By Sarah Watson — A version of this post first appeared on Reconnecting Asia, a CSIS project mapping new connections across the Eurasian supercontinent. Since this piece was written, the United Naga Council announced that it was calling off the…
By Amy Searight, Murray Hiebert, & Geoffrey Hartman — Southeast Asia is an increasingly important region, encompassing some of the most dynamic economies in the world and located at the crossroads between East and South Asia, and the Pacific and…
Why is he in the news? U Thaung Tun was appointed Myanmar’s national security advisor on January 10. The new post created by the President’s Office was established, “to advise the president and the Union Government on internal and external…
By Amy E. Searight & Murray Hiebert — The incoming Trump administration will encounter a Southeast Asia region significantly transformed from the one that the previous administration began to work with eight years ago. The region today is an integral…
By Murray Hiebert & Geoffrey Hartman — President-elect Donald Trump’s foreign policy team is taking shape, with the choice of ExxonMobil chief executive Rex Tillerson for secretary of state and retired Gen. James Mattis for secretary of defense. The selection…
By Elliot Brennan — Myanmar’s peace process is at a critical juncture, a year since the signing of the nationwide ceasefire agreement and two months after the much anticipated 21st century Panglong Conference. Limited but persistent conflict continues in the…
By Ellen Chambers — Renewed communal violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State underscores the imperative for greater emphasis on peacebuilding in the country’s troubled west. The recently established Rakhine State Advisory Commission, led by former-UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is essential…
By Paul Vrieze — When Myanmar foreign minister and state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi arrives in Washington on September 14, she is due to focus on gaining U.S. support for her country’s economic development, possibly through adjusting longstanding trade…
Who is he? U Than Htay most recently served in the Myanmar government as minister of rail transportation in Thein Sein’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) government from 2013 until August 2015, when he stepped down for an unsuccessful…
By Huong Le Thu — Vietnam’s new president Tran Dai Quang made one of his first international trips to Singapore August 28-30. During his visit, Quang reiterated Vietnam’s emphasis on the rule of law in safeguarding peace, concerns about the…