Asia Rising

The 19th Chinese Communist Party Congress has been and gone, and in its wake we’re left with a more powerful Xi Jinping with an far-reaching vision for the future of the country. But what could it mean in the long-term, and is Xi making a power play that could see future change in both the party and the political balance of China? GUEST: Rowan Callick (China correspondent for The Australian, autho...

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has been called many names: The Trump of the East, a dictator-in-waiting, the bastard child of Philippines’ democracy. Beyond these colourful labels, however, are critical social transformations occurring in the Philippine society that accompany Duterte’s rise to presidency. How exactly does a populist firebrand govern? What political project does he offer to o...

China and Australia have relationship anchored by strong trade bonds, and there is a respectful prime-ministerial level dialogue between the two countries.   Yet it is a relationship with underlying tension. China and Australia sometimes find themselves on different sides of the table in some bilateral issues, and disagreements over foreign investment in Australia, influence, and the interests of...

Australia has a vital set of relationships with its Asian neighbours, built on the foundation of shared geography, security interests and mutually beneficial trade. Over recent decades Japan and China have become global powerhouses and India may yet join them. Having strong, beneficial relations with these countries will only become more important. One of the most important figures in building the...

Western countries are impressed by the performance of China's schools in international tests and search for the secrets of their success, but are we overlooking the punishing nature of elite schooling in China and its role in increasing inequality? Guest: Professor Edward Vickers (Comparative Education, Kyushu University), co-author of Education and Society in Post-Mao China (Routledge 2017). Foll...

India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, is a man with strong views on economics. He came into office in 2014 with a vision for India to be a global manufacturing power, and promises that his leadership will usher in economic revival. Has Modi's economic leadership paid off, or is India still waiting for the cheque to clear? Guest: Adam Roberts (former South Asia correspondent for the Economist, cur...

China’s Communist Party Congress has begun in Beijing and opened with an address from General Secretary Xi Jinping. The country’s most powerful leader in decades, Xi game himself a glowing report card and set an ambitious agenda for his second term, keeping a captive audience of delegates entranced 205 minutes. What did the address have to say about the successes of China, the new era it approache...

‘History is the best textbook’ is one of the favourite phrases of China’s President Xi Jinping, yet only one version of history is acceptable in today's China. Since 2012, the ruling Communist party has made radical efforts to tighten its control over history, even bringing lawsuits against those seen guilty of ‘historical nihilism’. The streets around Tiananmen Square were not the only place that...

For the past 15 years western democracies have appeared to reach a crisis point. Cynicism towards political institutions is widespread, with results in the UK and the United States the most visible manifestation of this trend. In contrast, the Chinese Communist Party has overseen the greatest advancement in human development history, and maintained social stability and cohesion at the same time. I...

China's influence in Australia has become controversial. For years there have been reports connecting Chinese money to the funding of political parties, think-tanks, and research institutes. There is investment in business and buildings, and the Chinese Communist Party mouthpiece China Daily struck a deal to be distributed in the Fairfax Media’s newspapers. Less recognised is China’s exercise of s...

Modern India stands on the threshold of becoming a global power. As it seeks to revitalise its economy and improve the health and education prospects of its citizens, improve its fractious relations with China and Pakistan and make its mark on the global stage, the key to understanding its future lies in understanding its leader. Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is a controversial figure in his own c...

Much of migration to Melbourne is studied in a post-war context dominated by Greeks and Italians fleeing a post-war Europe, but it undoubtedly goes back much further. Asian migrants played a notable part in the city’s growth, and these people bought new languages and culture with them. Guest: Dr Nadia Rhook ( Archaeology and History, La Trobe University) Follow Nadia Rhook on Twitter: www.twitter....

Recent years have witnessed mingled alarm and envy in the West at the supposed excellence of China's education system - epitomized by Shanghai's PISA success. But much public discussion of the context for that success, and of the nature of the education system that has produced it, remains worryingly superficial. Drawing on a new monograph, Education and Society in Post-Mao China (Routledge 2017),...

China’s political and economic growth in the past three decades has been rapid and impressive, and central to this transformation has been the role of the Chinese communist Party. It controls the government, courts, media and military, and its decisions have a global impact. Guest: Richard McGregor, journalist and author of ‘The Party: The Secret World of China’s Communist Rulers’. Follow Richard...

A North Korean threat is a reality Asia has had to deal with for some time, but now that they have nuclear weapons that can reach the United States mainland the stakes of changed. Tensions on the Korean peninsula remain high, and two unpredictable and strong-willed leaders, Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump, could escalate the situation quickly. Guests: Professor Nick Bisley (Executive Director, La Tro...

The Philippines’ maverick president, Rodrigo Duterte, has had a turbulent first year in office. His crime fighting agenda, popular with the middle class during the election, has delivered a bloody and devastating war on drugs with crowded prisons and thousands killed in the streets. Internal conflict with Islamic State-backed groups has led to martial law on the island of Mindanao and threats of c...

Japan has a challenging future. Its population is declining, the economy remains anaemic while the country’s security environment is extremely challenging. North Korea presents an existential threat, and China’s growing military power threatens the country’s long-term interests. Even though it is an affluent country the restrictive constitution forced on it after World War II places limitations on...

For more than half a century, American power in the Pacific has successfully kept the peace. But it has also cemented the tensions in the toxic rivalry between China and Japan, consumed with endless history wars and entrenched political dynasties. Now, the combination of these forces with Donald Trump's unpredictable impulses and disdain for America's old alliances threatens to upend the region, a...

In recent years, the English-speaking world has become wildly enthusiastic about India. India is a trusted ally, ‘the world’s largest democracy’, and it’s the ‘democratic counterweight’ to China. Despite these pronouncements, India has continually defied and confounded the expectations of the English-speaking world. Dr Alexander Davis, (New Generation Network research fellow with La Trobe Universi...

The Great Wall has long been a symbol of China, but a problematic one - an authentic experience can be hard to find, and in the modern day China wants to be seen as open and inviting, but a wall closes off, and keeps people out. Associate Professor James Leibold (Department of Politics and Philosophy, La Trobe University) and Dr Graeme Smith (Research Fellow at the Australian National University)...

Globalisation and major power rivalry are creating a China-centric integrated Asian strategic system, drawing together the once-discrete theatres of Northeast, Southeast, South and Central Asia. Nationalist ambition among the region’s giants will make integrated Asia an unstable place where cooperation among the great powers will be much harder to achieve than in the past. Professor Nick Bisley (E...

Is Tibetanness under threat? As more young Tibet are lured towards a dominant Chinese education, Tibetans are faced with hard realities of ethnocultural survival. Dr Adrian Zenz (European School of Culture and Theology, Germany) speaks to Associate Professor James Leibold (Politics, La Trobe University) about the challenges facing Tibetan language and culture in China. Follow Adrian Zenz on Twitte...

On 14 May this year 33 world leaders gathered in Beijing for what has been touted as the inaugural Belt and Road Forum for international Cooperation. Billed as the biggest diplomatic event in China this year the summit was ostensibly about improving economic integration between East and West and providing leadership to a global economy going through difficult times. Dr Luca Anceschi (Lecturer in C...

Westerners tend to divide the political world into "good" democracies and "bad" authoritarian regimes. But the Chinese political model does not fit neatly in either category. Over the past three decades, China has developed a genuinely new approach to governance, rooted in its long history and at odds with the "Western" idea that electoral democracy is the only legitimate form of government. How c...

Since the fall of President Suharto’s new order regime in 1998, culture has exploded in Indonesia, and nowhere is this more evident than in the media. With increases in media providers comes increases in diversity of media forums and media content. With such an increasing in offering comes an altering of the public discourse that can further change democracy and modernity. Professor Ariel Heryanto...