Chuyên mục: ASEAN

Southeast Asia’s Geopolitical Centrality and the U.S.-Japan Alliance

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này
By Ernest Z. Bower, Murray Hiebert, Gregory B. Poling, Phuong Nguyen
JUN 11, 2015

CSIS – Building on a careful analysis of Southeast Asia’s recent history, politics, economics, and place within the Asia Pacific, this report looks forward two decades to anticipate the development of trends in the region and how they will impact the U.S.-Japan alliance. How will Southeast Asian states come to grips with the political and economic rise of China? How will they modernize their military forces and security relationships, and what role can the United States and Japan play? How will they manage their disputes in the South China Sea, and how will they pursue greater regional integration? These questions will prove critical in understanding Southeast Asia’s role in the Asia Pacific, and in the U.S.-Japan alliance, in the decades ahead.

Publisher CSIS/Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN 978-1-4422-4086-5 (pb); 978-1-4422-4087-2 (eBook)
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Food and job security: two challenges for Asia Pacific

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 1 bình luận

Eco-business – Anna Simpson, curator of Forum for the Future’s Futures Centre discusses two mutually reinforcing pressure points that urge sustainable change in the Asia Pacific region.

vietnam farmers peanut

Vietnamese farmers harvest peanuts. Food and job security are among Asia’s most pressing development concerns. xuanhuongho / Shutterstock.com

By Anna Simpson  – Wednesday 10 June 2015
The forest fires that raged across Chiang Mai in March may have dissipated, but the cancer risk for those who breathe in the dust particles year on year has not. Nor has the pressure on contract farmers to meet growing demand for animal feed and ethanol: a factor contributing to illegal slash-and-burn practices. According to one resident, an area more than six times that of Bangkok (which occupies 1,569 square kilometres) of dry corn stalks is set alight after the harvest to make way for the next crop.

A confluence of visible environmental and social crises has led to a surge of awareness of sustainability pressures facing the Asia-Pacific region. The vast human cost to a region that supplies much of the world’s cheap food and consumer goods is increasingly evident. In March, 80,000 Vietnamese workers at a factory making shoes for brands such as Adidas, Converse, Nike and Reebok went on strike in protest against changes to Vietnam’s social-insurance system. In May, a fire at another shoe factory north of Manila in the Philippines killed 72 workers. Tiếp tục đọc “Food and job security: two challenges for Asia Pacific” →

EU Cracks Down on China Solar Cheats

~ Đào Thu Hằng ~ 1 bình luận
Doug Young –Jun 8, 2015

Renewableenergyworld.com – A crackdown has officially begun on Chinese solar panel makers who skirted a deal to avoid anti-dumping tariffs in Europe, with word that the EU has taken formal action to punish 3 violators. The action will see anti-dumping tariffs imposed on Canadian Solar (Nasdaq: CSIQ), ReneSola (NYSE: SOL) and ET Solar, reviving a threat they previously avoided by agreeing to voluntarily raise their prices as part of a breakthrough deal in late 2013.

Western solar panel makers in the US and Europe had long complained that they were at an unfair disadvantage to their Chinese peers, which received a wide array of state subsidies through policies like cheap government loans and tax rebates for their exports. Washington responded by levying anti-dumping tariffs on the Chinese companies, while the EU took a more conciliatory approach by signing a deal that saw the Chinese agree to voluntarily raise their prices to levels comparable with their western rivals. Tiếp tục đọc “EU Cracks Down on China Solar Cheats” →

ASEAN must take a collective stance on the South China Sea

~ Phạm Thu Hương ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

4 June 2015

Author: Vignesh Ram, Manipal University

 
EAF – The South China Sea dispute has become the new normal in ASEAN meetings. The dispute, with its overlapping claims on various land features in the South China Sea, has started to figure as the most important territorial disputes in Asia, one that risks becoming a major power confrontation in the region. With this in mind, ASEAN must take a collective stand on the South China Sea.

Beijing deployed the Haiyang Shiyou oil rig 981 in May 2015 close to the Paracel Islands, triggering a furious reaction in Hanoi and the most serious uptick in tensions in the waters in years. (Photo: AAP) Tiếp tục đọc “ASEAN must take a collective stance on the South China Sea” →

Southeast Asia from Scott Circle – May 28

~ Trần Đình Hoành ~ Bình luận về bài viết này

Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement: Manila’s Most Credible Deterrent to China

By Ernest Z. Bower (@BowerCSIS), Senior Adviser and Sumitro Chair for Southeast Asia Studies (@SoutheastAsiaDC), CSIS

May 28, 2015

The Philippines’ most credible deterrent to China’s stepped-up unilateral actions in the South China Sea is under the pen of Maria Lourdes Sereno, the chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court. Sereno has been tasked with writing the decision of the court on whether the U.S.-Philippines Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA), which would involve stationing American troops, planes, and ships in the country on a rotating basis, is constitutional. The agreement would also help the Philippines boost its maritime security through closer cooperation with the U.S. military. Tiếp tục đọc “Southeast Asia from Scott Circle – May 28” →