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As geopolitical tensions and concerns about the environment deepened, APEC’s 2023 agenda focused on fostering sustainable and inclusive development, highlighting its pivotal role as a forum for constructive discussion to promote international cooperation. The question, however, was whether APEC, built on the voluntary commitment of Asia Pacific economies to cooperate in managing their large common ambitions for open, sustainable regional development, could straddle the political and other fissures that were dividing its members.    The fractious atmospherics surrounding the San Francisco summit underscored this question. Outside the Moscone Centre where the APEC Leaders’ Meeting was held, the loudest protest was that APEC was ‘doing nothing’ about the environment or for ordinary people; that APEC was only about ‘free trade and big business.’ In fact, in 2023, APEC did much to engage the interests of community stakeholders. Shepherded by the United States, APEC — which has long ha

COVID-19 disrupted human capital formation in Asia when many countries were racing against time to escape the middle-income trap before their populations began to age. The pandemic has robbed them of the demographic dividend which they had been waiting to harness as they moved to a higher-income country status. Excess deaths in Southeast Asia alone were an estimated 1.21 million , almost quadruple the officially reported deaths. This compares with excess deaths globally of 18.2 million, which was triple the number of officially reported COVID-19 deaths at 5.94 million. The pandemic resulted in significant learning loss, which increased ‘learning poverty’ — the share of 10-year-olds who cannot read and understand an age-appropriate text. This has been especially severe in middle-income countries in Asia. The pandemic also increased out-of-pocket healthcare costs, especially the costs of care for the elderly, crowding out other essential household expenses. Primary healthcare serv

Following Papua New Guinea’s (PNG)  devastating riots  in early January 2024, Foreign Minister Justin Tkachenko  told journalists  that in September 2023 China had offered to provide training, equipment and surveillance technology to the PNG police force. Further, the two countries are in the early stages of negotiations over potential security cooperation. This revelation  added to concerns in Australia  around geopolitical competition in the Pacific region, though  Tkachenko later said  PNG will not ‘jeopardise or compromise relations’ with traditional security partners.  Should such a deal materialise, this would be the latest in China’s expanding engagement with Pacific police forces — the main security agency in most Pacific countries. Since 2013, China’s Ministry of Public Security has sent two police officers at a time from the Ministry and city-level bureaus on attachment to the Fiji Police Force for 3–6 months. In September 2021, China sent its first police liaison office

While palm oil has been acclaimed for its versatility and economic viability, it has also garnered severe criticism over its significant contribution to tropical deforestation. There is growing advocacy for deforestation-free palm oil, while alternative vegetable oils have also been proposed as substitutes. Palm oil is a cornerstone of the global economy, with diverse applications spanning from food and cosmetics to biofuels and industrial lubricants. Unsurprisingly, the commodity has garnered favour among farmers in tropical regions for its robust market demand, high productivity and cost accessibility. Yet escalating demand for palm oil has engendered adverse effects on environmental sustainability. Oil palm plantations in Indonesia have expanded from 4.7 million hectares in 2001 to 15.3 million hectares in 2022, yielding adverse repercussions on the environment and society. A 2019 study found palm oil plantations to be the primary contributor to deforestation , while also de

In 2023, North Korea intensified its political and economic development. Pyongyang is going back to its historical roots, dedicating economic resources to the heavy industries where it has a comparative advantage. Although Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un pays lip-service to the idea of raising living standards, the overwhelming narrative is one of continuous retrograde. This is to the detriment of ordinary people. North Korea’s return to its historical roots was made clear in the published notes from the Ninth Plenary Meeting of the Eighth Workers’ Party of Korea Central Committee, held in the capital in late 2023. In a development that preceded the COVID-19 pandemic but was also accelerated by it, North Korea has increasingly sought to expand control and oversight over its economy. This is a reversal of the strategy it has held since the early 2000s, where it had let markets and market mechanisms increasingly dominate the national economy. Daily NK reported in late 2023 that the gov

On 7 January 2024 the incumbent Awami League (AL) was re-elected in Bangladesh in an election that was neither free nor fair. The election was described by the international media as  a bad day for democracy  and a  charade , while many doubted the  legitimacy of the election results.  Due to major opposition parties’ boycott of the election, only the AL and its affiliates competed. For the competing candidates, winning the elections was dependent on pre-election negotiations with the ruling party.  The lead-up to the election was rife with protests and counter-protests by the opposition and ruling parties. The opposition, led by the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP),  drew huge crowds  to Dhaka and other urban centres. Their key demand was the establishment of a neutral, interim caretaker government to oversee the election. The opposition’s demand was grounded in previous controversial and rigged elections in 2014 and 2018 under the regime of AL Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. In

In just 13 months, the Cambodia–France bilateral relationship has experienced a rapid transformation. The government of new Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet has continued its predecessor’s strategic overture to France with rigour. Meanwhile, under President Emmanuel Macron France has embraced Cambodia, aiming to boost its economic, cultural and diplomatic influence in the country and in the ASEAN bloc more broadly as part of Macron’s  tilt towards the Indo-Pacific . Between December 2022 and January 2024, there have been three official visits by Cambodian leaders to France, including by former prime minister Hun Sen, King Norodom Sihamoni and most recently Prime Minister Manet. Notably, France is the first European country Manet has officially visited since taking office in August 2023. Manet’s visit to France concluded with commitments from both sides to bolster trade, investment and defence cooperation. France expressed its support for Cambodia’s  2050 carbon neutrality plan  

Japan’s population began to decline after peaking at 128 million in 2008, registering 125 million in 2022. If this trend continues, Japan’s population is projected to decline to 63 million in 2100, half of its population in 2022. Behind the trend lies Japan’s declining birth rate. Japan’s birth rate declined from 9.5 births per 1000 women in 2000 to 6.8 per 1000 in 2020. A declining population and birth rate coupled with long life expectancy have resulted in an aging population. The proportion of the population aged over 65 increased from 17.4 per cent in 2000 to 29.0 per cent in 2022 and is projected to rise to 41.2 per cent in 2100. In contrast, the working age population (people aged between 15 and 64) declined from 68.1 per cent of the population in 2000 to 59.4 per cent in 2022, and is projected to decline to 51.1 per cent in 2100. There are several reasons for this depopulation. One is the high economic cost of having and raising children. This is a particularly acute probl

After Pakistan’s turbulent election period, the government elected after 8 February 2024 will have to deal with the vexed problem of Pakistan’s foreign debt. Pakistan’s foreign debt obligations appear modest. By mid-2023, the State Bank of Pakistan estimated it to be US$124.5 billion, or 42 per cent of GDP. This is not high by international standards. But the country’s annual foreign exchange earnings from exports are not enough to pay for imports. During 2022–23, Pakistan’s current account deficit was US$30.5 billion, excluding remittances . Almost 90 per cent of this was covered by remittances of Pakistanis working abroad, and the rest mainly by new foreign borrowing. Domestic troubles will impede increased export earnings in 2024. For example, textiles are Pakistan’s main export, but textile producers have closed workshops as rising electricity prices reduced their ability to produce for export in 2023. The Federal Investigation Agency ’s 2023 crackdown on illegal foreign exc

This week Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host ASEAN heads of government in Melbourne for the second ASEAN­–Australia Special Summit on Australian soil, on the 50th anniversary of the ASEAN-Australia dialogue partnership. Plenty has changed since the first iteration of this summit, arguably the most important diplomatic event hosted by Australia alongside the occasional APEC or G20 summit. When former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull hosted ASEAN heads of government in Sydney in 2018, Australia’s political class was in the middle of a swing from complacency to hysteria about what China’s rising power meant for Australian security. Since then, the election of the centre-left Labor Party government has sought to restore some balance, embracing a more diplomatic rhetoric on China and pursuing a strategy of ‘stabilisation’ of the relationship, even while deepening defence ties with the United States and common allies in East Asia. Grandstanding on the China relationshi