The outcome of South Korea’s parliamentary elections seems undeniable. The opposition Democratic Party (DP) won a convincing victory and together with its progressive allies will hold a commanding 192-seat majority in the 300 seat National Assembly. Former DP presidential candidate and current party leader Lee Jae-myung is cemented, for now, as the likely presidential standard bearer when the next election is held in three years. President Yoon Suk-yeol now faces an invigorated opposition eager to challenge him on every front. The conservative People Power Party (PPP) is fractured and likely ..read more

The South Korean legislative elections on 10 April 2024 saw the opposition Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) win 175 seats and the ruling People Power Party (PPP) win 108 out of 300 seats at the National Assembly. The elections were an opportunity for the DPK to counterbalance the incumbent government’s legislative power. The electoral landscape was difficult and unfavourable for the ruling party from the beginning with many of the PPP’s policy initiatives continuously thwarted by the DPK-controlled National Assembly. The unfavourable outcome of this election for the ruling party will intensify ..read more

As the Philippines faces Chinese transgressions against its mission to resupply soldiers stationed in the Second Thomas Shoal, statements of support and concern have come from countries including Japan, the United States, Australia, South Korea and Sweden. But the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has been conspicuously silent. This silence is paradoxical. For one, China has violated ASEAN’s Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia (TAC), which calls for ‘mutual respect for the independence, sovereignty, equality, territorial integrity and national identity of all natio ..read more

Indonesia’s 2024 elections, marked an important milestone in the nation’s democratic trajectory. The electoral commission has declared Prabowo as the winner of the presidential election with 58.6 per cent of the vote, which translates to around 96 million voters. But a more profound story is unfolding behind this electoral success, with scholars raising concerns about the troubling democratic decline in Indonesia. The election was rife with irregularities, such as the nomination of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, incumbent President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo’s son, as well as the alleged politicisation of ..read more

At the third Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation (BRF) held on 17–18 October 2023 in Beijing, Chinese President Xi Jinping proposed eight action plans for the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Among his ideas, Xi pledged to create a secretariat for the BRF and to ‘strengthen the institutional building for international Belt and Road cooperation’. The proposal, though short on detail, spotlights a fundamental problem with the BRI since its inception in 2013 — its lack of institutionalisation. Without a set of established multilateral principles, the BRI has struggled with building ..read more

The Thai government under Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has made soft power — the ability to influence others through attraction rather than coercion — a cornerstone of its economic agenda. To help kickstart a stagnant Thai economy, the government is focusing on the economic aspects of soft power to bolster tourism and consumption within the Kingdom. As of 2024, Thailand has lost its status as a major player in ASEAN and its international image has been severely damaged due to 17 years of political instability and coups. The issue at hand is how Thailand can regain its i ..read more

The technological race between the United States and China is a defining narrative of our times. The contest, far more than a mere rivalry over technological supremacy, encapsulates the shifting of economic power, national security imperatives and soft power that will shape the new world order. Humanity has witnessed three industrial revolutions, each of which has positioned its epicentre as the economic hub of its era. As the third revolution draws to a close, the seeds of a new wave are being sown. The nation that emerges as the centre of this forthcoming technological revolution will becom ..read more

In Myanmar, Facebook is the window to reality. In the early days of the 2021 coup, the Ministry of Transport and Communications imposed blocking orders on Facebook and WhatsApp. Most independent media have been extinguished amid financial and physical threats. Any disruption to Facebook access, relied upon by over half of Myanmar’s population as the country’s Internet, could be fatal to their freedom of speech.  But Facebook has also attracted criticism for facilitating the spread of information that violates human rights in the country. Despite their attempts to ban Facebook, the junta ..read more

Philippine politics combines drama, comedy and tragedy. The political marriage between two powerful clans in the northern and southern Philippines resulted in the 2022 election of a former dictator’s son, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, and a former president’s daughter, Sara Duterte, as president and vice president respectively. Yet this dynasty cartel or mega-dynasty is headed towards a split. This is due to the drama of an unfulfilled promise, the comedy of a war between the former and incumbent presidents and the tragedy of pushing for a constitutional change. That the Marcos–Dut ..read more

In April 2022, crowds of Sri Lankans gathered on the streets, protesting the lack of essentials such as fuel and medicines. Amid an economy lurching from crisis to crisis, chaotic resignations ensued, a sovereign debt default was declared for the first time and bailout discussions were finally initiated with the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The IMF’s second staff-level review, which concluded in March 2024, deemed that recent policy measures had yielded ‘good progress’. While many would agree that economic conditions are better today than they were previously, macroeconomic stability an ..read more