COVID-19

Written by Akhil Bery

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and ahead of the 2024 general elections, the Indian government needs to focus its efforts on job creation.

India’s evolving approach toward China’s border incursions

Written by Kunal Singh

A New Delhi which is less interested in balancing China will be less useful to its partners in the Quad, and India is indeed the only Quad country to have engaged China in military combat for many years.

Pacific9DLAugust 2, 2021Galwan, PLA, Hot Springs, Gogra, Depsang, Doklam, Ladakh, 9dashline, New Delhi, India, China, BRICS, apps, 5G, FDI, Huawei, Quad, US, Japan, Australia, South Asia

China and Central Europe: A love affair that was never meant to be?

Written by Tamás Matura

China has indeed made mistakes in its courtship of the region in the past decade. Together with CEE governments, it raised expectations it could not fulfil and followed a top-down approach targeting the elites of CEE societies instead of winning the hearts and minds of the people.

Faultlines9DLJuly 13, 20219dashline, China, EU, Europe, European Union, 16+1, 17+1, CEE, China and Eastern Europe, Eastern Europe, Balkans, Berlin Wall, Hungary, Greece, South China Sea, Human Rights, World War Two, Xi Jinping, PRC, FDI, Lithuania, COVID, Covid19, COVID-19, US, Soft Power, 5G, Romania, Orban, Ponta, Zeman

Negotiating the BRI: Insights from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor

Written by Filippo Boni and Katharine Adeney

Recipient countries need to build mechanisms to ensure that technology transfers and training are integral to the development of BRI projects. Otherwise, these important issues may end up on the backburner.

Faultlines9DLJune 7, 20219dashline, China, Pakistan, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, CPEC, Xi Jinping, Belt and Road Initiative, BRI, Gwadar, Indian Ocean, Nawaz Sharif, Rashakai Special Economic Zone, Special Economic Zone, FDI, Foreign Direct Investment

ASEAN centrality in trade and investment

Written by Ong Kian Ming

ASEAN must also be willing to push the envelope when it comes to economic diplomacy in a manner that would strengthen the unity of the grouping and safeguard the interests of its members.