Today Trends

Author: Yee-Kuang Heng, University of Tokyo Resource-poor Japan has long fretted over its dependence on energy imports. The 1973 oil crisis which triggered oil price spikes and toilet paper panic-buying remains seared in collective memory. The 2011 Fukushima accident and 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine are further unwanted reminders of Japan’s energy security frailties. Japan’s former foreign affairs minister Toshimitsu Motegi once highlighted that ‘in the field of energy security, we depend on the Middle East to secure ninety per cent of our crude oil needs, and that is why we consider peace and stability of the GCC countries vital and extremely important for us’. One of Japan’s first responses after Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022 was to double down on long-standing relationships with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia — leading suppliers of oil to Japan. On 17 March 2022, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida had a telephone call with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Princ...

Author: Suryo Ariyanto Nugroho, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada Electric vehicle (EV) popularity has been surging as countries increasingly incentivise their citizens to transition to EVs to reduce carbon emissions. China leads the way, manufacturing approximately 44 per cent of all EVs between 2010 and 2020 and 77 per cent of lithium-ion batteries in 2022. But the ongoing global supply chain diversification will transform this landscape, presenting a remarkable opportunity for ASEAN. ASEAN possesses the essentials necessary to establish itself as a thriving hub for EV manufacturing. Indonesia — the largest country in the region — boasts the world’s largest nickel deposits . It is also a major producer of tin and copper which are essential for EV batteries . Vietnam’s abundant nickel reserves make it an ideal destination for battery production. Leading the charge is Vietnam’s prominent private conglomerate VinFast which is constructing a 14 hectare battery factory. Its annu...

Author: Yasuo Takao, Curtin University In 2003 Japan set a goal of achieving 30 per cent representation of women in leadership positions in all areas of society by 2020. This target, known as ‘2020–30’, was set by the administration of former prime minister Junichiro Koizumi and was pledged internationally by former prime minister Shinzo Abe in 2014. According to Cabinet Office data , the percentage of female executives in Japan’s prime market-listed companies was 10.7 per cent in 2020 and remained at just 11.4 per cent as of July 2022. This was far lower than France (45.2 per cent), the United Kingdom (37.2 per cent) and the United States (31.3 per cent). There is still a long way to go for Japan to achieve its goal of 30 per cent of women in leadership positions. In April 2023, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida instructed relevant ministers to consider specific measures for fostering a more inclusive and diverse corporate landscape. On 13 June, the government issued the Key Policy f...

Author: Michael Barr, Flinders University There are no prizes for naming the most popular politician in Singapore. It is former deputy prime minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, whether measured by opinion polls or real-world election results. Nor is there much doubt about who has been the smartest person and most imaginative reformer in Singapore’s Cabinet in recent decades — also Tharman Shanmugaratnam. Since the government suffered electoral setbacks in the 2011 parliamentary and presidential elections , Tharman has been credited with pushing the government to modify its longstanding aversion to welfare and introduce modest support for the elderly and the poor. These measures have not been sufficient to resolve the government’s electoral problems, but they have at least stopped the haemorrhage. Tharman also has another political advantage — he is utterly faithful to the most powerful patron in the country, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. His patron–client relationship with Lee b...

Authors: Ligang Song and Yixiao Zhou, ANU The end of the Cold War witnessed a period of ‘ Hyperglobalization ’, during which China emerged as a central player in trade and global value chains (GVCs). Nowadays, GVCs account for more than 70 per cent of international trade and China is moving toward a more upstream position in GVCs, in line with its transition to becoming a global supply hub in GVC networks. China’s participation in GVCs enabled its transition from low-end manufacturing to higher value-added production activities. Initially, China capitalised on low labour costs and favourable investment policies to attract foreign investments in labour-intensive but low-value-added industries. Over time, Chinese firms have shifted towards higher value-added activities through industrial upgrading, research and development , technology adoption and workforce skill enhancements . Domestically-owned firms have evolved into manufacturing supply centres and new regional hubs for servic...

Author: Editorial Board, ANU One of the big questions that accompanied the election of Australia’s Anthony Albanese-led Labor Party government in May 2022 was whether it offered the opportunity of a reset of its abysmal government-to-government relationship with China. Towards the end of the Liberal–National coalition government of former prime minister Scott Morrison, there was a growing sense, even among those who shared in the alarm about political and foreign policy trends in Xi-era China, that the toxic state of the relationship was unsustainable. Cool heads in Beijing would likewise have seen no cause for gloating about having put Australia in its place with bans on China-dependent export industries. As East Asia Forum put it recently , ‘in exchange for forfeiting its hard-won reputation as a reliable trading partner, all Beijing got in return was AUKUS and the hostility of the Australian public and political class.’ When the change of government in Canberra provided an off...

Author: Neil Thomas, Asia Society Policy Institute Center for China Analysis Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s government has overseen a turnaround in Canberra’s relations with Beijing that hints at a larger scope for other countries to balance business and security in their dealings with China. Albanese’s strategy is also enabling Australia to benefit from the diplomatic opportunities presented by China’s economic difficulties. When Albanese took office in May 2022, Australia–China relations were in bad shape. Following former prime minister Scott Morrison’s call in 2020 for an inquiry into the spread of COVID-19 from China, Beijing imposed trade sanctions on AU$25 billion of Australian exports. The Chinese embassy shared an abrasive list of 14 grievances against Australia, while the former Australian defence minister Peter Dutton (now Leader of the Opposition) made historical comparisons between China today and Nazi Germany and counselled to ‘prepare for war’. Canberra...

Author: Alexander R Arifianto, RSIS The 2024 Indonesian elections are fast approaching. Prospective presidential candidates are already on the campaign trail and holding ‘horse-trading’ negotiations to select their vice-presidential nominees . It is a good time to re-examine the potential role of a powerful interest group that increasingly has sway in the largest Muslim-majority nation — conservative Islamists. ‘New’ Islamists movements — including the Tarbiyah (religious nurturing) movement affiliated with the Prosperous Justice Party, Hizb ut-Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and multiple Salafi groups — are long known for their religious activism which sought to reform Indonesian Islam and encourage Muslims to return to the fundamental Islamic teachings of the Quran and the Hadith. These movements emerged as a powerful political force during the 2016–2017 Action to Defend Islam rallies against former Jakarta governor Basuki ‘Ahok’ Tjahaja Purnama. Concerned that Islamists were going to...

Author: Moses Sakai, University of Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (PNG) launched a higher education loan program (HELP) in 2020. But without an effective loan repayment scheme, HELP may become unsustainable and compromise the government’s ability to offer aid to prospective tertiary students. A PNG national government initiative , HELP is an income-contingent loan program for tertiary students who cannot afford tuition fees at recognised higher education institutions in PNG. HELP has a zero-based interest rate adjusted annually for inflation with flexibility in repayment once the recipient has graduated and been employed, and aims to provide access to quality education and improve human capital development in PNG. HELP is currently being implemented by PNG’s Department of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology (DHERST). In the three years since its implementation, HELP has received considerable funding from the national government. According the DHERST website , 55...