Asia Rising

The 2022 Winter Olympics will be held in Beijing, and with the collision of sports, politics and covid this is proving to be an olympiad to remember.

Guest:

Assoc Professor Geoff Dickson (Director of the Centre for Sport and Social Impact, La Trobe University)

Recorded on 1 February, 2022.

As we enter year three of the covid-19 and settle into our schedule of working from home, home-schooling and hopefully not catching a deadly plague, how are health systems in Asia coping and adapting with the pandemic?

Guest:

Recorded on 16 January, 2022.

The Himalaya and the adjacent Tibetan plateau house the globe's third biggest ice packed are the source of most of Asia's major rivers.

Over the past century of the people of these mountains have had to endure colonisation unstable geopolitics, and now a climate changing at twice the global average. Despite this they have survived and in some cases thrived, coming up with innovative ways to approach these changes.

Guest:

Tsechu Dolma (Co-founder and Director, Mountain Resiliency Project)

Host:

Dr Ruth Gamble (DECRA Fellow, History, La Trobe University)

Recorded on 8 December, 2021.

Since the mass internment of Uyghurs and other indigenous groups in China was first reported in 2017, there is now a rich body of literature documenting recent human rights abuses in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. However, there is little knowledge of the actual perpetrators inside China’s vast and opaque party-state system.

A report published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) maps and analyses the governance mechanisms employed by the Chinese party-state in Xinjiang. While the international debate continues as to whether the recent events in Xinjiang constitute genocide, this report gathers the relevant evidence before it could be covered up, and makes it publicly available.

Guests:

Professor James Leibold (Head of the Department of Politics, Media and Philosophy, La Trobe University)

Recorded on 24 November, 2021.

After a period of turmoil, Malaysia’s new Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, has a tenuous hold on leadership. A politician of the UMNO (United Malays National Organisation) coalition, his party returns to power a few short years after their first ever electoral defeat when former Prime Minister Najib Razak was tied to the 1MDB scandal involving RM 2.67 billion (close to $900m AUD) in missing funds.

Ismail now holds a slim majority in parliament and is seen by many as a compromise leader for parties and factions desperate to hold off high profile opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim. While Malaysia faces recovery from a devastating pandemic and the economic fallout from a lengthy lockdown, even more challenges come from within - managing a tenuous coalition whose support is crucial to government stability. What are these political developments likely to mean for Malaysia’s long term democratic prospects?

Panel:

Dr Amrita Malhi (Visiting Fellow, Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University)

Professor James Chin (Asian Studies, University of Tasmania)

Associate Professor Kerstin Steiner (Director of Research, La Trobe Law School, La Trobe University)

Dr Bec Strating (Executive Director, La Trobe Asia)(Chair)

Recorded on 18 November 2021.

After a quiet start to his presidency, United States President Joe Biden has made some recent decisive steps in engaging with Asia by selling nuclear submarines to Australia and establishing the AUKUS pact, outlining an approach to trade with China, and hosting a Quad summit at the White House, gathering with key U.S. partners in Asia.

A major part of this strategy is building up alliances to offer both the region and world at large to drive ‘responsible competition’ with China. With the withdrawal of the US from Afghanistan signals a step away from the wars of the past two decades, Biden now has an opportunity to focus the US on the region it is says is its highest priority, Asia.

Guest: Professor Nick Bisley (Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, La Trobe University)

Recorded on 9 November, 2021.

Australia, the UK and the US have announced a historic security agreement, dubbed ‘AUKUS’, in response to regional security concerns about China’s rising power and influence in the Indo-Pacific. Under the deal, Australia will build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time, using technology provided by the United States. It also signals to a greater presence of the three powers in the region with a focus on military and technological capabilities, including in long-range weapons, cyber and undersea technologies.

How do the three states see AUKUS as contributing to regional security? How have regional states responded to this agreement? And what are the broader implications of Australia’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines?

Panel:

Dr Anna Powles (Senior Lecturer in Security Studies at Massey University, New Zealand)

Associate Professor Maria Rost Rublee (Politics and International Relations, Monash University)

Professor Peter Dean (Director, Defence and Security Institute, University of Western Australia)

Natalie Sambhi (Executive Director, Verve Research)

Dr Rebecca Strating (Executive Director, La Trobe Asia, La Trobe University)(Chair)

Recorded on 27 October, 2021.

The Islamic fundamentalist group the Taliban have returned to power in Afghanistan twenty years after being ousted by the United States, sparking concern for a harsh rule imposed on Afghans, a neglect of human rights and the beginning of a humanitarian crisis for the region.

For neighbouring countries the initial shock of transition is being met with pragmatism of coping with the aftermath. The Taliban has sought to boost diplomacy with neighbouring countries such as China, Pakistan and Russia, and many are looking to make the most of the power vacuum left by U.S. forces. For other regional countries the Taliban’s return to power represents a security risk, and the proliferation of violent extremism could pose a threat to security in the region.

Guest: Dr Niamatullah Ibrahimi, Lecturer in International Relations, La Trobe University)

Recorded on 21 October, 2021.

In June 2020 there was a clash between India and China at a disputed border site in the Himalayan Galwan Valley, in which twenty India soldiers were killed. A wave of anti-Chinese sentiment swelled across India, with Chinese-made televisions thrown from balconies, restaurants boycotted and Chinese goods burnt. With the covid-19 pandemic devastating India the anti-Chinese sentiment has only worsened.

While bilateral trade between the two countries is now recovering, there is a conscious effort of decoupling. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has banned hundreds of Chinese apps, slowed approval for Chinese investment and called for self-reliance. With Indian public discourse on China worsening, have the two countries have walked away from shaping the ‘Asian century’ together?

Guest: Snigdha Poonam (Author and independent Journalist)

Recorded on 14 October, 2021.

While the twentieth century saw the collapse of monarchies across Europe, recent events are a reminder that hereditary monarchies still matter in Asia. In some countries like Malaysia and Bhutan the institution is thriving, but they can struggle for relevancy given the pro-democracy movement in Thailand and fast-modernising landscape of Japan.

In an era of autocratic populism, does constitutional monarchy provide some safeguards against the megalomania of political leaders? Are they just feudal relics and ceremonial figureheads which should be abolished, or does the division between ceremonial and actual power act as a brake on authoritarian politicians?

A virtual book launch of God Save the Queen: The strange persistence of monarchies by Dennis Altman, published by Scribe Publications.

Speakers:

Recorded 12 October, 2021.