China uses American Playbook

Published on Sep 22, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Chinese meddling in the affairs of Southeast Asian states is a debate which will only grow louder and stronger. Many would argue the Chinese are thin-skinned about such accusations and are quick to shout down any suggestion of their unwanted interference in a neighbor’s business. If Beijing was serious about sovereign respect, however, it would play by international norms. This certainly is not the case in Yunnan where a group of thugs are currently on trial for the murder of 13 Chinese sailors on the Mekong River last year. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Burmese Reforms

Published on Sep 20, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The Burmese government has done itself another favor by releasing 514 political prisoners in a move aimed at heading-off any embarrassment caused by their unwarranted incarceration during a visit to the United States by President Thein Sein next week. Their release should be a cause for relief but hardly a celebration, even though the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) thinks this could be the last of their ilk still languishing behind bars. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Vietnam’s Economic Fears

Published on Sep 14, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — The fiscal omens arising out of Vietnam are not good. Talks of bank runs, the arrests of corrupt officials and an end to an economic era marked by robust growth say it all. More so, is the prospect that Hanoi will seek outside help. The idea that Vietnam could seek a bailout to resolve debt incurred by the county’s biggest lenders from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was raised by a Parliamentary Committee but the idea was then almost. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Focus on the South Pacific

Published on Sep 4, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — With the world’s great powers calling on the Cook Islands, factionalism is increasingly present among island nations of the Pacific. It could be trouble. Hillary Clinton’s first diplomatic foray into the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) took Washington’s much-vaunted“rebalance” to the Asia-Pacific an enormous step forward while upping the ante in a region that is often passed-over as a political backwater. The message was simple. The U.S. Secretary of State wants Pacific leaders to believe that Washington thinks the 16 isolated states of the PIF matter, and that they will find a much more amiable friend in the U.S. than in China or Russia. Read more in The Diplomat. .

Chilling Evidence at KR Trial

Published on Aug 29, 2012 by Luke Hunt

FAR EAST CORRESPONDENT — Chilling evidence surrounding the barbarity of the Khmer Rouge leadership continues to mount at the Extraordinary Chambers for the Courts in Cambodia where three of Pol Pot’s senior henchmen – Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, and Ieng Sary — are back before a bench of local and international judges. This time the evidence was delivered by 61-year-old Em Ouen who worked as a medic during 1977 and 1978 and testified he had seen live humans being used for medical experiments, instead of corpses, while in Sector 20, a Khmer Rouge provincial base at Prey Veng southeast of Phnom Penh. Read more in The Diplomat. .