Today Trends

Author: Editorial Board, ANU The horrifying scale of the COVID-19 crisis in India should be warning enough that the path of the global health and economic recovery is still unknown. Growing hubris in countries like Australia, the United States and even the United Kingdom, where isolation and comprehensive national vaccination are now embraced as elixirs for the pandemic and all its economic ills, will likely be vainglorious. Locking national borders to the COVID-19 virus has stemmed its deadly tide and help kickstart national economic recoveries. The huge monetary and fiscal sugar hit to economic activity in the major western economies has predictably given employment and incomes an enormous short-term lift: but to where? Locking down against trade, the exchange of scientific knowledge, technologies, and movement of people, in the longer term, promises less secure global health outcomes and the prospect of long-term national and global economic stagnation, paring percentage points

Author: Ken Heydon, LSE The death rate in India from COVID-19 has reached alarming levels and that’s intensified attention on trade in the provision of vaccines to help. Trade is a crucial element in the fight against the pandemic. Some countries, such as China, have sought credit for providing vaccines to others, while cooperation via the COVAX initiative has seen vaccines shipped from India’s Serum Institute to some of the poorest countries in the world. But trade policy has also been a serious impediment to the free flow of vaccines, vital vaccine inputs and the knowledge behind their production. At critical times, several countries — including the United States, the European Union and more recently India — have placed embargoes or administrative impediments on the export of vaccines. Perversely, India has also had a 10 per cent customs duty on imported vaccines. Restrictions have also been placed on the materials needed for vaccine manufacture. In February, the invocation

Author: Jeremy Youde, University of Minnesota Duluth India is in the grips of a massive COVID-19 outbreak, with the total number of cases now numbering more than 24 million sick and more than 250,000 deaths (though the number of COVID-19 deaths is likely significantly higher ). The country is setting records for the number of new cases nearly every day. Arundhati Roy, the world-renowned Indian author and activist, has called the situation a ‘ crime against humanity ’. The rapid surge of cases in this second wave of COVID-19 has quickly overwhelmed India’s health care system. Medical oxygen, a vital tool for treating patients whose blood oxygen levels are too low, is in such short supply that some hospitals are asking patients to bring their own oxygen with them. Hospitals have even sued the government to force it to devise a plan to supply oxygen. Patients who can’t get a hospital bed are being forced to lie outside because there is no space inside. Compounding the situation

Author: Rajni Gamage, UQ Facing unique challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, mounting public debt and international condemnation of human rights violations, Sri Lanka’s foreign policy straddles conflicting domestic and international demands. At home and abroad, the country’s leadership has adopted strongman politics associated with the ruling Rajapaksa family . This type of strongman politics appeals to sections of the majority Sinhala Buddhist population, especially after the national security negligence of the previous government during the 2019 Easter bombings . Yet despite claiming its foreign policy upholds Sri Lankan sovereignty and independence, the government has paradoxically become more dependent on external forces to achieve its foreign policy goals. Sri Lanka’s foreign policy dilemmas include the risk of being ensnared by China’s ‘debt-trap diplomacy’ and the need to manage larger states competing for regional dominance. The alleged debt-trap diplomacy refers to Chi

Author: I Nyoman Sutarsa, ANU The Indonesian government set an ambitious goal to complete mass COVID-19 immunisation by the end of March 2022, covering the 181.5 million Indonesians eligible for vaccination. The first phase aimed to vaccinate 40.2 million healthcare workers, public officials and elderly citizens by the end of April 2021. The second phase targets a further 141.3 million Indonesians from vulnerable populations as well as the general public. Yet the vaccine rollout has been slow and disorganised. As of 11 May 2021, 13.68 million Indonesians have received their first dose, and just under 9 million have received both doses of either the Sinovac or AstraZeneca vaccines offered in the country. This means only about 5 per cent of eligible individuals are fully vaccinated. Among priority groups, the highest vaccination rates were observed among health workers, of whom 93.1 per cent have been vaccinated, followed by public officials at 33 per cent. While the elderly popul

Author: Minseon Ku, Ohio State University While it is custom for state leaders to invite newly elected heads of other governments to meet, South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s upcoming meeting with US President Joe Biden in May will serve a number of purposes. Beyond reaffirming the ROK–US alliance, the two will discuss a range of issues including North Korea. Moon has been eager to reinvigorate inter-Korea and US–North Korea talks in his now last year as president, but the new Biden administration has been relatively taciturn about North Korea, committing only to a policy review . Fortunately for Moon, the review recommends building on the 2018 Singapore Joint Statement, which he had been pitching to the United States as a starting point for renewed nuclear diplomacy with North Korea. It is still uncertain what Biden thinks of the review. Moon will likely make a bid for the Singapore Statement to be included in his joint statement with Biden. This is no easy task. Washington needs

Author: Melissa Conley Tyler, University of Melbourne Australia has been criticised for not doing enough in reaction to Myanmar’s coup. It has been urged to impose targeted sanctions and be more active in its diplomacy through face-to-face meetings and shuttle diplomacy. It has been described as weak, slow and ineffective and accused of prioritising trade over human rights . But does this criticism match the reality of what Australia has done? Australia has put its name on statements condemning the coup in international bodies including the United Nations. Minister for Foreign Affairs Marise Payne has issued six formal statements on Myanmar since the start of February, including unequivocal language calling for the National Assembly to reconvene consistent with election results. She has spoken to more than 20 counterparts about the situation in Myanmar. Defence cooperation has been suspended (Australia already has an arms embargo on Myanmar) and development aid has been re

Author: Kumiko Nemoto, Senshu University Japan is still a long way from reaching the government’s goal of having 30 per cent of its leaders be women. In 2019, only 11 per cent of managers in Japanese companies and only 5 per cent of board members were women, compared to 43 per cent of managers in the United States and 39 per cent in Sweden. Japan differs from liberal market economies like the United States, where women are incorporated into the economy and gender equality contributes to market efficiency and corporate profits. In contrast with social democratic countries — like in Scandinavia, where states are responsive to gender-egalitarian reforms in both the private and public sphere — Japan has traditionally relied heavily on gendered labour divisions in both the workforce and the family. For decades, Japanese companies have only hired a small number of highly educated women in management tracks, while hiring thousands of men for the same positions. Years of gender-skewe

Author: Pascal Tanguay, Bangkok For the past four years, the Thai government has been making legislative reforms to build a market for medical cannabis. With the potential to reap significant economic benefits and help patients in need, the question remains — will the government prioritise profits or patients? Although those two objectives are not necessarily mutually exclusive, it is important to understand the motivations behind the reforms so that policymakers can balance both aspects. Evidence increasingly shows that health is a public good that is too important to be managed by market forces, especially given that profiteering is at odds with public health principles. In January 2017, hemp (fibre from the cannabis plant stem) was decriminalised in a pilot project by Thailand’s Narcotics Control Board. In December 2018, Thailand’s National Assembly unanimously voted for amending national laws in favour of medical cannabis. In February 2019, cannabis and hemp extracts were