Asia-Pacific Archive

Two Indian police officers were injured over the weekend when Maoist insurgents detonated a landmine below their convoy. In an email interview, P.V. Ramana, a research fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses in New Delhi, discussed the insurgency of Maoist groups, also known as Naxalites, and the Modi administration’s response. WPR: What is the current status of the Naxalite insurgency in India? P.V. Ramana: The Communist Party of India (Maoist) was banned in 2009 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act of 1967. The Maoist insurgents have a presence to varying degree—intense to negligible—in 182 districts across 20 […]

By Aug. 24, Indonesia’s Constitutional Court must deliver a ruling on the legal challenge mounted by presidential contender Prabowo Subianto to last month’s hotly contested and highly polarized election. Prabowo has questioned the legitimacy of the poll, in which Jakarta’s governor, Joko Widodo—or Jokowi as he is popularly known—was declared the winner with 53.15 percent of the vote. It is widely anticipated that the Constitutional Court will rule against Prabowo and uphold Jokowi’s victory. If so, Jokowi would be sworn in on Oct. 20 as the seventh president of the world’s third-largest democracy and most populous Muslim country. A former […]

When asked recently by New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman whether China, as the “biggest energy investor in Iraq,” should behave more like a stakeholder there, U.S. President Barack Obama had a pointed reply. The Chinese, he said, “have been free riders for the last 30 years and it’s worked really well for them,” while the United States has had to bear the burdens of maintaining international security and prosperity for the good of the world. Those comments triggered a sharply negative reaction in the Chinese press. Although Obama might not have intended to be so blunt, his remarks […]

Malaysia’s opposition coalition risks being torn apart after its leader Anwar Ibrahim sacked the chief minister of Selangor, the country’s most populous state. In an email interview, Clive Kessler, professor emeritus at the University of New South Wales, discussed the state of Malaysia’s opposition. WPR: How is the current leadership struggle affecting the unity of Malaysia’s opposition? Clive Kessler: The opposition Pakatan Rakyat, or Popular Front, coalition is not really a coalition. The Pakatan is an election-day pact: an agreement that opposition parties will not run against each other in the same constituencies and split the opposition vote. Their agreement […]

Last month South Korea unveiled a $40 billion economic stimulus package designed to boost a lagging growth rate. In an email interview, Dwight Perkins, professor emeritus of political economy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, discussed the state of South Korea’s economy. WPR: What are the main factors behind South Korea’s recent economic slowdown? Dwight Perkins: South Korea’s growth averaged 3 percent between 2011-2013. That rate of growth is slightly below South Korea’s average growth rate over the past nine years, but that is hardly surprising given the weaknesses in European and North American economic performance. We do not […]

One of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s main objectives since returning to office has been to improve relations with Russia, a goal also sought by Moscow. Both governments want to enlarge their diplomatic options and gain leverage with third parties as well as achieve mutually beneficial bilateral economic and energy deals. The two sides’ territorial dispute over the Russian-administered Southern Kurils, which the Japanese call their Northern Territories, has long stood in the way of improved ties. Because of the dispute, for instance, Japan and Russia have yet to sign a peace treaty formally ending the state of war between […]

Last week, U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel visited New Delhi on a political mission to sound out Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s new government on the Defense Trade and Technology Initiative (DTTI) first proposed two years ago by Hagel’s predecessor, Leon Panetta. The United States is promoting DTTI as the “centerpiece” of the India-U.S. defense relationship going forward, hoping it will lead to a renewal of the New Framework for Defense Relationship signed by both sides in 2005, which expires next year. The 2005 framework accord led to U.S. military sales totaling $9 billion to India, but that happened essentially […]

The list of applicants for the job of “international financial crisis manager” just got a bit longer. After two years of negotiations, Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—known collectively as the BRICS—have unveiled a new international financial institution. The centerpiece of the aptly named New Development Bank is a $50 billion pool of resources set aside to fund infrastructure and other development projects in the BRICS countries. However, the group also announced the creation of the Contingent Reserve Arrangement (CRA), a $100 billion fund designed to provide short-term liquidity support to members of the group, similar to the Western-dominated […]

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s state visit to Nepal earlier this week, the first by an Indian prime minister in 17 years, ushered in a new chapter in relations between the two neighbors. The two-day visit on Aug. 3-4 has been described by media in both countries as a success and reflects Modi’s interest in forging better ties with neighbors since he assumed power in May. He is the first Indian prime minister to invite the leaders of all South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation nations, including Pakistan, to his swearing-in on May 26. In June, he visited Bhutan, India’s […]

On July 22, the Indonesian Election Commission declared that Jakarta Gov. Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had won the country’s presidential election. Even if the result is challenged in court, the margin of victory is wide enough for most to assume that Indonesia—the world’s fourth-largest nation, third-largest democracy and largest Muslim-majority country—will inaugurate Jokowi as its seventh president on Oct. 20 after a decade of stable leadership under outgoing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Jokowi’s victory is nothing short of historic. By choosing a 53-year-old former furniture exporter over Prabowo Subianto, a former general and son-in-law of late dictator Suharto, Indonesians have elected […]

As U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry bustles around the world attempting to staunch conflict after conflict, one question arises with increasing frequency: Why bother? Kerry has certainly had a rough year. Major peace initiatives he had personally pursued, ranging from January’s Syrian peace conference in Geneva to the Israeli-Palestinian talks, have collapsed. His early efforts to defuse the Ukrainian crisis through direct talks with Russia also failed, while Israeli officials have poured scorn on his recent push for a cease-fire in Gaza. At a time when a majority of U.S. voters favor less engagement with foreign problems, Kerry’s ill-fated […]

Last week, Jakarta Gov. Joko Widodo was declared the winner of Indonesia’s presidential election after a hard-fought race with Prabowo Subianto, a former general. Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, is a self-styled populist seen as representing a break with the country’s military-dominated past, but he has also indicated a desire to boost defense spending and build up Indonesia as a regional power. And although Subianto has alleged widespread electoral fraud and so far refused to concede, U.S. leaders have signaled their desire to work with Widodo. In a statement congratulating Widodo on his election and praising Indonesian democracy, U.S. Secretary […]