Asian Studies

The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak does not seem to have a solution anytime soon. Indonesia had begun refusing entry to visitors who had been to China recently or had shown symptoms of fever at airports in the country. These measures, while helped in reducing the risk of infecting the population of the country, have limited effectiveness in stopping the spread of the virus entirely. Someone with the virus may not show any symptoms and pass the restrictions and be allowed to mingle with the general public. Also, not everyone is wearing a face mask anymore. The initial panic has passed and life goes on as usual these days. There are a large number of Chinese nationals who have been living and working in Indonesia for the last decade. They will be there for the foreseeable future. Immigration authorities can limit the duration of their stay in the country, but they cannot stop the Chinese from leaving the country for a few days and come right back with a new stay permit. https://ww...

The recent decision by President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines to terminate a two-decade old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) with United States may end any future military cooperation between the two countries. The Philippines President had been swaying towards China in recent years even with the dispute in the South China Sea. In 2017, during the siege of Marawi, China donated military grade weapons to Philippines to combat ISIS-affiliated fighters in the city. US has had military bases throughout Asia since the end of World War Two to maintain dominance in the Western Pacific.   The North-South axis of US bases from South Korea to Australia has become a containment effort of China’s military expansion in Asia. Losing Philippines as a strategic logistical base will create a gap along the containment perimeter.

With the Coronavirus epidemic rampant in Asia, the tourism industry there is taking a beating from the decline in the number of Chinese tourists. A number of countries such as Singapore and Indonesia have already restricted entry for visitors from China or any non-Chinese citizens who had been to China recently. That will put additional strain to the regional economy of the countries already reeling from the effects of the US-China trade war. The timing of the virus coincide with the Chinese Lunar New Year where the majority of the Chinese are traveling and spending money. For many of the workers, that is the only time they are able to get time off work during the year. This shortfall on the number of Chinese tourists also affects US and European economies as they are also favorite destinations for them. The domino effect of the slowdown in the tourism industry is going to be felt worldwide.  https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/wuhan-virus-coronavirus-tourism-wo...

UN court had ordered Myanmar to end the violence and prevent genocide against the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Thousands of Muslims were killed in the 2017 crackdown by Myanmar’s military and local Buddhist militias while the remaining population fled to neighboring Bangladesh. Gambia, which brought the case to the UN court, hailed the court’s decision as a victory. Myanmar denied there was any genocide within its territories and claimed that the UN was not capable of filtering out misleading information that cast shadows of incrimination of the government. For the victims of Myanmar’s violence, the ruling was the first taste of justice, even though they did not feel that the government would comply with it. It showed that the international community had not forgotten about their plight. More economic pressure would be necessary to make Myanmar’s government comply with the court ruling. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/myanmar-rohingya-genocide-icj-international-court-...

North Korea’s latest warning to forfeit the agreement to halt nuclear and inter-continental ballistic missile testing with United States comes after Washington passed the deadline of December 31 2019 set by Pyongyang to resume denuclearization negotiations. Even though Kim Jong Un signed an agreement with President Trump for a total dismantling of North Korea’s nuclear program before any sanctions would be lifted, it seemed that he had gone against the good faith of the deal. Now, he wants to see easing of sanctions before he will negotiate further on further steps towards denuclearization. That is in contrary to the agreement signed in Singapore in 2018. One of the condition North Korea has demanded is the removal of all US military personnel from South Korea as it is seen as an aggressive stance towards it. It is not a concession United States are willing to do given that North Korea and South Korea are still at war and North Korea had demonstrated its willingness to launch a...