Who is he? Le Luong Minh is an experienced foreign policy practitioner with a strong strategic bent who was educated in India and earned his diplomatic spurs in high level roles in Europe and New York. He is currently Vietnam’s…
Vietnam
Free Speech and the Battle for ASEAN
by cogitASIA Staff • • 2 Comments
By Liam Hanlon In the last decade, several of ASEAN’s member countries recognized the need for greater regional integration to confront the challenges of the 21st century. They convinced their fellow members to go along, resulting in the 2007 ASEAN…
Vietnam’s Anti-Climatic Showdown at the Sixth Party Plenum
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
By Carl Thayer When the timing of Vietnam Communist Party Central Committee’s sixth plenum was brought forward unexpectedly, Vietnam’s political elite was abuzz with rumors that Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung would be forced to step down for his mismanagement…
China’s U-shaped Line as a Claim to Maritime Space?
by cogitASIA Staff • • 3 Comments
By Huy Duong In 1948 China published a map titled “South China Sea Islands Location Map” with a U-shaped line, but to date it has not clarified the line’s meaning. While the obvious interpretation of this line is a claim…
The Leaderboard: Nguyen Van Binh
by cogitASIA Staff • • 1 Comment
Who is he? Nguyen Van Binh is the governor of the State Bank of Vietnam. Binh started his career at the Vietnamese Central Bank at age 25 upon receiving an economics degree in the former Soviet Union. Throughout his career,…
CSIS Asia Team Mega Event Series Recap
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
Over the past two weeks our CSIS Asia Team hosted a series of high profile events on developments in the Asia-Pacific and the implications for U.S. foreign policy. Here at cogitASIA On Monday, September 24 CSIS Senior Vice President for…
The Leaderboard: Truong Tan Sang
by cogitASIA Staff • • 2 Comments
Who is he? His Excellency Truong Tan Sang is the president of Vietnam and a senior member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV). Born in the southern province of Long An, Sang participated in youth activities…
Why History Matters Today in U.S. – Vietnam Defense Relations
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
By Lewis Stern Despite that Vietnamese military historians began participating in international gatherings such as the Texas Tech Vietnam War Center annual conferences on Vietnamese war history during the late 1990s, the Vietnamese leadership demurred in responding to formal Department…
South China Sea Disputes: Diplomacy Key to Calming Troubled Waters
by cogitASIA Staff • • 2 Comments
By Michael Vatikiotis Recent arguments between ASEAN member states who are claimants to parts of the South China Sea and China, which claims sovereignty over almost the entire maritime area, have seriously upset the strategic equilibrium of the region. Temperatures…
The Leaderboard: Nguyen Duc Kien
by cogitASIA Staff • • 0 Comments
The Leaderboard profiles the people behind the policies of the Asia-Pacific. This post features Nguyen Duc Kien, co-Founder of Asia Commercial Bank in Vietnam. Who is he? Nguyen Duc Kien (commonly referred to as “Bau Kien”) is a well-connected tycoon…