Japan’s Balancing Act in Thailand

By Joshua Simonidis The coup in Thailand in May 2014 and the country’s subsequent deviation into autocratic military rule has alienated it from its long-time democratic partners, namely the United States and Japan. The United States’ call for an immediate…

Potential SOE Mergers Not a Full Reform Agenda

By Scott Kennedy Chinese state media reported on April 27 that China may radically reduce the number of its central state owned enterprises (SOEs) through mergers. This news, if true, is significant, but is potentially a bad sign. The Chinese…

The Leaderboard: Khalid Abu Bakar

Who is he? Khalid Abu Bakar is the Inspector-General of Malaysia’s police force, a post he has held since 2013 after two years as deputy inspector-general. Khalid has held numerous positions in the police since 1976, including as director of…

CogitAsia Podcast: 26th ASEAN Summit

In our latest podcast, we focus on the 26th ASEAN summit which concluded on April 27th in Malaysia. We caught up with CSIS Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies Ernie Bower to get his take on the outcomes of the…

Washington Doubles Down on the Balikatan Exercises

By Zachary Abuza On April 20, the United States and the Philippines commenced the 31st annual Balikatan military exercises. They are significant for three reasons. The first is their size. With some 6,500 U.S. personnel and 5,000 Armed Forces of…

The ASEAN Summit: Harbinger of Future Progress?

By Gregory Poling Most observers could be forgiven for seeing the April 26–27 ASEAN Summit in Malaysia as another in a long series of head-of-state talk shops by the grouping. It did not issue any groundbreaking new declarations on the…

Abe’s Speech to Congress

By Michael J. Green & Nicholas Szechenyi Today Prime Minister Shinzo Abe of Japan became the first Japanese leader ever to address a joint session of Congress. Abe summarized key themes for U.S.-Japan relations including history, as August marks the…