Cambodia  / Myanmar  / Southeast Asia
Hun Sen Has Botched Cambodia’s ASEAN Chairmanship
October 31, 2022

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen’s time as the ASEAN chair is running out. In a way, 2022 has been much like the previous year–particularly in the maddening context of Myanmar, where Brunei, the previous chair stumbled to the finish line after largely failed diplomacy after the February 2021 coup. In other ways, Brunei’s shepherding of the ill-fated Five-Point Consensus (FPC) and the creation of the ASEAN Special Envoy wasn’t Cambodia’s fault; Hun Sen inherited the mess. And the Security Council, already negligent on its normative duties, punted to ASEAN as early as March of 2021. Even if Hun Sen relished the international spotlight, Cambodia wasn’t exactly ready to shine. While most ASEAN states were leaning toward condemnation of the coup and essentially blocked Myanmar’s presence at the ASEAN Summit in October 2021, Hun Sen tried to bring the military junta’s leadership back into the ASEAN circle...


Australia  / India  / Indo-Pacific  / South Asia
Revisiting India’s Inclusion in APEC
October 17, 2022

This November, members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will converge on Thailand for its 2022 annual gathering. The 21-member bloc is home to more than 2.9 billion people and represents more than half of global GDP, as the United States, China, and Australia are among its members. Thailand’s theme for this year as chair is “Open. Connect. Balance”, dividing optimistic outcomes into three categories: opening the Asia-Pacific to new opportunities, connecting across all dimensions of trade, and achieving balance in all aspects of APEC partnerships. However, if at least two of these three indicators of progress hope to be achievable, APEC should look once again toward expansion. The last time the bloc added new members was 1998, when Russia, Peru, and Vietnam joined. A moratorium on membership soon after was put into place, which lasted until 2010, but since then, no new members have been accepted.


Southeast Asia  / Thailand
After the Nong Bua Lamphu shooting, a need for grief-sensitive journalism
October 14, 2022

In a horrifying mass shooting at a childcare center in the northeastern Thai province of Nong Bua Lamphu on October 6, at least 38 people, including 22 young children were killed. A former police officer, Panya Kamrab used his personal 9mm handgun as well as several knives in the attack that stunned and frightened the Kingdom. International and national media have descended upon the rural Uthai Sawan community for the purposes of covering the story. Journalists, as well as the Thai public, have raised legitimate questions that should be asked after a tragedy like this: Has rising poverty as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic contributed to a decline in mental health? What can Thailand do about its rising gun violence? According to the University of Sydney’s School of Public Health, there are more than 10 million privately-owned guns circulating in Thailand.


East Asia  / Japan  / United States
Okinawa and the Osprey: A Human Rights Perspective 
October 10, 2022

This October marks the 10th anniversary of the arrival in Okinawa of the MV-22B Osprey, a unique yet troubled tiltrotor aircraft. Based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on the island of Okinawa, the aircraft, which boasts vertical and short takeoff and landing capabilities, was supposed to revolutionize humanitarian assistance, disaster relief capacities, and troop transportation in the region. Normally viewed as part of the larger context of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty and the increased Chinese aggression in the East China Sea, the deployment of the Osprey also factors heavily in the broader Okinawan human rights landscape. Two issues are driving local concerns over the Osprey, which were captured by Okinawan civil society submissions to Japan’s 2017 Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council.


China  / East Asia  / Indo-Pacific  / United States
Containing China’s Maritime Power: A Question of Capability and Intent
September 28, 2022

The 12-character Chinese aphorism quoted by Deng Xiaoping – “Hide your brightness, bide your time” – is long dead. The late Chinese leader was fond of quoting the famous military strategist Sun Tzu, who advocated keeping one’s strengths and capabilities a secret until the appropriate moment. Deng prioritized boosting national incomes and progressing Chinese economic policy first. In 2003, Zheng Bijian, a senior Chinese official, introduced a new concept in Beijing’s foreign policy: the “peaceful rise” (later modified to “peaceful development.”) Finally, Xi Jinping in 2013 expressed the intent for China to become a great power, in part by establishing its maritime dominance in the East and South China Seas. This has already had profound strategic ramifications and put China on a collision course with other regional powers.


India  / South Asia  / Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Thailand’s relations with India are critical to its interests in the Indo-Pacific
September 28, 2022

When S. Jaishankar, India’s External Affairs Minister visited Thailand in August, he met with then-Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha to sign two low-key agreements on healthcare and medical research. It was an important moment marking 75 years of bilateral ties between the two countries. While on the periphery compared to Thailand’s relations with China and the United States, its relationship with India is growing and is becoming essential as the Kingdom extends itself beyond Southeast Asia.The growing ties between India and Thailand are based on pragmatism and mutually-beneficial goals. The relationship focuses especially on security cooperation and trade, as well as a long history of cultural exchanges.


China  / United Nations
The United Nations Is Having a Very Bad Year
September 24, 2022

As world leaders gather in New York for the seventy-seventh United Nations (UN) General Assembly, the global body has never been more divided, challenged, or starved for leadership. Fundamental reforms promised since Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ first term, have been absent. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are failing, the UN Human Rights Office has arguably bent to the will of China, and humanitarian and climate change-related emergencies are overwhelming UN agencies. Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine reminded member states of dysfunction in the Security Council, as Russia vetoed a resolution that would have mandated that it immediately halt its attack and withdraw all troops, with China, India, and the United Arab Emirates abstaining.


China  / India  / Taiwan
Is It Time for India to Deepen Taiwan Ties?
September 8, 2022

Tensions in the Taiwan Strait have reached a fever pitch. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in early August sparked China’s anger, with the PLA engaging in a number of muscle-flexing drills in the South China Sea, the Yellow Sea, and the Bohain Hills. During that frenzied period, little was heard from India. The exception was from Indian External Affairs Spokesman Shri Arindam Bagchi, who urged “the exercise of restraint, avoidance of unilateral actions to change the status quo, de-escalation of tensions and efforts to maintain peace and stability in the region.” Further, India vaguely defended the status quo in the region, a mild victory for Beijing. However, with tensions rising and fellow Quad members Japan and the United States asserting their steadfast support for Taiwan, is it now time for India to deepen its ties with Taiwan?


Southeast Asia  / Thailand
Is Thailand ‘bending’ toward the United States? Think again
September 2, 2022

Thailand’s foreign policy is famous for “bending in the wind” like bamboo, moving from side to side as it positions itself between China and the United States. Shawn W. Crispin, a highly-respected Southeast Asia observer and journalist recently commented in the Asia Times on Thailand’s latest tilt back toward the United States, citing in part Bangkok’s defiance of China in joining the U.S.-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF) and Thai resistance to completing a train project that would connect Thailand to China via Laos. However, assumptions of Bangkok’s perceived defiance of China are premature. 


China  / East Asia  / United Nations
Michelle Bachelet’s Spectacular Fall From Grace
August 31, 2022

Michelle Bachelet came to the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights with an impressive political and personal résumé. Her father, Chilean Air Force Gen. Alberto Bachelet, was arrested by the notorious dictator Augusto Pinochet, and was tortured and died behind bars for opposing the coup that brought an end to the presidency of Salvador Allende. Bachelet and her mother were also arrested when she was 23, and endured torture herself at the hands of the regime. Returning from exile, she rose to the top of the Socialist Party in Chile and positioned herself as a key member of a coalition that governed the country for almost two decades after the end of the Pinochet era.