Today Trends

Author: Osmond Chiu, Per Capita Australia’s 2022 federal election marked a turning point in the country’s politics. For the first time, the shifting voting patterns of non-European ethnic minorities — specifically Chinese–Australians — were pivotal to the overall result, as post-election reviews from the centre-left Labor Party and the conservative Liberal Party both acknowledged . While the possibility of a significant swing in the voting patterns of Chinese–Australians was canvassed pre-election , its impact was only taken seriously after the vote. Yet this increasing focus has not translated into a serious discussion about representation — an important issue for a multicultural society such as Australia, where ongoing underrepresentation signals that structural barriers to equality remain. Despite having the proportionally largest Chinese diaspora in the Western world, Chinese–Australian representation remains low in Australian politics. While representation at the federal

Authors: Amara Thiha and Marte Nilsen, PRIO The political implications of ultra-nationalist Buddhist monks and ideologies in Myanmar received much attention in the years before the 2021 military takeover. As Myanmar has turned more violent since the coup, ultra-nationalist monks have been radicalised further. What role are these monks playing in the political landscape of Myanmar today? And what is their rationale for supporting the military? The coup leader, Commander-in-Chief of the Tatmadaw (Armed Forces of Myanmar) Min Aung Hlaing, marked Myanmar’s 75th Independence Day on 4 January 2023 by honouring hundreds of individuals, including the notorious ultra-nationalist monk U Wirathu who received a medal for patriotism . But similar recognition was absent for U Wirathu’s fellow ultra-nationalist monk, U Warthawa. U Warthawa has been instrumental in organising and legitimising pro-junta militias in the Pyu Saw Htee group , an ultra-nationalist organisation comprised of local sup

Author: Ricardo C S Siu, University of Macau On 26 December 2022, the Chinese government officially lowered the severity of its COVID-19 pandemic classification from ‘pneumonia’ to ‘infection’. Shortly afterwards, the country’s zero-COVID policies were withdrawn and strict pandemic-control measures, including travel restrictions, were largely relaxed from 8 January 2023. Macau then embarked on a tourism recovery journey after a three-year-long meltdown. The initial recovery was largely pushed by the success of proactive policies introduced by the Macau government and pulled by the backlog in demand for tourism from China — especially from the Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area . The Macau government’s decision to follow the nationwide pandemic control measures from 2020 was judicious and proved effective for its medium- and long-term growth. Macau is a tourism-based mini-economy that is overwhelmingly reliant on visitor arrivals from mainland China and Hong Kong, accountin

Authors: Steffen Jensen, Aalborg University and Karl Hapal, University of the Philippines Diliman In January 2023, the Philippines’ Secretary of the Department of Interior and Local Government, Benjamin Abalos Jr, initiated a process of vetting top police officials. This process calls for the courtesy resignation of all generals and colonels of the Philippine National Police (PNP) while a committee of five assesses their involvement in drug dealing in the Philippines. Abalos presented the initiative as a bold move to rid the PNP of ‘bad apples’ and to restore the reputation of the police amid lingering suspicions of involvement in criminal activities. Most top police officials seem to have accepted the call for courtesy resignations where after the investigation, those found innocent can return to service. While the vetting of the top management of the police is happening, it is a performance of political aspirations. The initiative is not irrelevant or false. But it is part o

Author: Martina Baradel, Oxford University In July 2022, the violent killing of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, shot at close range in the middle of an electoral speech, shocked Japan. In October that year, on Halloween night, a man dressed as Joker stabbed commuters on a busy train leaving 17 people injured, shaking the image of Japan as one of the world’s safest countries. In January 2023, a burglary that ended up killing a 90-year-old woman ostensibly confirmed to the public that crime is becoming more frequent and more violent. Data from the police supported this — for the first time in 20 years, the number of recorded criminal cases increased. Both national and international newspapers have highlighted the increase in Japan’s street crimes, frauds, murders and sex crimes. In the National Police Agency’s (NPA) October 2022 public survey , 67.1 per cent of respondents answered that they thought that Japan’s security had worsened over the past 10 years. Indiscri

Author: Wanning Sun, UTS For the past decade or so, the Western media has been critical of the Chinese state, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. This criticism has been made in the context of a small number of issues, such as human rights in Xinjiang, political dissent in Hong Kong and Western citizens detained in China. The Western media tells us very little about how ordinary people in most parts of China live and think and how Chinese government policies impact on their everyday, even intimate lives. The experience of intimacy among China’s rural migrant workers ( nongmingong ), for example, reveals how socioeconomic inequality in contemporary China impacts the love lives of underprivileged individuals and how emotional loneliness affects their sense of identity and self-worth. China’s National Bureau of Statistics defines nongmingong , as someone ‘who still holds a rural hukou [residential registration permit] but who, for the past six months, has either e

Author: William Waqavakatoga, University of Adelaide Newly elected Fijian Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka pulled off a remarkable diplomatic feat during his 20 January 2023 state visit to Kiribati, where he set out to convince the government of Kiribati to rejoin the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). Rabuka is no stranger to creating uncertainty for the PIF. In May 1987, the then lieutenant colonel overthrew the democratically elected Fijian government in a coup d’etat . This presented the Forum with another significant political crisis — earlier in 1980, Papua New Guinea had sent troops to newly-independent Vanuatu during the Santo Rebellion . The ‘Pacific Way’, with its goal of ‘fostering trust and understanding within and outside the region’, is a priority for the new Fijian government. In Rabuka’s inaugural Fiji address , he stated that his ‘first priority’ as chair of the PIF was to ‘engage in the diplomacy required’. This ‘diplomacy required’ led to Rabuka’s first overseas visit

Author: Gemmo Fernandez, ANU and Ruby Rosselle Tugade, University of the Philippines On 4 January 2023, Secretary of the Interior and Local Government, Benjamin Abalos, requested that the police general and colonels of the Philippine National Police (PNP) file ‘courtesy’ resignations. The move is intended to clean the ranks of the PNP — especially those involved in illegal narcotics. It is a shortcut, given the long process of sanctioning erring members of the police that currently involves the PNP’s own Internal Affairs Service or the National Police Commission. Under this scheme, officer resignations that have been found to have links to the drug trade will be accepted. Another committee will then be formed to recommend sanctions for these officers. The request for courtesy resignations may be an attempt to stage a credible crusade against corruption in the government. Yet in the face of long-standing issues of patronage and a lack of effective accountability mechanisms within

China’s aging population presents many challenges for its economy, including a shrinking workforce and increased pressure on the healthcare and pension systems. It also further complicates China’s aspirations to shift towards a consumption-driven growth model, as older individuals tend to save more and spend less compared to those in younger generations. In response to this demographic shift , the Chinese government is moving forward with its plan to gradually raise the legal retirement age. But without addressing the pervasive issue of age-based discrimination in the workplace, raising the retirement age alone may have limited impact on retaining older workers. There is extensive age-based discrimination against older workers in both the public and private sectors in China. The Chinese government’s annual recruitment of civil servants only considers applicants under the age of 35 — a practice that is permitted by law . Many corporate job postings also explicitly state a preference

Author: Editorial Board, ANU This year marks the 80th anniversary of the Bengal Famine in India and the less well-known Henan Famine in China, which together killed around 3 million people in Asia’s two most populous countries. Historical memory in India will not easily forget the callousness of Winston Churchill, who declined to intervene in what was then British India to save lives so as not to divert resources from prosecuting the Second World War. It’s a sobering reminder that a geopolitical breakdown doesn’t just lead to appalling violence — it often means a disruption to global markets that can have deadly consequences for the world’s poorest. Twelve months ago, it looked entirely possible that the world would see widespread famine to rival those of the mid-20th century, as the Russian invasion of Ukraine knocked one of the world’s largest grain exporters out of the picture. Food prices reacted to the shock quickly, putting further pressure on the livelihoods of poor househo