The newly-elected Pakistani government of Nawaz Sharif is set to enact policies – most notably negotiating with the Pakistani wing of the Taliban – that will forever alter the dynamics of this strategically…
Despite predictions of a close election, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak celebrates with senior party members after their ruling party managed to retain power.
EPA/Shamshahrin Shamsudin
In Malaysia, disgruntlement and promise of change tends to result in the retention of the status quo. Enthusiastic reformers (pretenders or otherwise) are noisier rather than effective. Voters, at the…
The Pakatan Rakyat coalition leader Anwar Ibrahim will need to form ties within Malaysia’s diverse and biased electorate system to defeat the ruling coalition in Sunday’s election.
EPA/Shamshahrin Shamsudin
Malaysia’s general elections on Sunday (GE13) will be a battle of the coalitions, pitting the world’s most successful ruling coalition – the 13 party Barisan Nasional (BN/National Front) – against the…
The imprisonment of journalists and human rights activists under the crime of ‘lese-majeste’ laws in Asia should be a cause for concern in the new Asian century.
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What is the role of the criminal law?
In parts of modern day Asia, the criminal law has had another, more troubling, purpose in addition to convicting murders and rapists: protecting those in authority…
Kim Jong-un’s threats against South Korea and the US have become more dramatic.
EPA/Yonhap News Agency
Western commentators seem generally mesmerised by North Korea’s quixotic behaviour. The country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, is described as “delusional”, “fruitcake”, “reckless”, and the actions of North Korea…
The language of cooperation might just be a cordial façade.
AAP/Office of the Prime Minister
As expected, the dispute over the South China Sea was the most contentious issue at this week’s ASEAN meeting and East Asia Summit. Multilateral dialogue was tense, and ASEAN member states disagreed on…
US President Barack Obama meets with his soon to be Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping earlier this year.
EPA/Martin H. Simon
CHINA IN TRANSITION: As China goes through its secretive but widely anticipated leadership transition, the rest of the world is watching. This week, The Conversation takes an in depth look at the National…
Delegates at the 18th China Communist Party Congress listen to outgoing president Hu Jintao’s address.
EPA/How Hwee Young
CHINA IN TRANSITION: As China goes through its secretive but widely anticipated leadership transition, the rest of the world is watching. This week, The Conversation takes an in depth look at the National…
The white paper sets high standards for Australian universities in the Asian Century.
AAP/Paul Miller
In the slip-stream of the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper, released by Julia Gillard yesterday, there is a one-off opportunity to evolve new programs, open up and engage in Asia at scale. Many…
The Gillard government has a long road ahead of it to enact the recommendations of the Asian Century White Paper.
AAP/Paul Miller
By Kenneth Chern, Swinburne University of Technology
Ken Henry’s team has provided a detailed and useful blueprint for future action in the Australia in the Asian Century White Paper. But the government will need to ramp up its domestic efforts to improve…
Universities play a vital role in creating a better understanding of Asia – if it is included broadly in curricula.
AAP Image/Julian Smith
Ahead of the soon-to-be-released Asian Century White Paper, Foreign Minister Bob Carr has said Australia needs to “know Asia” in order to prosper.
Delivering a speech to the Asia Society on behalf of…
Looking to Asian schools is exactly what we shouldn’t be doing.
Chalkboard image www.shutterstock.com
It was fun while it lasted Finland, but we’re going cold on you. We thought your schools had the secret but our new infatuation is with Asian school systems.
The Prime Minister seems to agree. The government…
Researchers excavate the Tam Pa Ling cave in Laos, where skeletal evidence of “the earliest” modern humans in Asia was discovered.
P. Duringer
Did our Asian story just get more complicated? It seems so.
An article published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by Fabrice Demeter and co-workers describes a new modern…
Harvest time: Asia’s rising incomes and demand for food are no guarantee of a mining-style payday for Australian farmers.
AAP/EPA/Raminder Pal Singh
In recent weeks Australia’s PM, a shadow minister, and a state premier have heralded the opportunities for Australian farmers to capitalise on a global food-shortage and, in particular, rising demand for…
We should not be looking to East Asia as a model for our education system.
EPA/Vincent Jannink
Results from the Chinese university entrance exam, the Gaokao, were released last week. For students, it’s the long culmination of years focusing on tests and learning by rote.
Again and again, East Asian…
Australia has to take the initiative if we want to build a relationship with Asia based on the arts.
AAP
WHAT IS AUSTRALIA FOR? Australia is no longer small, remote or isolated. It’s time to ask What Is Australia For?, and to acknowledge the wealth of resources we have beyond mining. Over the next two weeks…
Vietnam’s growing economic prosperity, and demand for cute pets, has given its gibbons a bleak future.
Clare Campbell
Gibbons are among our closest living relatives. These small apes are beautiful singers and glorious swingers. But a new survey of their numbers has found an economic boom in Vietnam is eating up their…
Australia isn’t viewed well in India, and it will take more than cricket to fix the relationship.
AAP/David Hunt
On my last visit to India in April this year, I found the nation in the grip of Indian Premier League (IPL) fever, or so the umpteen news channels had me believe.
With Katy Perry in a kitsch Indian costume…
Julia Gillard and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak at last week’s nuclear summit in Seoul.
AAP/EPA
Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s recent performance in South Korea highlights once again the dangers of not taking Asia seriously.
At a speech at a university, Gillard apparently stuck directly to script…
They way we research Asia has been misguided.
Flickr/-AroFarMeR-
Australia desperately needs to invest more on research into Asia if we’re to better understand a part of the world so vital for our future economic prosperity. But not only do we need more research, we…
Police contact with drug users and sex workers means they can help achieve public health goals.
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HIV has claimed the lives of more than 30 million people since it emerged more than 30 years ago. But despite worldwide efforts to control the spread of the deadly disease, 2.6 million people contracted…
Gillard made ground with Pacific leaders at the APEC summit, but Australia has much work left to do.
AAP
Australia’s future is clearly linked to the dynamism of North Asia and Indonesia, Vietnam and other economies in the region. Yet many significant challenges confront Australia in realising the promised…
The less Australia reaches outwards, the less it will reap the rewards.
Sean MacEntee
Have you used your mobile phone, taken medicine or banked online today? As consumers, we benefit directly from the increasing pace of innovation.
But ten years into the Asian century, the source of innovation…
The East Asia Summit could be a useful start on the road towards a ‘concert of powers’.
EPA/Christophe Archambault/Pool
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the eighth part of our series, Sandy Gordon of the Australian National University looks at the possibility of an agreement which would draw the key Asian states together.
The CIA…
Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Chinese Premier Hu Jintao.
AAP
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the fifth part of our series, Kathe Kirby of the University of Melbourne examines whether our education system is preparing children for the future.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard…
Julia Gillard has to strike a balance between forging meaningful links with Asian countries, and managing relationships with older allies.
EPA/Rungroj Yongrit
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the third part of our series, former diplomat Alison Broinowski of the Australian National University examines our rocky relationship with our Asian neighbours.
“Australia hasn’t…
Julia Gillard could play a pivotal role in ensuring Asia’s security, and improve Australia’s economy in the process.
AFP/Minoru Iwasaki
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the second of our series Nick Bisley of La Trobe University examines the responsibilities Australia must take on to ensure security in Asia.
Asia’s economic powerhouses are booming…
Australia will have to try something new, and align itself more closely to Asia.
AAP Image/Adam Gartrell
AUSTRALIA IN ASIA: In the first of The Conversation’s series on Australia’s relations with Asia, Professor Tony Milner of the Australian National University examines whether we are prepared for the “Asian…
