India  / Russia  / South Asia  / Ukraine
India’s G20 Year: Looking Beyond the Hype
January 9, 2024

It was easy to see the good news. Back in May, countries from the Global South were keen on drawing India closer, evidenced by Prime Minister James Marape of Papua New Guinea, who welcomed Modi at the India-Pacific Islands Cooperation (FIPIC) Summit by reaching down and touching his feet, an act of respect in Indian culture. That theme of India as the standard bearer for the developing South continued into the BRICS Summit in South Africa. But beyond the hype of image and the elevation of expectations, India’s year in foreign policy was less than stellar.


Sri Lanka
‘Himalayan Declaration’ Lays Bare Deep Divide Among Sri Lankan Tamil Groups
January 3, 2024

The Joint Himalayan Declaration, the output of a dialogue between a Buddhist delegation and the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), the once-powerful Tamil umbrella organization that was blacklisted by the Sri Lankan government, is the latest development to stir tension among the Tamil population. 


East Asia  / Japan  / South Korea
Tokyo Must Finally Bury the Hatchet with South Korea
January 2, 2024

The late former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sought to improve ties over security concerns about North Korean provocation, but like his counterpart, South Korean Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon in the end, failed. In 2008, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak also wanted to improve ties with Tokyo and then-Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, but that too, predictably failed.


United Nations
The UN’s Public Communication Is Broken
December 6, 2023

The United Nations is suffering from its worst crisis in decades. It’s not its inability to resolve global crises, such as the current conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, Myanmar, and Syria. Rather, the source of the crisis is internal, as critical personnel, from the Secretary-General to program officers in various UN agencies, have failed to communicate the UN’s increasingly complex mission to the public at large. While the problem extends across agencies and cuts across thematic areas, no one issue exemplifies the institution’s catastrophic inability to communicate more than climate change.


China  / Russia  / United Nations  / United States
Great power manipulation riddles United Nations
November 25, 2023

In October 2023, Russia and China made headlines due to their actions in the United Nations (UN). The UN Security Council rejected a Russia-sponsored resolution on Gaza that did not mention Hamas. Moscow failed to return to the UN Human Rights Council after being expelled in April 2022 because of its invasion of Ukraine. China voted with Russia on the Gaza resolution, but unlike its Russian counterpart, was re-elected to the UN Human Rights Council in October 2023 for another three-year term.


India  / Indo-Pacific  / Thailand
Tourism Aside, Thailand Should Look to India for Broader Economic Cooperation
November 16, 2023

Thailand has yet to fully recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. The tourism-dependent economy shaken by severe border restrictions saw arrivals slowing to a near standstill. When borders began to open in 2021, the Kingdom saw just over 106,000 foreign tourists, a drop from 6.7 million in 2020. At its apex, Thailand drew as many as 40 million.  Fast forward to 2023, the new Pheu Thai-led Srettha Thavisin has been hard at work attempting to lure the most lucrative tourist market back to Thailand – middle-class Chinese, who have stayed away in the aftermath of tourist scams that have tarnished the Kingdom’s reputation and the death of a Chinese mother of two in the Siam Paragon shopping mall shooting.


Thailand
ISOC Once Again Puts Thailand’s Government Between the People and the Military
November 9, 2023

Last week, Thailand’s Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin made his first visit to the headquarters of the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) at Ruen Ruedi Palace in Bangkok. In addition to serving as prime minister and finance minister, Srettha also serves as director of ISOC, which was set up in the 1960s as part of a broader effort to not only surveil potential communist threats but also extend the influence of the Thai military into broader areas of society. ISOC’s less than stellar reputation was reflected in a social media post by Adisorn Piengkes, the chief government whip for the Pheu Thai Party in Parliament, who called for ISOC to be disbanded...


India  / Israel  / South Asia
Modi Fans the Flames of Hindu Nationalism over Israel
November 2, 2023

It wasn’t long after Hamas attacked an innocent Israeli civilian population, and in the process killing many foreigners and taking as many as 240 hostage, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi came out with a swift, hardened stance, condemning the Hamas “terrorist attacks” while standing “in solidarity with Israel at this difficult hour.” While India’s response is not too different from many Western countries who issued similar statements in the aftermath of the brutal attack on October 7, where thousands of Hamas fighters broke through the “Iron Wall” and opened fire on civilians and IDF soldiers, it wasn’t entirely consistent with the past.


China  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
A Bad Idea Revisited: Thailand Pitches Prayut’s ‘Land Bridge’ to Beijing
October 25, 2023

A very old idea has resurfaced in Thailand. In a direct pitch to Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Chinese investors at the Belt and Road Forum (BRF) held in Beijing last week, Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin touted the benefits of a large “land bridge” linking the Indian and Pacific Oceans. In particular, he encouraged Chinese foreign investment in Thailand by talking up the benefits associated with the project, in terms of cost, distribution, and a favorable location for new factories astride the two oceans.


Philippines  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
In Southeast Asia, Hamas-Israel conflict forces a balancing act
October 20, 2023

While the conflict between Hamas and Israel has polarized public opinion, its effects on foreign policy in Southeast Asia have been minimal, for now. Reflective of ASEAN’s religious and cultural diversity, countries in the region have maintained a business-as-usual approach, while carving out distinct, condemnatory positions after Hamas’ initial attack on Israeli civilians and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned assault on Hamas through the heart of Gaza, where 1.1 million people are being asked to evacuate.