Taiwan’s Role in Driving Climate Action and Regional Sustainability
The upcoming United Nations climate summit, COP29, has been hailed as the “Finance COP,” as countries are expected to significantly scale up climate finance by adopting the clumsily named New...
View ArticleSouth Korea, US Hold ‘2+2’ Meeting Amid Spiking Tensions With the North
South Korea and the United States held a 2+2 foreign and defense ministerial meeting in Washington on Thursday, a day after the North launched an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Amid rising...
View ArticleThe Caste Census Controversy in India
In the 1990s, the Anthropological Survey of India presented a book that summarized seven years of field research on the country’s most backward castes – the volume was titled “Scheduled Castes.” The...
View ArticleWhat’s Driving North Korea’s Unstoppable Military Buildup?
On October 31, North Korea fired its newest and most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), the Hwasong-19, into the ocean off its east coast. The test launch marked the longest-ever...
View ArticleWith an Eye Toward Indian American Votes, Trump Decries Violence in Bangladesh
Since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government on August 5 this year, reports of violence against minorities, particularly Hindus, have surfaced in Bangladesh, drawing international attention. Nearly...
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Mongolia Pitches Plan to Build New Capital From Scratch
Kharkhorum, the one-time seat of the vast Mongol Empire, was so renowned in its day that travelers from as far away as Europe entered its walls to pay tribute to the Great Khaan Ögödei. After more...
View ArticleUS Presidential Elections 2024: Impact on Taiwan
The Diplomat author Mercy Kuo regularly engages subject-matter experts, policy practitioners, and strategic thinkers across the globe for their diverse insights into U.S. Asia policy. This conversation...
View ArticleFinland’s Tightrope Diplomacy: Stubb’s China Visit Navigates New Security and...
As Finland marks the 74th anniversary of diplomatic ties with China, President Alexander Stubb’s recent state visit from October 28 to 31 underscored both continuity and change in a relationship shaped...
View ArticleMahfuj Alam on Bangladesh’s Future
Mahfuj Alam, a 27-year-old graduate of Dhaka University, completed his studies in the Department of Law. He is one of the key visionaries behind the revolutionary movement against the Hasina regime in...
View ArticleGermany to Deport Another Tajik Group 24 Activist
German authorities are poised to deport a Tajik opposition activist who Human Rights Watch says would be at risk of detention and torture if returned to Tajikistan. On October 28, a court in Kleve,...
View ArticleTrump or Harris? Debate in China Heats up
The U.S. presidential election attracts more worldwide attention than national elections in any other nation – small or big. With tens of thousands of people having already voted in advance,...
View ArticleRussia Still a Cold Front for Central Asian Migrants
Working in Russia as a labor migrant is becoming increasingly challenging, especially for Central Asians. Demands for stricter measures against migrants, often laced with discriminatory undertones, are...
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Japan Awards MHI $368 Million Contract for Development of the Glide Phase...
On November 1, Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced that it has signed a contract worth 56 billion yen ($368 million) with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to develop the Glide Phase Interceptor (GPI), a...
View ArticleChinese Investment in Kazakhstan Deepens With $2.5 Billion in New Deals
During a working visit to Shanghai this week, Kazakhstan’s Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov attended a Kazakh-Chinese investment roundtable, met with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and participated in the 7th...
View ArticleGrowth in Southeast Asia’s Digital Economy Slows Slightly in 2024
Southeast Asia’s digital economy continues to expand at a rapid pace, but growth is finally starting to slow as consumer demand slackens and companies begin to emphasize profits over raw revenue gains,...
View Article100 Years of the Discovery of the Indus Valley Civilization: How It Shaped...
The pen might be mightier than a sword but, as Ramesh Chandra Majumdar, one of India’s leading historians of the 20th century, put it in 1970, the spade of the archeologist can be mightier than the...
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What the Chagos Islands Deal Means for France’s Indian Ocean Territories and...
On October 3, the United Kingdom and Mauritius announced that they had reached an agreement on the retrocession of the Chagos Archipelago to Mauritius. While some have described the consequences of...
View ArticleIs China Furthering Its Purge of the Defense Industry? Here’s What to Watch.
According to a news report on October 31, two key officials in China’s defense industry – Lei Fanpei, executive deputy director of the Office of the Central Commission for Integrated Military and...
View ArticleMyanmar Junta Chief Embarks on First China Visit Since Coup
The head of Myanmar’s military junta embarked yesterday on an official visit to China for regional meetings, his first trip to the country since the coup of February 2021. Myanmar state media reported...
View ArticleKyrgyzstan’s Vape Ban: Clean Lungs or Dirty Lobbying?
In June 2024, the Kyrgyz parliament passed a law banning e-cigarettes set to take effect on July 1, 2025, pending the president’s signature. Deputies Shairbek Tashiev and Alisher Kozuev introduced the...
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