State of Asia

The Gen A Young Leadership Program is a key initiative of Asia Society Switzerland. It brings together a group of around 25 vetted young professionals and advance students to participate in a year of deepening their Asia knowledge and to provide them with the tools to interpret developments in Asia and identify opportunities for successful collaboration. Gen A enables the next generation of leader...

Deepti Kapoor 's Age of Vice , published in 2023, is a story of power, corruption, and complicity, set in modern India. In the early 2000s, the lives of Ajay, Neda, and Sunny – the novel's three main characters – cross in New Delhi. There is idealism, optimism even; but also crime, drugs, and violence, as Sunny Wadia follows in the footsteps of his powerful father. Age of Vice , which be...

On November 6, 2024, leading global thinker Adam Tooze delivered Asia Society Switzerland's third annual State of Asia Address in front of a full house in the prestigious aula of the University of Zurich, our partner for this event. Adam holds the Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University in New York City. In 2019, Foreign Policy Magazine named him one of the top Global Thin...

China and India seem to be en route to a better, or less bad, relationship for the first time in years. Germany published its first 'Focus on India' policy paper, immediately followed by a visit of Chancellor Scholz to New Delhi. The new EU Commission has specifically named India as an important part of its strategies. Russia, just like India a founding member of BRICS and host of that f...

’ The Weirdo ’ is a podcast for people who live up to its name. It’s a very popular weekly Chinese-language show, where younger generation Chinese living both inside China and elsewhere come together to talk about topics ranging from international relations to personal relationships, from current events to the big issues of our time. It’s, as the hosts say it, about ‘human survival in a complex an...

On October 20, 2024, Indonesia will inaugurate Prabowo Subianto as its new President. Ever since his election win back in February, world leaders have been courting Prabowo, meeting with him even before he has taken office. Prabowo seems to love presidenting around the world much more than current President Joko Widodo did during his ten years in office. If all goes well, says Dewi Fortuna Anwar ,...

Over the past year, U.S.-China relations have seen slight improvement, in part driven by the U.S. desire for stability leading up to the Presidential election. Regardless of whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump wins the election, the new President will have to make a crucial decision: maintain this fragile period of stability, or press forward with more competitive measures to push back against C...

With the U.S. heading to the polls in November, Asia, like the rest of the world, will be following the election outcome closely. While all U.S. elections are consequential for the world, this one seems especially so, with the two candidates charting divergent paths for U..S policy on issues such as global security, trade and climate change. Hear from Asia Society’s global network of experts from...

In 2024, over half the world’s population has been voting for new leaders – or will do so very soon. In Asia, countries from Bangladesh to Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, Japan, and Indonesia, end this year with other leaders than the one they started it with (though not all through general elections). So do the EU, the UK and, in January 2025, the U.S. James Crabtree , TOY Senior Fellow at Asia Soc...

STATE OF ASIA, the podcast from Asia Society Switzerland , is back with engaging conversations with leading minds on the issues that shape Asia and affect us all. The new season premieres Tuesday, September 3. New episodes follow every other Tuesday. Plus: look out for bonus episodes bringing you insights from some of the many events organized by Asia Society Switzerland. Stay up-to-date on all ou...

Batteries increasingly power everything around us, all thanks to major innovations and a supply chain that spans the world. And that’s where things get complicated. As battery costs sink and technology advances, nations increasingly view batteries as vital for national security, economic competitiveness, and to reach their climate goals. We spoke with two experts on all things batteries and geopol...

As India’s economy continues to grow, can the world’s most populous country truly replicate China's success of the past decades? Should India even imitate China? Maybe not, says our guest on this episode, Alicia García Herrero , Hong Kong-based Chief Economist for Asia-Pacific at French investment bank Natixis, and Senior Fellow at European think tank Breugel. Alicia discusses the key differe...

As tensions simmer in its immediate environment, Japan is on high alert. In the midst of China's "sustained aggressiveness," Japan is revising its defense and security policies. But how does this align with its pacifist constitution, and is there still room for engagement with China? Hear from Yuki Tatsumi , Senior Fellow, Co-Director of the East Asia Program, and Director of the Ja...

China’s leader Xi Jinping raised his country’s relationship with EU and NATO member Hungary to a level that puts Hungary almost as close to Beijing’s chest as Russia and North Korea are. Western Europe long regarded  the ’new’ EU member states in the East as Trojan horses. But views on, and relations with, China have grown very diverse in Central and Eastern Europe. Especially in the Baltics, the...

Indira Ranamagar is Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives of Nepal since January 2023. She started her career as a primary science and maths teacher in village schools in the southeast of Nepal, and became a social worker in prisons in 1990. For well over 30 years now, she has been a prolific human rights and social worker. In 2000, she founded the NGO Prisoner’s Assistance Nepal , which...

Nalin Mehta is a political scientist and journalist in Delhi, India, and author of The New BJP , a work you can only call THE  book on the BJP, the largest political party in the world. Under the leadership of India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the BJP has solidified its position as the uncontested center of power in the world's most populous country. As India heads to the polls over...

There is little to dispute about Asia's rise as a key feature of our time. Already the world's most populous region, Asian countries have steadily gained in economic and political influence on the world stage in recent decades. While in the past this development has been driven heavily by China, the next few years will see countries like India, Indonesia, and Vietnam expand their interna...

Johan Nylander is an award-winning author and freelance China and Asia correspondent. His work is published by CNN, Forbes , Sweden’s leading business daily Dagens Industri , and many other international media outlets. His most recent book is The Wolf Economy Awakens – Mongolia’s Fight for Democracy, and a Green and Digital Future (Hong Kong University Press, 2023). It's full of original repo...

STATE OF ASIA, the podcast from Asia Society Switzerland , is back with engaging conversations with leading minds on the issues that shape Asia and affect us all. The new season premieres Tuesday, March 26, with a conversation with Hong Kong-based journalist and author Johan Nylander , whose latest book is a deep dive on one of Asia's largest but, for now, most unknown nations: Mongolia. New...

A Closer Look is our popular series taking quick but deep dives into countries and issues that matter, with webcasts, podcasts, and in-person events. This episode is part of A Closer Look: Indonesia After Jokowi, looking at what's next for the Southeast Asian giant now that the hugely popular President Joko Widodo is preparing to hand over to former general Prabowo Subianto, the winner of the...

For decades, Taiwan has existed in a fragile balance, neither truly independent nor unified with mainland China. While this status quo has proven surprisingly enduring, China's continued economic and military rise and its government’s increasing nationalistic rhetoric have raised fears of a conflict around the island – accidental or intentional. What's the best approach to prevent furthe...

Two terrific knowers of China talk about the prospects for the struggling Chinese economy and the question that's on the mind of foreign companies in the country: stay, or go? Listen to Keyu Jin , well-connected professor at the London School of Economics and author of 2023's The New China Playbook ; and Jörg Wuttke , President Emeritus of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China....

On November 21, 2023, Singaporean diplomatic legend Bilahari Kausikan delivered Asia Society Switzerland's second annual State of Asia Address in front of a full house in the prestigious Aula of the University of Zurich. He set himself up to answer the question: Will this – can this – be the ‘Asian century’, in a highly original speech filled with fundamental insights in the big issues facing...

Fuchsia Dunlop is a master cook, celebrated food writer, and accredited chef of Chinese cuisines. She was the first Westerner to train as a chef at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine and has spent much of the last two decades exploring China and its food. She is the author of several award-winning books, and a contributor to the Financial Times , the New Yorker , and other publications Her la...

India is having an eventful year. It led the G20, worked to welcome more members into the BRICS, and it landed on the moon. Despite persisting domestic issues, from economic inequality to shrinking civil liberties, India is thriving in its foreign relations – which may help Prime Minister Modi, as he gears up for elections due next spring.  India has an ambitious goal: to become the world's t...