Asian Studies

A report by Amnesty International expressed concerns about abuses towards conscripts within Thailand’s military. Incidents of physical and sexual abuses had been an open secret. Superiors using their rank to gain an advantage over junior soldiers is normal. In the case of the Thai soldier killing 29 innocent people in a mall, it was triggered by a housing dispute he had with his superior officer. Thailand military spokesman had come out to address these allegations that these abuses were low in frequency, and that the Amnesty International report had been based on old data from previous years. Thailand’s society had traditionally put up with such abuses in the past, but since the military coup in 2014, there had been more attention paid to such abuses on the conscripts. https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/weeks-after-thai-soldier-kills-29--amnesty-report-describes-conscript-abuses-12567716

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.