At a time when the Ukraine crisis has hogged international limelight impacting trade of energy, food and supply chain disruptions and many related worrying fallouts, the world seems to have drifted into a new era of Cold War with the US, West and NAT
Introduction The Philippines is on a diplomatic overdrive. There seems to be cracks in the ASEAN unity. The 10-member bloc is not in the same page on a host of issues. Cambodia is suspected to have succumbed to the Chinese temptation of economic d
Indonesia assumed the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after in 2023 and hosted its first major meeting of the group’s Foreign Ministers at the ASEAN Secretariat on 3 February 2023 on a slew of issues affecting the
After adopting a path-breaking measure to rearm Japan in December 2022 in the wake of North Korean threat and China’s belligerence, Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida undertook a six-day, five nation tour starting with 8 January 2023 that took
A concerning trend is unfolding in the Korean Peninsula and larger East Asia wherein fresh talks in South Korea of revisiting the nuclear options are being openly articulated. This is precisely being triggered by North Korea’s relentless surge in n
Introduction In a dramatic departure to Japan’s exclusively defensive posture embodied in the pacifist post-War Constitution of Japan, the Fumio Kishida administration effectively abandoned on 16 December 2022 when it passed ammendments to three
There is a geopolitical reset centring in the Middle East where the US influence seems to have waned while China’s clout shows sign of growing. This assertion is backed by the development when the Chinese President Xi Jinping after securing an unpr
Most of the recent writings on Taiwan have focussed on President Tsai Ing-wen of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) and her defiance on China’s pressure to toe Beijing’s line on Taiwan’s status. The frequent threats from Beijing to u
Response from Japan As an immediate neighbour, Japan was alarmed by North Korea’s missile launch. It was concerned as the missile landed about 125 miles from Japan’s coastline. In the preceding months, North Korea’s ballistic missile launches
On 18 November 2022, North Korea successfully test-fired a Hwasong-17 (or Hwasongpho-17) intercontinental-range ballistic missile (ICBM), adding further to the already existing tensions and security threats in the Korean Peninsula. This launch was th