Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IDN By Kalinga Seneviratne* IDN-InDepth NewsAnalysis SINGAPORE (IDN) – The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) held its annual summit in the Vietnamese capital Hanoi October 28-30 along with the East Asia Summit (EAS). The latter is an initiative of ASEAN but it has been bogged down [...]
CHINA : PUTTING OUT A FIRE IN ITS NEIGHBOURHOOD
November 16, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy B.RAMAN “ China befriending the distant while alienating neighbors?” 2. That was the question posed by Li Hongmei, the columnist of the Chinese Communist Party controlled “People’s Daily Online”, in an article carried by it on November 12,2010. The theme of the article was that while China’s relations with distant [...]
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Activists Vow To Take On First Dam on Lower Mekong
October 14, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct 14, 2010 (IPS) – A hydropower dam project in Laos that could permanently scar South-east Asia’s largest river, the Mekong, faces a strong wall of opposition from local and regional green groups determined to protect its pristine environment. This defiance comes in the [...]
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Malaria Control Drive Reaches Out to Migrant Workers
October 2, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics & Political Economy / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Oct 2, 2010 (IPS) – As efforts to control malaria intensify in the region, the significance of a busy health clinic in Mae Sot, a Thai town close to the Burmese border, stands out even more. It is the Mae Tao clinic that an [...]
SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Leaders Take Softly, Softly Approach to Burma
April 10, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Larry Jagan HANOI, Apr 10, 2010 (IPS) – South-east Asian leaders did not push Burma’s junta too hard at their just- finished annual summit, hoping that a more subtle approach would nudge it to make sure the elections planned for later this year are credible. The 10-country Association [...]
ENVIRONMENT: Blame on Chinese Dams Rise as Mekong River Dries Up
March 17, 2010 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS By Marwaan Macan-Markar BANGKOK, Mar 17, 2010 (IPS) – As the water level in the Mekong River dips to a record 50-year low, a familiar pattern of fault-finding has risen to the surface. China, the regional giant through which parts of South-east Asia’s largest waterway flows through, is again [...]
JAPAN: Fresh Aid to Mekong Signals Rivalry with China — Experts
November 12, 2009 By
Global Geopolitics Net Sites / IPS Catherine Makino TOKYO, Nov 11 (IPS) – There is more to Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s pledge last week to extend at least 500 billion yen (5.6 billion U.S. dollars) in fresh assistance to the Mekong region than meets the eye, or so observers think. Japan’s underlying intentions toward the [...]
