Showing 1 - 10 of 334
How realistic are China's semiconductor ambitions?
Asia focus, Keun Lee, Published on 18/07/2022
» When US President Joe Biden landed in South Korea last month, he headed straight for Samsung's massive semiconductor factory outside Seoul. There, he met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Samsung Electronics vice-chairman Lee Jae-yong, and praised the construction of a US$17-billion Samsung semiconductor factory in Texas. The economic and strategic importance of semiconductors could not have been made any clearer.
The new Covid challenge
Asia focus, Nareerat Wiriyapong, Published on 11/07/2022
» As many Thais return to the office, entertainment venues reopen and wearing face masks is no longer mandatory in outdoor public places, new daily coronavirus cases have begun to climb lately, notably among school students.
Development the natural way
Asia focus, Apiradee Treerutkuarkul, Published on 11/07/2022
» Southeast Asian countries don't have to follow the economic development models of the last century to grow and thrive, say advocates for a nature-based economic model.
Creating Asean's interconnected energy future
Asia focus, Kar Min Lim and Marko Lackovic, Published on 04/07/2022
» A comprehensive interconnection of Southeast Asia's power grid has been a long-held dream, first emerging into serious discourse in the 1980s. Now, almost four decades later, we might finally be approaching a moment when the pressure for climate action moves this idea towards a more established reality.
Tech disrupted by reality
Asia focus, Nareerat Wiriyapong, Published on 20/06/2022
» When Covid-19 emerged more than two years ago, millions of people including myself suddenly found ourselves stuck at home. To survive the unprecedented challenges and stress, I started to befriend mobile apps I hadn't used before to buy things and pay bills online, among them the e-commerce platform Shopee.
The fight for press freedom is local
Asia focus, Jos Midas Bartman, Published on 20/06/2022
» A macabre political thriller recently unfolded in the Philippine province of Palawan, an island known mostly for its rich biodiversity and pristine beaches.
Sri Lanka needs a currency board
Asia focus, RM Manivannan, Published on 13/06/2022
» The war in Ukraine has generated an economic tidal wave that is crashing over countries near and far. Among the more far-flung is Sri Lanka, half a world away from the battlefield, where surging food and fuel prices have supercharged a downward spiral that was already under way.
When does inflation stop?
Asia focus, Koichi Hamada, Published on 30/05/2022
» Until a few years ago, major economies were struggling to achieve even mild inflation, with policymakers in the United States, the United Kingdom and the euro zone struggling to meet their targets of 2% annual price growth.
Waiting for China
Asia focus, Nareerat Wiriyapong, Published on 23/05/2022
» Since China began to open up and reform its economy in 1978, growth has averaged almost 10% a year, and more than 800 million people have been lifted out of poverty. There have also been significant improvements in access to health, education and other services, with the mainland now an upper-middle-income country.
The Quad at a crossroads
Asia focus, Brahma Chellaney, Published on 23/05/2022
» When the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue was first conceived as a strategic coalition of the four leading democracies in the Indo-Pacific, many doubted it would amount to much. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi mocked it as a "headline-grabbing idea" that would dissipate "like the sea foam in the Pacific or Indian Ocean".