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Author: Thomas Wilkins, University of Sydney Realist international relations scholars predicted that after the Cold War Japan would revert to its ’normal’ position in the global hierarchy of great powers. In a seminal 1993 article, Kenneth Waltz asserted that ‘much in Japan’s institutions and behaviour supports the proposition that it will once again take its place among the great powers’. According to most realist theorists, this entailed the reacquisition of archetypical great power military capabilities and an independent nuclear deterrent. But after decades passed and this prediction failed to eventuate, Japan specialists searched for explanations. They settled on Japan’s national identity as a ‘global civilian power’ and its ‘ nuclear allergy ’ — a consequence of the atomic bombings of World War II. In his new book , leading scholar on Japanese security policy Christopher Hughes characterised Japan as a ‘global’ military power. He claims that ‘Japan is demonstrating all the

Author: Nguyen Khac Giang, Victoria University of Wellington The Vietnam–China relationship has not been in good shape in the last decade. So it was a surprise when Nguyen Phu Trong, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, became the first foreign leader to visit China after the historic 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. Trong’s visit seemed to disappoint a few keen observers who believe this does not bode well for Hanoi’s apparent pivot to the United States. Yet from a broader perspective, Trong’s visit is a careful hedging act that reflects the complexity of Vietnam’s internal politics and external geopolitical environment. Given the economic dependency, security concerns and ideological links between Vietnam and China, Hanoi’s attitude towards its big neighbour is more complex than the binary view often held by the West. Vietnam remains somewhere between a frontline state in the Indo-Pacific for the United States and a well-behaved comrade for China. L

Author: Carice Witte, SIGNAL Former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party is set to form a stable 64-seat far-right coalition following November 2022’s legislative election. The shape of this government, along with Netanyahu’s personal criminal trial, will impact how this new government approaches Israel’s relations with Asia. During Netanyahu’s extended stint as prime minister from 2009 to 2021, he spearheaded Israel’s pivot to Asia. Netanyahu’s administration launched free trade negotiations with China, India, South Korea and Vietnam. Defence ties with Thailand were initiated in 2017, security cooperation with South Korea and the Philippines grew and weapons sales to India and Vietnam flourished. But the highlight of Israel’s pivot to Asia was in its relations with China. Netanyahu took great pride in advancing business and technology ties with China. The countries forged an innovation partnership in 2013 , with Netanyahu establishing the Israel–China Joint

Author: Deborah Brautigam, John Hopkins University In 1949, former US president Harry Truman launched the first US global aid program, declaring that ‘all nations [should] work together through the United Nations’ in ‘a worldwide effort for the achievement of peace, plenty, and freedom’. At the 76th United Nations General Assembly in 2021, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the global community to again refocus on sustainable development with the proposal of China’s Global Development Initiative (GDI). The GDI asks the global community to ‘refocus’ on development, ‘recommit’ to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), ‘reinvigorate’ global partnerships and ‘reactivate’ international development cooperation. Like Truman’s initiative, the GDI is vague and emphasises working through the United Nations. It also promises to be a worldwide effort based not on monetary largess but on cooperation and knowledge sharing. The GDI does not supplant China’s Belt and Road Initiativ

Author: Roshni Kapur, Singapore Changes to electoral rules in Jammu and Kashmir, including the potential addition of 2.5 million new voters, have triggered outrage and raised concerns that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is seeking to shift the nature of politics in the region in its favour. Revised electoral rolls announced in August 2022 will include non-locals, members of the security and armed forces deployed in the region, and members of India’s Hindu Kashmiri Pandit diaspora. These groups can register as voters in their respective constituencies even if they are not physically present in Jammu and Kashmir. The electoral roll revision follows the creation of new seats in the local legislature by a special redelineation commission that was constituted as part of New Delhi’s revocation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special constitutional status in 2019. Several local political parties have criticised the electoral changes, with one party leader calling the new electoral desi

Author: Sophie Wushuang Yi, King’s College London In his third term, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s priority is to accelerate China’s active defence military strategy transition from combat readiness to combat effectiveness to fulfil the centenary goals of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) by 2027. China’s key goal is to increase its national security measures for modern warfare in order to consolidate its influence in global security governance. The 20th Party Congress Report indicates that China is attempting to play a more assertive role as a global security actor by building a professionalised army fit for modernised warfare. There is no doubt that ‘security’ is the key concern in Xi’s report at the 20th Party Congress, with the term mentioned 80 times. ‘Security’ has also expanded beyond traditional concerns to include areas such as ideology, culture and outer space. The report also emphasised Beijing’s aims to improve the mechanisms for China’s participation in global secur

Authors: Jun Wen and Fangli Hu, Edith Cowan University and Danni Zheng, Fudan University The Asia Pacific tourism industry was thriving before the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by strong demand from Chinese tourists with increasing disposable incomes. Pre-pandemic, Chinese tourists’ arrival to the Asia Pacific region was forecast to increase to 150 million by 2020 , with an aggregate expenditure of US$230 billion. But this did not materialise due to pandemic-related travel restrictions that still affect Chinese tourists today. Historically, Chinese tourists tended to travel as part of package trips involving group tours with multiple destination stops. This trend is changing as younger Chinese tourists favour more independent forms of travel that allow greater flexibility. But the thriving tourism industry was completely disrupted by the pandemic. The Asia Pacific suffered an 84 per cent plunge in overseas visitors and recorded a 300 million decrease in tourist arrivals. This led to

Authors: Sulistiyo Ardiyono and Arianto Patunru, ANU Indonesia has placed a high bet on the manufacturing sector’s revival by enacting the Omnibus Law on Job Creation, but the country might miss out on the economic opportunities in emerging modern services industries. Almost two years since its enactment , Indonesia’s Omnibus reforms seem to have boosted investment from both foreign and domestic sources. The stock of foreign investments in the 2021–22 financial year is around 21 per cent higher than the 2018–19 figure, while domestic investments have risen by around 41 per cent over the same period. These investments are still dominated by resources-based industries such as metal, mining, food and paper. The non-traditional services sector, known as ‘other services’, stand out in Indonesia’s investment scheme. The non-traditional services sector includes trade, hotels, restaurants and real estate. The total foreign investment in this sector during the 2021–22 financial year was 11

Author: Lance Gore, NUS For a regime constantly flaunting its ‘over 90 per cent approval rate’, the sudden outbreak of protests across China is both embarrassing and perplexing. Three years of severe COVID restrictions have caused frustration and anger toward the government that transcend class and geography — a situation unseen since 1989 and one that strikes fear into the authorities. With the slogan ‘life is above all’, the regime tied its own hands and introduced a narrowly focused epidemic control policy to minimise COVID-19 deaths. It was a great success — China so far has had just over 30,000 cumulative deaths compared to the United States’ 1.1 million. But this was achieved at the expense of estimated tens of thousands of collateral fatalities due to lockdowns, the livelihoods of 1.4 billion people and the entire national economy. These policies suggest neither collective deliberation nor scientific rationale, let alone a role for public opinion. It instead resembles th

Author: Yusaku Yoshikawa, JIN Corporation Recent international incidents like the COVID-19 pandemic and the Ukraine war are forcing countries to rethink their food security. In the case of Japan, increasing rice exports will mitigate the risk of food insecurity by making better use of available agricultural resources. The Japanese government has problematised the country’s low self-sufficiency rate in terms of food security. But the real problem for Japan’s food security is not the low food self-sufficiency rate. Japan is losing and wasting its agricultural assets, such as the labour and land resources that support domestic food production. In Japan’s agricultural sector, the average age of workers is over 65 years old . The number of workers is decreasing by 50,000 every year and farms of over 400,000 hectares are currently being abandoned. Most farmers do not make a living through agriculture alone and maintain side jobs. Some argue that this is not a problem because Japan,