82 posts
Europe’s Mini-pivot to Asia
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An impressive array of European top politicians – including the French President Francois Holland and spearheaded by the top brass from Brussels (Herman Van Rompuy and Jose Manuel Barroso) -Read more…...
Fiji pushes Pacific trade agenda with Europe
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Fiji has told Europe’s top trade man: Europe must do more to reach a fair partnership with the Pacific Islands. Attorney-General and Minister for Industry and Trade, Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, underscored concerns of Pacific ACP (African, Caribbean, Paci...
As trouble brews in East Asia – the EU is quiet
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The Head of FRIDE’s Agora Asia-Europe programme, Gauri Khandekar, has written an opinion piece for EUobserver about the ongoing dispute between China and Japan in the East China Sea. The original version can be found here, and the text is also...
The EU and Taiwan’s future
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Earlier this month in Brussels, FRIDE’s Agora Asia-Europe Programme and the EU-Asia Centre jointly held a Panel Discussion titled The Future of Taiwan, which looked at both delicate cross-strait affairs and Taiwan’s relations with the EU. The e...
CICA became stable factor of regional policy in security
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Progress is not possible without trust within countries of Asian region — Nazarbaev. READ MORE...
India’s Prospects in the Area of Ballistic Missile Defense: A Regional Security Perspective
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By Peter Topychkanov «‘In 2012, the unequal relationship between India and Pakistan is spinning sh...
Can Asia avoid the middle-income trap?
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The thesis that the Asian boom is past its best is not new, but when we come across a particularly well-argued note on the topic, we like to share.We’ve already given you...
Australia’s capex cliff
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Here’s a bold call: the developed world’s fastest growing (that’s Australia for those of you at the back of the class) will fall in to recession next year as...
Signs of change in Europe?
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Just back from 10 days in India - so many similarities with the challenges faced by the EU. Again struck by shared cultural values, retained in spite of India's need to struggle for independence from Britain which is so well explained in the Nehru Me...
Europeans and the South China Sea
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How and why should Europeans become more involved in the foreign and strategic affairs of the Indo-Pacific? Why are the European isolationists wrong? What role, in particular, is there for the United Kingdom and France? And should Europeans be willin...
Nepal and its transition: what lies ahead?
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A little history The Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal is a landlocked country with a population of approximately 30 million people that has been a monarchy throughout most of its history. Nepal had been ruled by the Shah Dynasty from 1768 until a...
European Kitchens in Pattaya Condominiums
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When we say European kitchens, we actually pertain to various designs and styles. Hungarian kitchens for instance have hand stenciled cupboards or kitchen cabinets with too much folk art designs while Tuscany cabinets are normally in cracked paint ef...
Six-plus-one-Party Talks? EU role in denuclearisation of North Korea
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On 4 July 2012, the East Asia Forum published an essay on the role the EU could play in the Six-Party-Talks, by Philip Worré, Executive Director of ISIS Europe, and Intaek Han, policy advisor to the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs and &#...
The Great East Japan earthquake one year on
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It’s exactly a year and one hundred days since I was last in Japan. Then I was bringing European support for a people and a country devastated by the triple disaster of an earthquake, a tsunami and a nuclear accident. Now I’m here for an...
Pete Pattisson’s Burma
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The Liberal Democrats’ Parliamentary Candidates Association (PCA) has produced several editions of Who’s Who in the Liberal Democrats, listing the parliamentary and civic achievements of leading members of the Party (or at least those who...
Sticker Lady: Is Singapore changing?
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You can find a big headlines in international press like – Sticker Lady tests Singapore leaders. Question: We tend to see Singapore as the state obsesses with order. How significant is this story in your opinion for the society in Singapore?
EU-Asia relations: so much to learn from each other
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I’ve just returned from a trip to China, Korea and Singapore, the main focus of which was to maintain the positive momentum in EU-China relations that has been driven by a number of successful summits with our Asian partners. Indeed, over the l...
SCO speeding up establishment of special account
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The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is to speed up the establishment of a special account and development bank so as to enhance members' ability to cope with new threats and challenges, reported Xinhua. READ MORE...
Battle for Dien Bien Phu (1986)
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Hell in a Very Small Place. That was the name of a book by Bernard Fall about the siege of Dien Bien Phu. The 1954 battle was a turning point in Indochina, where the French made a last ditch effort to maintain control in Vietnam. It also is the point...
The bad news that didn’t come
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I got the first news of the two strong earthquakes in the Indian Ocean yesterday. The images of the 2004 disaster that caused huge destruction in the same area and killed more than 230,000 people jumped in my mind. Like observers world over, I prayed...
Anti-Corruption and Federalism in India
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At the end of 2011, India’s coalition government adjourned the upper chamber of the federal legislature without passing legislation that would have created an independent anticorruption agency. India was a the time rife with governmental corruption...
Cult of the Leader: The Case of North Korea
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Baudrillard writes of "hyper-reality," which arises when productions—perhaps created by publicists and other spin doctors—become the reality that is taken seriously at the expense of the originals. The modern art of Andy Warhal provides an...
North Korea: A New Kim on the Block
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BRUSSELS – With regard to North Korea, the Obama Administration and China have been united by a common purpose: the avoidance of trouble. Despite some tensions between Washington and Beijing, the primary U.S. concern — containing Pyongyang
Conflicting Business Models at Singapore’s Airport
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Singapore’s Changi may be “the world’s most fabulous airport,” according to Scott McCartney of the Wall Street Journal. To be sure, the airport’s amenities are amazing. How they are operated, however, detracts in certain respects with the g...
Atlantic Community’s MEMO 33: NATO Partnerships – Strengthening Ties with Asia
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Atlantic Memos showcase the best ideas and arguments from debates in our cooperation Think Tank Atlantic Community. Memo 33 calls for stronger ties with Asia. Atlantic Community members call upon NATO to strengthen its existing partnerships and devel...
No respite Down-Under from Eurozone crisis
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Any hope that travelling to the other side of the world would offer some respite from the daily diet of the Eurozone crisis has been rudely dashed. Here am I, blogging from Sydney, Australia, and finding no escape. Globalisation has never seemed more...
Accepting Reality: Living With a Nuclear North Korea
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video By Ted Galen Carpenter Hopes are rising once more that the moribund six-party talks will resume and that negotiations will eventually produce an agreement whereby North...
"Tapping Australia’s Community Spirit in the Year Ahead" by David Hetherington
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Julia Gillard is wrestling with a problem that would be the envy of her prime ministerial and presidential peers: how to manage the proceeds of the boom. Like its seasons, Australia’s economy and...
Pacific: Renewed Impetus Sought For EPA With EU
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The Pacific region's top trade officials, experts and Ministers gathered this week in Apia, Samoa, to deliberate on key issues surrounding negotiations with the European Union on a fair and comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Pacific...
Papua New Guinea could lose trade deal if Thailand benefits
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The European Parliament has asked the European Commission (EC) to suspend the exceptions to the rules of origin given to Papua New Guinea (PNG) if the deal this year proves to have “a disruptive impact” on European industry. European Ministers ex...
Initiative On The Caspian OSCE Clone
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Addressing the 65th Session of the UN General Assembly the President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov mentioned the initiative to found a “Forum on Security, Peace and Cooperation in Central Asia and Caspian basin”. Obviously, t...
Calories and Caffeine Fuel Summit
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Caffeine and calories fuel Asian and European leaders meeting in Brussels.
Hello EU, We’re Malaysia
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Malaysian delegates at this week’s Asia-Europe summit in Brussels have their work cut out for them. They must try to grab the attention of European diplomats more keen on chatting with the Koreans, Chinese, and even the Russians.
A Look Behind The Scenes Of The ASEM Summit
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The 8th ASEM (Asia-Europe meeting) Summit will take place on October 4th and 5th 2010. This summit is held every two years, sometimes in Asia, sometimes in Europe. It is indisputably the most important event organised within the framework of this Pre...
Worth a Thousand Words
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This, according to How Big Really?, is how Pakistan’s floods would look if they covered the UK: Donate...
Aid where it matters
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Please donate to the Pakistan flood appeal via DEC With almost 20 million affected by flooding in Pakistan, and the sad news of the death of medical staff in Afghanistan who have previously been off limits, the issue of international aid is hugely im...
Trade a key issue in Merkel's visit to Kazakhstan
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German Chancellor Angela Merkel has met with President Nursultan Nasarbeyev of Kazakhstan to discuss trade and investment. The visit draws her five-day tour of Asia to a close. READ MORE...
Environmental Problems of Asian Region have Reached a Critical Point
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The OSCE is literally the only regional organization, which includes the most influential countries in the world. READ MORE...
Military Solutions will not tackle the Root Causes of Military Based Extremism in Pakistan
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Speaking at a hearing last week organised by London Green MEP Jean Lambert, Shama Mall, the Deputy Director of Church World Service – Pakistan/Afghanistan, stated her firm belief that the current focus on military solutions in Pakistan is...
Thailand: an education from Dave’s Part
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If – like me – your knee-jerk reaction to the Thai crisis is to support the “red shirts”, but you don’t really know much about Thailand or the issues at stake, then Dave’s Part will be an education. This is bloggin...
Kazakh Senate Speaker Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev on the Trans-Asian Parliamentary Forum, Kyrgyz events and his opinion on the Great Victory
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Almaty is to hold the Trans-Asian Parliamentary Forum entitled "The Eurasian Dimension of the OSCE" on 14-16 May. In anticipation of this event, Interfax-Kazakhstan has spoken to the head of the forum's organizing committee, Kazakhstan's...
The European Union’s foreign policy limits: Korea
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Why will the European Union be unable to develop a strong and close relationship with South Korea? How can this deficit in what might otherwise be a tight political and economic relationship be remedied? What must Europeans do?
ASEM: Who?
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How many Europeans know that an ASEM Summit will be held in Brussels on 4-5 October this year, attended by prime ministers or presidents of 45 countries plus the EU/Commission? Indeed, how many are aware of the existence of ASEM, which is distinct...
The Mekong Drought: A warning on the Wall for China?
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The member countries of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) and China met at Easter to discuss the dramatic consequences of the drought wave in South East Asia for the Mekong River. The mighty 4.400 km long Mekong River, which originates in the Tibetan...
China should join the IEA
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The discreet call last month by Nobuo Tanaka, the Director General of the International Energy Agency (IEA), upon China to join the organisation is overdue. The IEA has ceased to represent the major oil consuming countries, as it did when it was foun...
Burma Election Laws
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The election laws published last week by the Burmese regime are a wake up call for the international community. No-one can now be in any doubt about the Burmese junta’s intentions. Despite promises to the UN and to their ASEAN neighbours, the regim...
Global Output Continues Its Rise As Asian Manufacturing Surges Ahead
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Global manufacturing industry ended 2009 on what seems to be a fairly positive footing, with the JPMorgan Global Manufacturing PMI posting a comfortable 55.0 in December, up from 53.7 in November, significantly above that critical 50 growth/contracti...
Main ACP-EU events for next week (21-27 December)
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EU Presidency (Brussels):- 21 December: Working Party of Foreign Relations Counsellors «Relex»;Working Party on Commodities (PROBA)- 22 December: Environment CouncilFor more information please consult the calendar on our webpage http://brussels.cta...
Asia and the West in the Age of Obama
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As U.S. President Barack Obama visits Asia, many European and American observers have embraced the narrative that an emerging, China-centric New Asian Order will reshape world politics, relegating the West to inexorable decline and marginalization.
(Book Review)The European Union and Asia
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The European Union and Asia – Reflections and Re-orientations, edited by Peter Anderson and Georg Wiessala (Amsterdam and New York, Rodopi, 2007, ISBN 9789042022959); 313pp., 63� hp. In recent years, scholarly literatures regarding relatio...
EU-Central Asia Ministerial Conference
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Watch the press conference life at 19.30 Brussels time at http://video.consilium.europa.eu Here’s what the official EU statement (pdf) says about the meeting: The states of Central Asia are gaining in significance as a focus of co-operation for...
Ekaterinburg – the vector of economic performance of Russia’s relationship with Asia
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Dialogue with Vadim Rudolfovici Dubicev – Deputy Head of Administration of Sverdlovsk region governor, director of the Department of Political Information governor - Mr. Vadim Dubicev, very soon the city will host Ecaterinburg SCO Summit (Orga...
EU- India Summit: setting the path for a growing strategic partnership
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Source: Europa.eu The 8th EU-India Summit will take place on 30 November 2007 in New Delhi. This year’s Summit will confirm in many respects the strengthening of EU-India relations: on the agenda are issues like trade, energy, climate change, W...
Asian century - European model?
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By 2020 Asia will account for 45 per cent of global gdp, one third of global trade, and its military spending will have grown by a quarter. Energy demand among APEC economies will grow by 40 per cent by 2020 - over half the increase in global en...
The Elephant, the Tiger and the Cell Phone
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I chaired the lecture by author and former diplomat (Under-Secretary General at UN) Shashi Tharoor at the Hay books festival on Monday. His collection of essays carries this name. His point was simple: India now sells over 8 million cell...
