Today Trends

Authors: Kyuseok Kim and Eunyoung Shin, Korea University In 2011, former president of the United States Barack Obama lauded the South Korean education system, where teachers are seen as ‘nation builders’. Inspired by the commendable commitment and quality of educators in South Korea, this praise captivated many within the country. But a decade later, the landscape is vastly different. Thousands of schoolteachers have rallied against the South Korean government following the tragic death of a young teacher in July 2023. Having recently been appointed to a primary school in an affluent part of Seoul, the late teacher found herself ensnared in a distressing situation involving a parent accusing her of child abuse. Several teachers across the country have taken their own lives due to conflicts with students and their parents. In the aftermath of these incidents, teachers across the nation united. Unlike past protests, which were often orchestrated by teacher associations or labour uni

Author: Yokie Rahmad Isjchwansyah, Paramadina Graduate School of Diplomacy Towards the end of 2023, there will be another transition at the helm of the Indonesian military, Tentara Nasional Indonesia (TNI), as TNI commander Admiral Yudo Margono steps into retirement. The Indonesian House of Representatives (DPR) played a crucial role in the transition by conducting a fit and proper test of President Joko Widodo’s sole nominee for TNI commander, Lieutenant General Agus Subiyanto, who was unanimously confirmed by the DPR Defence Commission following a fit and proper test on 13 November. The commission will now request that the DPR approve Subiyanto’s nomination in a plenary session and once approved, Subiyanto will await inauguration as TNI commander by President Joko Widodo. The upcoming changes in the TNI’s leadership have caused widespread public discussion. A member of the First Commission of the DPR, Bobby Adhityo Rizaldi, suggested postponing the succession of the TNI comman

Author: Masayoshi Honma, University of Tokyo Under former prime minister Shinzo Abe’s administration, Japanese agriculture was a target for regulatory reform. There was an especial focus on reforming the organisation of agricultural cooperatives (JA). This was during the time when globalisation was still in progress, with the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) being negotiated — which JA strongly opposed. Japan stubbornly maintained high tariffs on important agricultural products, such as rice, and refused to liberalise agricultural markets to protect domestic farming. But the world was in an era of globalisation that sought liberalisation of finance and investment beyond just expansion of international trade. Though the United States dropped out, 11 countries reached an agreement on the TPP — now called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) — and Japan ratified it despite the resistance of JA. The CPTPP gives Japan opportunities to expand e

Author: Simone Dossi, University of Milan Italy’s participation in the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) may soon come to an end. The country entered China’s initiative in March 2019, when a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed in Rome by former Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Less than five years after the MoU was signed, the whole BRI story risks becoming a major foreign policy failure for Italy. The MoU will be automatically extended in March 2024, unless terminated by either party at least three months in advance — that is, by the end of 2023. As the deadline approaches, the government of current Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is expected to announce its decision soon. Comments by members of government and Italy’s low-profile participation in the recent BRI Forum suggest that Rome may be ready to leave the initiative. In 2019, the Conte I government’s decision to sign the MoU was made amid a heated yet highly ambiguous political

Author: Zoya Hasan, Jawaharlal Nehru University During the September 2023 G20 summit in New Delhi, a dinner invite for foreign dignitaries sent out in the name of Droupadi Murmu, described her as the ‘President of Bharat’ , instead of her official title as the President of India. This prompted frenzied speculation about a change of the country’s name. The ruling Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) claims that the name India smacks of colonial legacy since it was given to the country by British colonial rulers. The two names, India and Bharat, are synonymous and have coexisted for decades. Yet, for the BJP, renaming the country Bharat is part of the larger right-wing project of establishing a majoritarian state. The renaming controversy erupted soon after a bloc of 28 parties decided to form an alliance called the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) that seeks to dislodge the BJP from power. The name of the opposition bloc rattled the ruling dispensation provoking a sh

Authors: Dennis LC Weng, Sam Houston State University and Jarad Jeter, National Chengchi University Terry Gou, founder of Foxconn Technology Group, renowned for its iPhone assembly, has announced his candidacy in the 2024 Taiwanese presidential election. Gou asserts that he has amassed the requisite endorsements to run as an independent contender. While his unexpected candidacy adds complexity to a race with three other aspirants , current polls suggest limited prospects for Gou clinching the presidency. Yet, a careful assessment suggests that Gou’s sustained involvement might influence the electoral outcome, potentially benefiting the incumbent party’s nominee, Vice President Lai Ching-te. Gou, renowned as a business magnate, projects himself as a harbinger of transformative change, particularly in advocating enhanced cross-strait diplomacy. The implications of his candidacy on Taiwan’s political tapestry require consideration. Gou published an op-ed on 17 July to delineate hi

Author: Editorial Board, ANU Small states tend to find it easy to think like great powers — not out of grandiosity, but because their ability to secure their interests on the world stage requires them to anticipate the needs of the big players. But great powers are congenitally bad at doing the opposite, facing less urgent incentives to assimilate the worldviews of smaller states. As Jonathan Kirshner observed recently in an incisive critique of influential realist accounts of US–China competition , ‘like oligopolists in an economy, [great powers] are not just subject to market forces; their behavior shapes the nature of the market itself.’ As Greg Poling and Jude Blanchette argue in this week’s lead article , the obtuse outlook of the hawks in China’s elite about their neighbours’ security anxieties has ‘now become one of the most prominent challenges to [China’s] management of external relations’. They see the deepening tensions between the Philippines and China over maritime c

Authors: Gregory Poling and Jude Blanchette, CSIS On 22 October 2023, two separate collisions took place near Second Thomas Shoal, an underwater feature that an international tribunal in 2016 ruled is part of the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone and continental shelf. A China Coast Guard ship rammed a much smaller civilian vessel contracted by the Philippine Navy to resupply troops stationed aboard the BRP Sierra Madre . In videos  released by both sides , the coastguard vessel can be seen blocking the path of the resupply ship, which attempted to evade the vessel by crossing its bow and was struck. Separate videos show the second collision. The Qiong Sansha Yu 00003, a professional maritime militia vessel operated by China’s state-owned Sansha Fisheries Development Company, pulled alongside and then collided with a stationary Philippine Coast Guard ship. The incident appeared to involve no serious damage, and a second Philippine resupply vessel managed to reach the Sierra Ma

Author: Toshiro Nishizawa, University of Tokyo Australia released its new International Development Policy for a Peaceful, Stable and Prosperous Indo-Pacific in August 2023, which coincided with Japan’s Cabinet revision of its Development Cooperation Charter. This raises the question of whether Australia’s new policy is responsive enough to its neighbours’ needs and priorities to make Australia their ‘partner of choice’. Australia’s policy emphasises partnership on an equal basis. Minister for Foreign Affairs, Penny Wong, called for ‘genuine partnerships based on respect, listening, and learning from each other’ with neighbouring countries. This implies that Australia is committed to not imposing its models on its partners. While Japan’s charter also refrains from advertising its development models, it does refer to ‘a systematic approach to learn from Japan’s experience’. This may sound outdated for developing countries considering the changing global development landscape. Japan