Thailand’s prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra pledged on March 3 at the opening meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) to end the nation’s ivory trade. The Convention has 178 Parties, and seeks to facilitate international cooperation…
ASEAN
APEC: Continuity & Evolution
by cogitASIA Staff • • 1 Comment
By Monica Whaley Enough with the ‘clever’ jibes about silly shirts or acronym fatigue. Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is a robust, reliable and flexible “multi-tool” in the United States’ foreign and economic policy toolkit that has served U.S. interests effectively…
Myanmar’s Next Generation will need Technology to Lead
by cogitASIA Staff • • 1 Comment
By Amy Killian Technology is not buzzing in Myanmar, not yet. However, Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s March 22 visit to the country was one of several developments in recent weeks that suggest that critical information and communication technology (ICT) could…
Asian War Cries
by cogitASIA Staff • • 1 Comment
By Michael Vatikiotis It has been a terrible year so far in terms of security in the Asia Pacific region. Japan and China have come close to trading blows over disputed Senkaku/ Diaoyu islands in the East China Sea; North Korea…
Friday Five: March 29, 2013
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
In the South China Sea the season for territorial and fishing clashes has started. Vietnam accused China of firing shots at a fishing trawler near the Paracel islands, while a Chinese ministry of defence report stated that only flares were…
Doing More with Less? Allies Face Aid Challenges in Asia
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
By Jason Schulman The Australian government announced drastic changes to its foreign aid budget in December 2012, saying it will reallocate $375 million to fund onshore processing of asylum seekers in the country. The government on February 8 clarified exactly…
Internal Displacement in Southeast Asia
by cogitASIA Staff • • 1 Comment
By Phoebe De Padua Southeast Asia, where violent conflicts and natural disasters often drive people from their homes, is home to around two million internally displaced persons (IDPs). Measures that protect IDPs remain lacking in most of the region. However,…
The Leaderboard: Yang Jiechi
by cogitASIA Staff • • 2 Comments
Who is he? Yang Jiechi served as China’s Minister of Foreign Affairs for the past six years. A career diplomat, Yang has spent eight of his 35 years in the Chinese Foreign Ministry working in various positions at the PRC…
Friday Five: March 15, 2013
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe formally announced that Japan plans to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, after months of debate in Japan and diplomatic consultations with existing TPP partners. CSIS scholars Mike Green and Matt Goodman were on the case…
Economics and the U.S. Rebalance toward Asia
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
By Ambassador Ashok Mirpuri This blog post is adapted from comments Amb. Mirpuri delivered at a forum called “The Pivot: U.S. Rebalancing, Asian Responses” at the Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C. on February 14, 2013. The United States is seen…