The US-led TPP and Obama’s ‘Asia pivot’ will face certain challenges against Xi Jinping’s ambitions of a new order established through the Chinese-led AIIB.
Bloomberg Pool/EPA
The US and China may have competing ambitions for the Asia-Pacific in the shape of the TPP and AIIB, but they may not be as incompatible as we have first believed.
China didn’t get a seat at the TPP table (even in Beijing).
Reuters
Some say the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership was designed specifically to exclude or even encircle China. So do its leaders mind being on the outs?
North Korea’s Donju have acquired a degree of wealth such that they can invest in larger enterprises.
Reuters/Carlos Barria
The rise of a class of nouveau riche North Koreans is changing the dynamics of the nation’s economy and reshaping the relationship between the Kim government and the North Korean people.
China’s not happy. Normally that sort of phrase is pretty meaningless. Clearly not everyone in China has the same view on anything – with the possible exception of its territorial claims in the South China…
The scene in Balakot, 2005.
Reuters/Goran Tomasevic
Ten years ago, a devastating earthquake killed tens of thousands of people in Pakistan. How has the devastated town of Balakot recovered?
So strong is public opposition to his miltarist policies that Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, having ignored the popular will, faces questions about democratic representation.
AAP Image/Newzulu/Munesuke Yamamoto
Shinzo Abe’s government (now in its second term) has consistently been vocal about Japan’s national defence.
Through reinterpreting the constitution and bidding to build Australia’s submarines, Shinzo Abe is leading Japan towards a more assertive strategic posture.
EPA/Kimimasa Mayama
Two million Malaysian immigrants live in countries around the world. That’s not stopping them from being involved with politics back home.
Members of the National Reform Council pose for photographs after voting to reject a draft constitution – a decision that will put elections on hold until 2017.
EPA/Narong Sangnak
The rejection of the draft constitution is not necessarily a setback for Thailand’s military junta. It may even have been a ploy to extend its rule well past the promised date for elections.
Many people outside China find it hard to understand its obsession with history. Appropriately enough, however, a little historical context can help to explain this. China has had more recorded history…
In preparation for China’s commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war, a couple in Luoyang, Henan province, re-enacts the famous photograph taken in New York’s Times Square on V-J Day.
Reuters
One of the biggest problems in international development is that health statistics are badly kept in many of the countries with the most to gain. Finally something is being done about it.
Despite the show of people power in Malaysia’s streets, the greatest threat to Prime Minister Najib Razak’s leadership is probably from within his own party.
Reuters/Athit Perawongmetha
Few would disagree with the idea that China is a rising power with great international ambitions. For many policymakers, commentators and citizens in China, restoring its greatness and accustomed centrality…
Rumours are swirling around Bangkok about who’s behind the bombings, which make it even more unlikely democracy will be restored any time soon.
EPA/Diego Azubel
Thailand has enough of its own political enemies, both internally and externally, that will likely be considered as the investigation into a pair of bombings continues.
The scene at the Erawan shrine.
Athit Perawongmetha
What is it about northeast Asia? Why is it that a part of the world that is a byword for unparalleled economic development and astounding social transformation can’t come to terms with its past and develop…
Japan’s neighbours will interpret whatever Shinzo Abe says about his nation’s wartime aggression in the light of his government’s shift to more hawkish policies.
Reuters/Toru Hana
In the West, it is often forgotten that 1945 marks the end of not only the second world war but also of a much longer period of political and social upheaval in Asia.