At the height of the Cold War in the 1960s, much of anti-communist Southeast Asia aligned itself with the United States, entrenching U.S. hegemony around North Vietnam and its close allies in communist China. These countries regarded ties with the U.S. as a way to maintain and develop their economic and political strength in a […]
Tag: Asia
Japan’s Forgotten Children
I don’t have any dreams [for the future]. —Nozomi M., living in an institution, Osaka, December 2011 Without Dreams: Children in Alternative Care in Japan In a country with falling birth rates, an aging society, and an alarming population crisis, thousands of children are slipping through the cracks. Japan’s failing foster care system creates a […]
A Bookend to 20 Years of Turmoil? What Thailand’s New Government Means for the Country
After four months of political limbo, yet another dramatic episode of Thai politics drew to a close. The general elections in May offered a scathing rebuke of the military-backed government. The progressive Move Forward Party (MFP), led by Pita Limjaorenrat, pulled a huge upset that headed 151 out of 500 seats in the lower House […]
Why Mongolia’s catch-22 should serve as a wake-up call
If you ever were to go to Mongolia and take a tour around the capital, Ulan Bator, you would likely need to bring a mask with you. In the period from July 2018 to July 2019, the city experienced unhealthy levels of air pollution almost every other day. It is known for having some of […]
Is the Kashmir Lockdown a Ticking Time Bomb?
On August 5th, 35,000 paramilitary Indian troops mobilized to join the 700,000 already stationed in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indian-controlled state in the Kashmir region. Soon after the move, the entire state was put under intense lockdown, which the Indian parliament claimed was in response to a new and violence-prone political movement that had emerged […]
China and India: The Emerging Power Struggle of the 21st Century
Over the past 40 years, Asia has experienced unprecedented levels of peace and prosperity, as the bloody conflicts of the Cold War gave way to a relatively stable order. This stability has allowed trade and commerce in the region to flourish, facilitating the emergence of China and India as substantial economic powers. China’s economy is […]
Chinese Military Expansionism in the South China Sea
In 2017, the brinkmanship between Kim Jong-Un and President Trump and the looming prospect of conflict drew a great deal of attention to the Korean Peninsula. Meanwhile, a less dramatic but nonetheless defining geopolitical struggle has been unfolding further south in the East Asia region, in the South China Sea. At the heart of these […]
Olympic Discrimination: Asian Americans and Media
Yellow Snow: Pyeongchang 2018 The color of sunshine on a warm day, the lemons in my backyard garden, the iridescent gleam of a gold Olympic medal, and also, the shade of my skin. As an Asian American myself, the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics marked a massive milestone for Asian American representation in the media, yet also […]
China paves the way, will Asia follow?
China’s rise as a world power has been comprehensive to say the least. Alongside its growing powerhouse of an economy comes its political ambitions to assert dominance. Nothing new, one would assume. However Xi Jinping’s soft power initiatives in Africa, Latin America and most importantly, in his own backyard, Asia, show a shift in the […]
Our renminbi. Your problem.
“If an alien landed on earth they would be puzzled by its international financial institutions as China is grossly underrepresented” (BBC). In fact, it’s not just China; the vast majority of Asian countries are severely underrepresented in international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund (IMF), though Asia is home to the world’s fastest […]