• OPINION

  Green salvation, one bag at a time

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 02/09/2019

  » South America and Africa are on fire, the icecaps are melting and sea levels keep rising. Natural disasters have become more common on every continent and July 2019 was the hottest month on record globally. People are dying while thousands of animal and plant species are disappearing forever.

• OPINION

  Hong Kong violence has to end

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 29/07/2019

  » It all began with hundreds of thousands of people marching through the streets of Hong Kong against a proposed extradition law. It was a sight to behold because it was a non-violent protest against a repressive law that would have allowed the Communist Party of China to pursue its political opponents in the self-ruled city, dare I say, country. Then it turned ugly.

• OPINION

  Time for a Seoul-Tokyo peace pact

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 12/08/2019

  » I love kimchi and I love ramen. I love the bushido way of life and Japanese humility, and I love South Koreans' resilience and devotion to education that helped them lift their country from poverty after World War II to become an Asian economic powerhouse. And in my opinion, both South Koreans and Japanese are among the nicest people in the world.

• OPINION

  Denial spells irrelevance for Asean

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 24/06/2019

  » One big reason why members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) get along so splendidly is that they avoid talking about uncomfortable subjects, such as stunted democratic development or human rights abuses.

• OPINION

  The angel of Flight CX 613

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 13/05/2019

  » It was Monday night on one of the last flights of the day from Hong Kong to Bangkok. The plane was filled with Thai passengers returning home after the long weekend to celebrate the Coronation, along with Hong Kong residents travelling for business or leisure.

• OPINION

  Pyongyang moves the goalposts

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 22/04/2019

  » When I asked a senior official from Washington recently about the failure of the second Trump-Kim summit in Vietnam in late February, the response I received was every bit as diplomatic as I had expected.

• OPINION

  Duterte can run but he can't hide

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 25/03/2019

  » Last week the Philippines became the second country in the world to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) after Burundi, which left in 2017. Many observers, myself included, see this as an attempt to evade an investigation into President Rodrigo Duterte's deadly war on drugs, but it is not going to work.

• OPINION

  Keeping the bombs at bay

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 04/03/2019

  » Trump-Kim Summit 2.0 began in a climate of optimism, with some people saying a formal end to the Korean War and complete denuclearisation of the North was in sight, but it was not to be. Disappointment quickly turned to alarm when two other nuclear-armed states -- India and Pakistan -- started sparring.

• OPINION

  Hope for refugee children

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 28/01/2019

  » The cause of children's rights got a lift last week when immigration police in Thailand announced that they would stop holding migrant and refugee children in the country's crowded immigration detention facilities.

• OPINION

  Araibi case: own goals all round

  Asia focus, Erich Parpart, Published on 11/02/2019

  » The contention that Thailand would not have been involved in the controversial case of Hakeem al-Araibi had it not received a red alert notice from Australian Interpol sounded ridiculous when I first heard it. Why would Australia issue an arrest warrant for a person it had granted asylum to?

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