Regimes in Myanmar, Vietnam and Laos should note the uprising that ousted Sheikh Hasina. The overthrow of Bangladesh’s Sheikh Hasina earlier this month wouldn’t have pleased Southeast Asia’s autocrats. Some have been more open than others about their concerns. “I don’t want to see this type of situation happening in Cambodia,” Prime Minister Hun Manet… Continue reading Downfall of Bangladesh’s leader is a lesson to Southeast Asian autocrats
What does the latest summit in Washington tell us about NATO’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific? Between July 9 and 11, the 75th NATO Summit was held in Washington, D.C., with most of the attention on the ongoing war in Ukraine. Another significant topic that garnered attention was the Indo-Pacific and NATO’s evolving role in the… Continue reading NATO’s expanding role in the Indo-Pacific
Southeast Asian nations such as Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, but also ASEAN, are hedging toward both China and the United States. However, China’s assertiveness in the South China Sea may cause some countries, notably the Philippines, to reconsider their hedging strategy. Undermining the hedging behavior of Southeast Asian countries, however, will not improve the… Continue reading Southeast Asia’s grand strategy: hedging
In China’s state-owned media and among online commentators, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba’s visit to Guangzhou and Hong Kong in July 2024 has been framed as a turning point in the Russia-Ukraine war. Coupled with the growing possibility of Donald Trump’s re-election as US president in November and his ambiguous views on supporting Ukraine, China’s… Continue reading Chinese Media Watch: Kuleba’s China trip seen as turning point, Ukraine expected to embrace China’s “peace plan”
In quashing one political threat, the country’s conservative establishment may have created an even bigger one. A few months ago, I wrote a column here in the Diplomat predicting that Thailand’s Constitutional Court would end up ordering the dissolution of the Move Forward Party, the largest party in the country’s parliament. After several delays, the court finally… Continue reading How dense are Thailand’s reactionaries?
