Asia Watch Archive

Political developments in Bangladesh are unfolding at a pace and in a manner that, until recently, would have been unthinkable. They began in early July when students organized a series of protests to oppose a job quota system they said was based on political favouritism. In the weeks that followed, the protests grew in such scope and intensity that by Monday, August 5, they had claimed at least 300 lives and prompted the resignation of Sheikh Hasina, a prime minister who once seemed indomitable.

Indonesia is considering ways to scale back China’s role in the country’s nickel production by limiting Chinese companies to minority shareholder status.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is on a whistle-stop tour of the Indo-Pacific, crisscrossing the region to reassure allies that the U.S., despite distraction at home, remains committed to Asia.

Blinken’s burst of diplomacy will take him to Laos, Japan, the Philippines, Singapore, Mongolia, and Vietnam. Blinken’s 10-day trip from July 25 to August 3 is his longest-ever to Asia.

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meet this week in Vientiane, Laos, to discuss issues confronting the 10-member bloc, including ongoing regional economic integration and the digital and green economies.

Laos, as chair, has designated “connectivity and resilience” as the theme of this year’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meetings. Representatives from ASEAN ‘dialogue partner’ countries — including Canada, China, India, Russia, and the U.S. — will attend the bloc’s post-ministerial conferences.
 

Last weekend, an otherwise languid summer lull, kicked off with a massive global tech outage and was capped by U.S. President Joe Biden’s bombshell decision not to seek re-election. Squeezed in between these frantic developments was a decidedly discreet trip to Beijing by Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mélanie Joly, who met with her Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi.

At least 25 people were killed this week in Bangladesh following violent clashes between student protesters and groups loyal to the government. Hundreds more were injured. 

China’s third plenum, a plenary session of around 360 high-ranking Chinese Communist Party (CCP) members focusing, this year, on the economy, concludes today following four days of behind-closed-doors discussions.

The meeting comes as Beijing sifts through a mixed bag of economic indicators.

A smaller ‘summit for two’ in Manila this week produced a crucial agreement for Indo-Pacific security, especially in the South China Sea.

Leaders of NATO nations convened in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss global security and the future of the 75-year-old military alliance. The leaders’ summit comes as elections and divisions abound, testing the resolve and changing the face of the 32-country organization, which recently confirmed Sweden as its newest member.

An invisible fight on the ocean floor is bubbling to the surface in a competition pitting China against the U.S. for control of the undersea cables that prop up global communication and commerce.

In a year stacked with dramatic, high-stakes elections — spanning India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S., and elsewhere — Mongolia’s June 28 parliamentary election was but a blip on the international radar.

The Philippines and Vietnam are set to discuss competing claims to a section of the South China Sea, a rare bright spot of diplomacy on an increasingly prickly issue.

Earlier this month, the Philippines delivered a submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a technical UN body, on expanding its continental shelf.

On Monday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the launch of policy consultations, beginning July 2, to prevent a surge of inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles from flowing into Canada.

Today, Chinese Premier Li Qiang wraps a whirlwind week of diplomatic travel, returning to Beijing after tours of Australia and New Zealand, as well as Malaysia.

Leaders of the G7 nations met in sunny southern Italy last week for a three-day summit, accusing China in a joint statement of enabling Russia’s war against Ukraine, employing “dangerous” tactics in the South China Sea, enacting unfair trade policies, and sponsoring malicious cyber activity.

Beverley McLachlin, chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court from 2000-17, is set to retire from her post as a non-permanent foreign judge on Hong Kong’s top court.

McLachlin said in a statement that she would step down from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal at the end of her term in July. She continues to have “confidence in the members of the court [and] their independence.”
 

Over the past three weeks, North Korea has provoked its southern neighbour with a playbook blending tried-and-true ‘scare tactics’ with newer, more unconventional methods.

Narendra Modi will continue as India’s prime minister after voters returned him to power with a weakened legislative mandate, a shock result for Modi who sought — and seemingly expected — a strong majority.

Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked up 240 seats in the country’s lower house, known as the Lok Sabha, out of a possible 543 seats.

Canadian defence minister Bill Blair was in Singapore over the weekend for the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of top defence officials, academics, and journalists.

Indonesia may join Canada, Japan, and nine other states in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as the country finalizes its application to the 11-member trade deal.