Southeast Asia: The next manufacturing hub? Reality trumps ambition  

Written by Stephen Nagy and Hanh Nguyen

US lawmakers and officials are contemplating a ‘reshoring fund’ of $25 billion to encourage critical suppliers to move out of China. Japan earmarked more than $2 billion in subsidies for companies to either bring manufacturing back home or diversify supply chains to Southeast Asia.

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The time for building democracy in Hong Kong was before Britain handed over to China – now it may be too late

Written by Andreas Fulda

The demise of the ‘one country, two systems’ formula raises the question whether this descent into authoritarianism could have been prevented. Would the situation today be different if the UK had done more to institutionalise democracy prior to the 1997 handover?

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Myanmar's election: The long game is better than no game at all

Written by Tej Parikh

Developing a twin-track process of economic support and civil society engagement is a substantial challenge as trust in the international community within Myanmar is low. It remains hard for outside players, especially Western actors, to exert influence in the country’s peace process, legislation, and ministries.

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What to expect from Biden’s foreign policy? Probably not much – and that’s okay

Written by Amy E. P. Kasper

There will likely be a great deal of idealism in Biden’s foreign policy; one example of this is his promise to convene a summit of world democracies within the first year of his presidency. Such a move could start to rebuild key relationships, a talent for which Biden is known.

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China-Nepal territorial tensions: Lessons from history

Written by Sanjay Pulipaka and Mohit Musaddi

Chinese scholars reportedly made a case for Tajikistan to 'return’ the Pamir region, which once ‘belonged to China’. This perhaps is a signal that Beijing is keen to develop greater control of territories adjoining the troubled provinces of Xinjiang and Tibet.

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North Korea: A ceaseless rise and the battle for succession

Written by Joe Varner

Differences between the current White House and an incoming Biden administration could be thrown into sharp relief in response to an ICBM test-fire by the North, as one is charged (even in its dying days) with protecting the US, while the other is chomping at the bit to set a new course in two months time.

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Myanmar’s NLD wins election but loses fight against disinformation

Written by Hunter Marston

The NLD failed to set clear policies to deal with misinformation or the deliberate spreading of misleading information. Worse, it has targeted journalists and critics of the government for speaking out, while it did nothing to challenge military-linked opponents who spread misinformation.

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In Brief: Digital Minister Audrey Tang — Taiwan

With Audrey Tang

There are various propositions, like data trust, data coalitions, data cooperatives but the core idea is how not to fall into authoritarian intelligence on one side, and surveillance capitalism on the other. This is where Taiwan can help, it is my ambition, and, I think, is also an ambition for the EU.

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Malabar 2020: Accelerating the pace of Quad cooperation?

Written by Pratnashree Basu

Understood from this perspective, the participation of Australia in this year’s Malabar exercise along with the three other participants elevates the geostrategic significance of the exercise and marks an additional sphere of engagement in the already many-tiered network of alliances that the Indo-Pacific has given rise to.

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