Today Trends

Author: Jun Mukoyama, Asia Pacific Initiative A newly established digital agency was unveiled in Japan on 1 September 2021. The agency, located in an Akasaka skyscraper, is unprecedented in every way. Under the direct supervision of the prime minister, with 120 of its 500 officials hired from the private sector, the new agency has the authority to manage IT system budgets across Japanese government ministries. Compared with many of its Western peers, Japan has managed the COVID-19 crisis relatively well given its population size and ageing population. But there was one critical aspect of outbreak management in which Japan failed: the effective use of data and technology. In July 2020, then health minister Katsunobu Kato lamented that the greatest challenge in responding to the COVID-19 crisis was the ‘delay in digital transformation’. Creating the agency was one of Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s key policy pledges from day one of his administration. It was designed to overcome ‘th...

Authors: Yves Tiberghien and Jackie Jiaqi Zhao, UBC On 23 August, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen became the first world leader to receive a brand-new vaccine conceived and made in Taiwan — Medigen Vaccine Biologics Corporation’s MVC-COV1901, which has yet to complete phase three trials. This marks the latest and most controversial stage in Taiwan’s robust response to the sudden COVID-19 surge it experienced in May. Taiwan was remarkably effective in stopping the spread of COVID-19 in 2020, mobilising its Central Epidemic Command Centre as early as 20 January 2020. Taiwan immediately accelerated the production of tests, masks and respirators, closed its borders and launched efficient contact-tracing with coordinated information sharing. Schools and restaurants remained open. With such measures, Taiwan ended 2020 with a mere 799 cases, seven deaths and economic growth of 2.9 per cent. Taiwan initially continued to maintain control. By 30 April 2021, it had experienced a total of...

Author: Wei Aun Yap, Quanticlear Solutions In the 1930s, France built an impressive defensive border — the Maginot Line — to repel a German invasion. A technological wonder at the time, the Line is now remembered chiefly for its enormous cost and the false sense of security and overconfidence it bred while tying up infantry divisions to its defence. Malaysia might have learnt some lessons from this history as it leans heavily on its vaccination program to solve the COVID-19 crisis. The program has been impressive — at its peak, about 1 per cent to 2 per cent of the population were vaccinated daily. Malaysia secured doses for 40 per cent and 110 per cent of its population by December 2020 and February 2021 respectively. As of September, almost half of Malaysia’s population has received at least one dose and almost three-quarters of the Greater Kuala Lumpur population has received at least one dose — on par with Singapore. The vaccination program was not without its challenges. The...

Author: Kerry Brown, King’s College London and the Asia Pacific Programme The idea of a coherent territory called the Indo-Pacific has been appealing to strategists for some years, but it is no coincidence that the tighter and more urgent formation of this idea has happened at the same time as China’s rising prominence. The desire to counterbalance China has driven much of the intellectual and diplomatic investment in the idea of the Indo-Pacific. The United States, Europe and countries in the region have invested publicly in the idea, in terms of diplomatic commitment and actual resources. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) — consisting of Australia, the United States, Japan and India — was resuscitated in 2017 with a focus on making the idea of the Indo-Pacific real. In March 2021, for the first time, its meeting was held at the head of government level, forming part of the new Biden administration’s move to restore and recommit the United States to multilateralism after ...

Author: Ngeow Chow Bing, University of Malaya The somewhat awkwardly termed Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) is an ASEAN sub-regional area launched in 1994. The area — which covers Brunei and parts of Indonesia (Kalimantan, Sulawesi, Maluku and Papua), Malaysia (Sabah, Sarawak and Labuan) and the Philippines (Mindanao and Palawan) — is described as ‘geographically far from the national capitals, yet strategically close to each other’. The initiative was meant to address a lack of socio-economic development in these remote areas. Around the same time, other parallel subregional initiatives like the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle, and region-wide integration initiatives such as the ASEAN Free Trade Area emerged. BIMP-EAGA was hence conceived during an era of hope for substantial socio-economic advancement through cooperation. But the initiative slowed significantly in the wake of the 1997–1998 Asian Financial Crisis. An intergove...

Author: Debashis Sarker, University of Queensland UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres explained that ‘the COVID-19 pandemic is intensifying inequalities experienced by the world’s one billion people with disabilities’. This statement is a timely reminder to look deeply into the complex issues that people with disabilities are experiencing during COVID-19, particularly in Bangladesh. Bangladesh is one of the most densely populated countries in South Asia with 163 million people. According to the Report on Bangladesh Sample Vital Statistics in 2018 , 8.5 Bangladeshis per thousand have some form of disability. As of mid-September, there are over 1.5 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 27,000 deaths. Statistics of people with disabilities in this regard are absent. The United Nations Conventions on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities specifically urge in Article 11 that state parties should take ‘all necessary measures to ensure the protection and safety of persons with d...

Author: Jiro Yamaguchi, Hosei University The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) has long dominated Japanese politics, losing power on only two occasions since 1955. But despite this dominance, it has not always been easy for LDP prime ministers to implement key policies. At least until the mid-1990s, a series of check-and-balance mechanisms embedded in the party and the bureaucracy prevented them from doing so. First, there are competing factions within the LDP. With constant factional competition for party leadership, non-mainstream politicians in the party took advantage of the mismanagement and corruption of those holding top party positions to seek intra-party regime change. This ‘pseudo-change of power’ within the LDP brought about policy shifts, preventing continuity. For instance, Kakuei Tanaka achieved rapprochement with China after defeating conservative Takeo Fukuda in the 1972 LDP presidential election, and Takeo Miki implemented stricter regulations over political fundraisi...

Author: Stefanie Kam, ANU The political vacuum left in the wake of the US exit from Afghanistan and swift Taliban takeover is likely to embolden jihadi militant groups, provide a sanctuary for the resurgence of terrorism and consolidate the country’s status as an attractive destination for foreign fighters. The shift in the centre of gravity from the Middle East to Afghanistan will potentially lead to greater instability in the region , which will increase China’s cross-border concerns. While Beijing appears to have stepped up its engagement with the Taliban regime, it is reluctant to play a more salient role in stabilising the country. As Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent remarks urging Afghanistan to eradicate terrorism and promising to provide more aid to the country indicated, Beijing cannot afford the risk of a spill-over of instability into Xinjiang. Uyghur refugees currently living in Afghanistan could become exposed to radicalisation and terrorism . The close nexus be...

Author: Citra Handayani Nasruddin, Republic of Indonesia The Indonesian government and the House of Representatives have been discussing a multi-tariff value-added tax (VAT) scheme as part of a proposed overhaul of tax legislation. Because the plan includes increasing the VAT rate for some goods and services, it will be challenging for policymakers to balance the inherent trade-offs of the tax . In a context of entrenched gender inequality, the government also has the opportunity to integrate a gender lens into the scheme, reshaping the path toward inclusive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Research has consistently shown that because women have different consumption patterns due to gendered social roles, they are often disadvantaged by the structure of VAT s compared to men. But gender mainstreaming in tax design and implementation can mitigate this risk and offer an equaliser for inequality. In theory, there are multiple advantages of a multi-tariff VAT. The number of goods...

Author: Shiro Armstrong, ANU China has applied to join the 11 member Asia Pacific trade pact that includes Australia, Canada, Japan and Singapore, all of whom have a veto on new membership. Australia and other members can help lock China into new rules and reforms that entrench the market and constrain behaviour. China’s trade coercion against Australia should be resolved as part of the accession process, not used to stymie the strategic opportunity. The United States led the negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement before President Trump nixed the deal on day one of his presidency. The deal created new rules for international commerce where they were lacking in the WTO and opened new markets for its members. Strategically, it was meant to entrench the United States in Asia and counter China’s economic influence. Now Beijing has made formal its interest in joining while the Biden administration is hamstrung by domestic opposition. Australia together with Japan...