Wrap: Hong Kong Protests

Published on Nov 21, 2019 by Luke Hunt

Anti-government demonstrations have escalated and turned nasty in Hong Kong, raising fears of military intervention by Beijing. Read more here: Decisive acton will not resolve Hong Kong’s problems Hong Kong’s business people set their sights on America Australia a top destination for Hong Kong exodus Hiding Hong Kong’s inconvenient poor Hong Kong and the dark art of reading Xinhua .

Wrap: Sam Rainsy in Exile

Published on Nov 21, 2019 by Luke Hunt

Sam Rainsy has carefully crafted a career as the antagonistic thorn in the side of Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, cultivating the image of a leader in waiting, wronged by political injustices and cheated at the ballot box.His recent attempt to return home and oust his nemesis had consequences.In Cambodia’s one-party state an authoritarian offers too little too lateCounting the Costs of Sam Rainsy’s Failed Return to CambodiaSam Rainsy’s circus casts a pall over CambodiaSam Rainsy Return Hype Ripples Across ASEAN.

China Update

Published on Oct 16, 2019 by Luke Hunt

Updates on China, its expansion policies and their impact across the world and in particular East and Southeast Asia where governments are torn between Chinese money and debt, and Western development policies.Read more, click on the following links:Hong Kong and the dark art of reading XinhuaBeijing haunted by nasty past, fearsome present and unlikely futureTiananmen Square: Remembering a massacreThe Meddling Kingdom’s threat to democracySlowing SE Asian economies will test social cohesionXinjiang: China’s trail of broken promisesA Chinese takeaway in Cambodia.

Wrap: Australia to Join Asean?

Published on Sep 5, 2019 by Luke Hunt

For years, the idea of Australia joining ASEAN has been circulated within some circles, with varying degrees of seriousness and oftentimes without due regard for how the idea would actually match up with political realities.Though the idea remains unlikely to take off anytime soon for various reasons, the larger point is that it remains unclear what it would actually achieve for Australia in the first place.Read moreThe prospect of Australia joining ASEAN was pushed before the re-election of the Morrison government, a foreign policy initiative which will gain momentum, but analysts are warning the prime minister should think twice.Read more.

A Podcast with Academic Greg Barton

Published on Jul 21, 2019 by Luke Hunt

The security environment in Southeast Asia has witnessed rapid change since the end of the Cold War, with various manifestations of this including the broadening of the notion of security to include climate change and sustainable development, the rise of more assertive China amid uncertainty about the U.S. regional role, and a mix of promise and peril in terms of the role of religion in politics.To discuss these issues and more, Luke Hunt recently spoke to Greg Barton, a research professor at Monash University where he works on a range of issues affecting Southeast Asia including religion and counterterrorism, in addition to continuing to pursue his longstanding research on Indonesia. They talked about these issues as well as the broader....