Asia Rising

At the end of June the Philippines will welcome new leadership featuring two very familiar names. Following in his father’s footsteps is Bongbong Marcos, son of former dictator Ferdinand Marcos, and joining him as Vice-President is Sara Duterte, daughter of the current President. While Marcos and Duterte are both the children of politicians with contentious backgrounds, they were elected with nota...

The Catch. A podcast miniseries about modern slavery and forced labour in the offshore fishing industry in the Asia Pacific Region. Episode 1: Recruitment Host: Dr Bec Strating (Executive Director, La Trobe Asia) Guest: Dr Sallie Yea (Tracey Banivanua Mar Fellow, La Trobe University) Produced by La Trobe Asia.

As Australians head to the voting booth, much of this election has focused on our regional relationships and our place in the global order. Many have labelled this a 'khaki election', with national security becoming a major election issue. The campaign so far has been dominated by regional issues, particularly the fallout of China's pact with the Solomon Islands. Whether it is the strength of our...

This special 'in conversation' event discussed Nalin Mehta’s recently released book, “The New BJP: Modi and the making of the world’s largest political party” (Westland, 2022). The book examines the rise and influence of the BJP party in India under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and implications for Indian politics and society. Guests: Dr Nalin Mehta, Dean, School of Modern Media,...

Indonesia aspires to play an active and influential role in regional and global affairs, and its public expects broad influence. How can its foreign policy ideas adapt to a changing and contested region? And how can prospective partner countries such as Australia build trust and relationships? Guest: Professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar (Research Professor at the Research Centre for Politics, National Res...

Japan occupies an ambitious position in geopolitics, desiring to maintain a balance of power in the face of a rising China, and to bring about economic prosperity, peace, and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. Guest: Associate Professor Stephen Nagy (Department of Politics and International Studies, International Christian University (ICU), Tokyo, Japan). Recorded on 4 April, 2022.

Since 2016, an estimated one million Uyghurs and members of other Turkic Muslim minorities have disappeared into a vast network of ‘re-education camps’ in the far west region of Xinjiang, China in what some experts call a systematic, government-led program of cultural genocide. Those outside detention are subject to intensive surveillance through a network of hi-tech surveillance systems, checkpoi...

As regional powers in the Indo-Pacific, Australia and Japan have much to gain from increased bilateral cooperation and increased interaction through ‘minilaterals’ such as the Quad. Strategic forces are pushing the states closer together, and Australia relationship with Japan has never been closer. This is demonstrated by the ‘Special Strategic Partnership’ between the states and the recent signin...

This launch of Issue 6 of the La Trobe Asia Brief brings together emerging leaders to discuss critical issues facing the Indo-Pacific. Written by students and young professionals from a diverse range of areas, this event will explore gender and conflict resolution in the Indo-Pacific, Australian foreign policy and South Korea’s maritime strategy. As the balance of power shifts in the Indo-Pacific,...

The Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region in northern China has, in recent years, been the site of extensive protests against changes to the education system that have diminished the role of the Mongolian language. What might the UN’s Decade of Indigenous Languages mean for the region’s Mongols and their struggle to protect their language? A three podcast series exploring issues of indigenous language...

For all states across the Asia-Pacific women’s representation in all sectors remains dismally low. The COVID-19 pandemic and responses to it have disproportionately affected women and girls across the Asia-Pacific, from alarming increases in domestic violence during extended lockdowns to the growing gender gap in employment opportunities. Addressing these challenges requires policy-makers to imple...

The Lepcha community is indigenous to the Himalayan mountains, and can be found across India, Nepal, Bhutan, and Tibet. There's estimated to be less than 70,000 speakers of the Lepcha language, and while it is an official language of Sikkim retention is a challenge. A three podcast series exploring issues of indigenous languages to mark the beginning of the United Nations International Decade of I...

Asia is a linguistically diverse region, but this diversity is currently under threat. After centuries of colonisation and decades of rapid development, communities throughout Asia are facing distinct and urgent challenges to defend their rights to language in the face of discrimination, exclusion, and violence. How are Indigenous people and languages across Asia responding to this situation? Who...

The Biden administration has released a new Indo-Pacific strategy, and much is at stake, with the acknowledgement that competition from China and climate change are of great concern to the United States and its allies. Guest: Assoc Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Asia, La Trobe University) Recorded on 15 February, 2022.

The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing, and with the collision of sports, politics and covid this is proving to be an olympiad to remember. Guest: Assoc Professor Geoff Dickson (Director of the Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe University) Recorded on 1 February, 2022.

As we enter year three of the covid-19 and settle into our schedule of working from home, home-schooling and hopefully not catching a deadly plague, how are health systems in Asia coping and adapting with the pandemic? Guest: Professor Vivian Lin (Executive Associate Dean of LKS Faculty of Medicine at the University of Hong Kong and Adjunct Professor of La Trobe Asia). Recorded on 16 January, 2022...

The Himalaya and the adjacent Tibetan plateau house the globe's third biggest ice packed are the source of most of Asia's major rivers. Over the past century of the people of these mountains have had to endure colonisation unstable geopolitics, and now a climate changing at twice the global average. Despite this they have survived and in some cases thrived, coming up with innovative ways to approa...

Since the mass internment of Uyghurs and other indigenous groups in China was first reported in 2017, there is now a rich body of literature documenting recent human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, there is little knowledge of the actual perpetrators inside China’s vast and opaque party-state system. A report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (...

After a period of turmoil, Malaysia’s new Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, has a tenuous hold on leadership. A politician of the UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) coalition, his party returns to power a few short years after their first ever electoral defeat when former Prime Minister Najib Razak was tied to the 1MDB scandal involving RM 2.67 billion (close to $900m AUD) in missing fu...

After a quiet start to his presidency, United States President Joe Biden has made some recent decisive steps in engaging with Asia by selling nuclear submarines to Australia and establishing the AUKUS pact, outlining an approach to trade with China, and hosting a Quad summit at the White House, gathering with key U.S. partners in Asia. A major part of this strategy is building up alliances to offe...

Australia, the UK and the US have announced a historic security agreement, dubbed ‘AUKUS’, in response to regional security concerns about China’s rising power and influence in the Indo-Pacific. Under the deal, Australia will build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, using technology provided by the United States. It also signals to a greater presence of the three powers in the region w...

The Islamic fundamentalist group the Taliban have returned to power in Afghanistan twenty years after being ousted by the United States, sparking concern for a harsh rule imposed on Afghans, a neglect of human rights and the beginning of a humanitarian crisis for the region. For neighbouring countries the initial shock of transition is being met with pragmatism of coping with the aftermath. The Ta...

In June 2020 there was a clash between India and China at a disputed border site in the Himalayan Galwan Valley, in which twenty India soldiers were killed. A wave of anti-Chinese sentiment swelled across India, with Chinese-made televisions thrown from balconies, restaurants boycotted and Chinese goods burnt. With the covid-19 pandemic devastating India the anti-Chinese sentiment has only worsene...

While the twentieth century saw the collapse of monarchies across Europe, recent events are a reminder that hereditary monarchies still matter in Asia. In some countries like Malaysia and Bhutan the institution is thriving, but they can struggle for relevancy given the pro-democracy movement in Thailand and fast-modernising landscape of Japan. In an era of autocratic populism, does constitutional...

As strategic competition between the US and China increasingly shapes the region, Vietnam has reoriented its national foreign and defence policy. Vietnam has a major stake in the international rules-based order. One of its key priorities is defending sovereignty and maritime claims in the South China Sea, which are coming under challenge by an assertive Beijing. Vietnam has been increasingly vocal...