Today Trends

Authors: Poonam Singh, National Institute of Industrial Engineering and Vikas Kumar, Azim Premji University The liberalisation of India’s economy in the early 1990s reduced the direct involvement of the government in various sectors. The emergence of private firms in previously closed sectors and a reduced role for public sector enterprises meant that sectoral regulations had to be introduced to protect the interests of consumers while also offering a stable and predictable market environment. The dysfunctional Monopolies and Restrictive Trade Practices Act was replaced by the Competition Act in 2002. As part of the Act, the Competition Commission of India (CCI) was formed in 2003. The Act had to be amended twice over the next decade before the CCI became operational. But this extended genesis has not provided clarity around the scope and jurisdiction of the CCI with respect to sectoral regulators — and regulatory shopping has emerged as a major source of conflict. In a simila

Author: Rumi Aoyama, Waseda University In the past decade, Japan has actively promoted cooperation among Quad member countries under the ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ framework to counter China’s rising influence. It has played a leading role in promoting high-quality trade rules through the conclusion of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership , the Japan–EU Economic Partnership Agreement and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership . Most importantly, Japan has maintained a delicate balance to ensure security tensions do not hold back the deepening of economic cooperation. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s visit to the United States in April demonstrated the success of Japan’s balanced diplomacy. Both countries sent strong messages of common values and unified action, addressing ‘the importance of peace and stability’ across the Taiwan Strait. They also highlighted ‘serious concerns’ over human rights violations in Hong Kong and Xinjiang an

Author: Hai Hong Nguyen, UQ The Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) has completed a major reshuffle across the country’s political machinery, including the party apparatus, the government and the national assembly. The reshuffle follows the conclusion of the 13th Congress in February 2021. Before the Congress, the continuity of the CPV’s high-profile anti-corruption campaign led by Secretary-General Nguyen Phu Trong, who was expected to step down due to his advanced age and ailing health, was unclear. But Trong beat the odds when he was re-elected for a third term, despite his election breaching CPV rules. Having handed over the presidency to former prime minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, Trong is now free to focus on fortifying Party power with one hand, while fighting corruption and cleaning up the Party on the other. Chairperson of the Central Anti-Corruption Steering Committee since 2013, Trong christened Vietnam’s anti-corruption drive, Dot Lo (or furnace firing). Trong’s efforts ove

Author: Julius Cesar Trajano, RSIS Philippine National Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana criticised the ‘swarm’ of 220 militarised Chinese fishing vessels around the Whitsun Reef in the South China Sea on 21 March. In his view, the act was a provocation within the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone and on its continental shelf. It is legally recognised as such under international law and the 2016 South China Sea Arbitration. Whitsun Reef is part of the Union Banks — a submerged atoll at the centre of the Spratly Islands that is claimed by China, the Philippines and Vietnam. The latest incident raises concerns that ‘swarms’ of militarised Chinese vessels might be a prelude to Beijing taking de facto control over the maritime feature, as it did to Mischief Reef in 1995 and Scarborough Shoal in 2012. The Philippine Foreign Affairs Department has issued almost daily diplomatic protests to the Chinese embassy, demanding that Beijing promptly withdraw its maritime assets across all

Author: Mason Richey, HUFS Festina lente : make haste slowly. Will this principle set the tenor for the 21 May summit between US president Joe Biden and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in? The meeting marks the first opportunity for the leaders to convene in person to coordinate on global, regional and Korean Peninsula challenges. As important, however, will be whether Biden and Moon take time to build rapport as heads of state. There will be pressure to keep pleasantries short, as the agenda is full of tricky subjects important to the US–ROK alliance: North Korea, COVID-19 vaccines and relations with China. Yet curtailing the bonhomie would be a mistake. Particularly for Moon, pressing policy issues without first connecting with Biden on a personal level risks appearing alternately desperate and overbearing. Yet he will be tempted. Biden is newly inaugurated, while Moon is approaching lame-duck status and needs foreign policy wins to burnish his legacy and improve his party’s

Authors: Robyn Klingler-Vidra, KCL and Yu-Ching Kuo, Kaohsiung US and Taiwanese semiconductor powerhouses Intel and TSMC have both recently announced plans to build giant semiconductor plants in Arizona. The ‘reshoring’ of semiconductor chip production from Taiwan to the United States will change this essential industry and the geopolitics surrounding it. Taiwan is the linchpin of the world’s supply of chips. In 2020, Taiwan’s TSMC constituted nearly 90 per cent of the market for advanced chips. Semiconductors power modern technology , including smartphones, cars, computers and a growing range of ‘smart’ devices. Both China and the United States, as well as others, are reliant on Taiwan’s manufacturing of semiconductors. In recent years, the Taiwanese semiconductor industry has attracted attention in light of US–China trade tensions and Taiwanese manufactures have sought to engage with both countries so as not to lose out on access to either of these massive markets. In an eff

Author: Nikita Kansal, Delhi On 6 May 2021, India reported more than 414,000 new cases of COVID-19, which was the world’s largest single-day record. The total tally of cases in India has now surpassed 24 million, second only to the United States. India’s total reported fatalities are over 260,000, but experts suggest this is a vast undercount in a country of more than 1.3 billion people. As a second wave wreaks havoc throughout the country, the public healthcare system is on the brink of collapse and thousands of afflicted citizens have been abandoned by the state. Those belonging to low-income categories are disproportionately impacted by an overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure. About 60 per cent of India’s population live below the poverty line and one third live in slums, without access to basic services like running water, indoor toilets and electricity. On average, life in the slums means living in a 9-square-metre shanty shared by 8–10 people and the use of community toil

Author: Kabir Taneja, ORF After much delay and anticipation, US President Joe Biden recently announced that all American troops will withdraw from Afghanistan by 11 September 2021 — the 20th anniversary of Washington’s longest running war. Yet the Taliban may be using the delayed withdrawal to prepare for a more drawn-out and austere ‘ spring offensive ’ — a seasonal operation that occurs during the Winter thaw around early March. In anticipation of the US withdrawal, old regional rivalries — such as between India and Pakistan — mean that states are preparing once again to ensure their interests survive a potential civil war. While the Taliban have historically enjoyed Pakistani patronage, India has empowered alternative factions and now lends support to the fledgling Afghan democracy project. Pakistan, a country at the forefront of mainstreaming the Taliban, continues to hold significant sway over the group and the shuras that dictate its ideology. Pakistan’s civilian governmen

Authors: Yuk Wah Chan, CityU and David Haines, George Mason University COVID-19 has made life more sedentary for people around the world. In addition to local lockdowns and social distancing, international border crossings ground to a near halt as global tourism tumbled. International arrivals declined by almost 75 per cent last year, from 1.5 billion in 2019 to just 381 million in 2020. Before the pandemic, one could hardly ever have imagined a radical reduction in international human movement in an age of hyper-globalisation. The effect of COVID-19 on international mobility can be characterised as a ‘ diseasescape ’ where diseases flow across borders just as easily as money, news, people and ideas. The Asia Pacific region was the hardest-hit by the tourism shutdown, suffering a decline of 84 per cent in international arrivals from 360 million in 2019 to 57 million in 2020. COVID-19 returned tourism to the level of three decades ago when only the affluent could travel, largely ex

Author: Arun R Swamy, University of Guam All of the participating parties in the latest round of Indian state elections made some gains — with one exception. The once-dominant Indian National Congress (INC) continued its slide into irrelevance. The national ruling party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), did not fare much better but could take some solace from expanding beyond its traditional strongholds, mostly at the expense of the INC. The big winners were regional parties who continued to dominate in the states they govern. Yet even for these parties, the elections hid some dark clouds. Set against the backdrop of India’s second COVID-19 surge in which a homegrown variant of the virus is ravaging the country, the elections provide few clues for the future. Five jurisdictions went to the polls this spring in a process spread out over several months due to concerns about security and the spread of COVID-19. Two states, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and one union territory, Puducherry,