Southeast Asia

SE Asia:  The NY Times has an article discussing East and Southeast Asian economic integration.  Thai prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, believes that the regions should be looking for a new growth model, one that is less reliant on the consumption of Western nations.  This would mean increasing domestic demand and increasing aid between Asian nations.    […]

Cambodia – In a never ending quest to irritate his larger neighbor, Thailand,  Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, is considering allowing former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to move there.   Despite the fact he is wanted on criminal charges in Thailand, ranging from tax evasion to treason.  Thaksin was deposed in a bloodless 2006 coup […]

Thailand – A Thai HIV Vaccine trial, led by Dr. Supachai Rerks-Ngarm of the Department of Disease Control of the Thai Ministry’s Public Health Department, was successful in that it provided coverage to a small percentage of participants, which is better than any previous trial. A combination vaccine, using strains of HIV common in Thailand, […]

The United States:  Republican Senator Dick Lugar is calling for the U.S. to create a free trade agreement with ASEAN.    Lugar stated that sanctions on Myanmar should not negatively America’s economic relationship with the rest of the region.  Further: “China, India, Australia, New Zealand and South Korea have already finalized FTAs with Asean and are […]

A lot of international attention has focused on North Korea and Iranian nuclear programs.  However, Mark Fitzpatrick has an interesting article in the Japan Times concerning nuclear proliferation in Southeast Asia, specifically as it applies to rumors surrounding Myanmar’s nuclear ambitions.  This blog has previously discussed Burmese defectors’ claims that the junta was developing nuclear […]

Asia – U.S. President Barack Obama will make his first trip to East and Southeast Asia in November.  During his 8 day trip, beginning on Nov. 11, Obama will visit Japan, Singapore, China, and South Korea – in that order.  He will focus his speeches on the global economic crisis and global security.  He will […]

Cambodia and Thailand – Our favorite soft authoritarian, Cambodian PM Hun Sen is back at it.  Just when you thought they were on the road to peace, Hun Sen has ordered Cambodian troops and police to fire on anyone crossing “illegally” into the area around the Preah Vihear Temple.  This was Hun Sen’s response to […]

Myanmar – There seems to be a lot in the news lately concerning the “hermit kingdom” of the south.  On Monday, the Burmese PM met with U.S. Senator Jim Webb, chairman of the Senate subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific.  Webb, in a continuation of the new pragmatic Obama foreign policy for SE Asia, […]

Asia Times Online has several great articles out this week on Southeast Asia: – Vietnam could be facing another currency crisis.  The  Vietnamese Dong may crash due to the governments unsustainable trade and spending deficits.   Apparently, things got out of hand as early as late 2007, when Vietnam started printing Dong based off of the […]

The Arroyo Administration and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) have signed an agreement to form an “International Contact Group” to help negotiate a peace agreement between the two sides in the  predominately Muslim island of Mindanao.  Got all that?  The agreement was signed in Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday.  For more background go here. – […]

–UPDATE (9-20-2009) – DNA test results confirm Top’s death. Indonesian authorities have officially declared Noordin Muhammed Top, suspected terror mastermind of the July Jakarta Hotel Bombings, dead. He was killed in last month’s Indonesian police raid of a house  in the central Java town of Solo.  The identification was based on fingerprints  stored on the […]

Shawn W Crispin has an interesting article in Asian Times concerning the Vietnamese government’s  latest freedom of speech crackdown that has specifically targeted bloggers who had publicly expressed anti-Chinese sentiment.  Hanoi fears it cannot control the more than two million Vietnamese based blogs, a common source of uncensored news.  While a general fear of the […]