Japan Responds to China’s Threatening Rise   

For quite some time, Japan has been watching with trepidation China’s aggressive military posturing in South and East China Seas and the Western Pacific. The Chinese behaviour has become all the greater cause of concern for the Japanese as China has peppered its military moves with a hard-nosed diplomacy. The Japanese concern became clear when Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh paid a bilateral visit to Japan late last year and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan asked him how to deal with China. Manmohan Singh told him: keep China engaged through diplomacy while simultaneously bolstering your economy and defence. (South Asia Analysis Group)

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Soft Power: Learning from China’s charms   

In the wake of the 1998 reform movement, Indonesia’s challenges in the international arena seems to be getting more complex. The impacts of the 1997 Asian financial crisis and human rights violations allegations in Timor Leste have caused Indonesia’s position in international politics to lag. On the other hand, however, a number of countries — such as China, India and other emerging powers — have been expanding their influence through fast development in terms of global issues and diplomatic approaches. It is a new era, where every nation is engaged in tough competition with others in respect to their own national interests. (The Jakarta Post)

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Egypt and Indonesia   

As mass protests sweep through Cairo and Hosni Mubarak teeters, some U.S. observers have turned almost reflexively to the analogy of Iran and the Shah in 1979. “Just look at Iran,” Leslie Gelb wrote earlier this week: If the Muslim Brotherhood takes control in Egypt, which Gelb believes may be at hand, “it’s going to be almost impossible for the people to take it back.”    (The New Republic)

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Food crisis threatens Asia   

Is Asia on the edge of another food supply crisis that will stoke inflation, protection and political unrest? Some recent developments suggest that it is. Many Asian countries — including the biggest emerging economies China, India and Indonesia — are battling to curb soaring prices of some food items. (The Japan Times)

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Is China already number one? New GDP estimates   

When the presidents of China and the United States met last week in Washington, neither was likely be aware that, measured in terms of purchasing power, it is Hu Jintao, and not Barack Obama, who represented the world’s largest economy. (East Asia Forum)

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Turkey and Indonesia: Two “Zero Policies” Add Up to a Positive   

Turkey and Indonesia have a long history of relations dating back to the 16^th century when the Ottoman Empire, at its height, supported various Muslim sultanates, including Aceh, in their struggle against Western colonial expansion in Southeast Asia. Five centuries later, these two democratic, predominantly Muslim countries, guided by their “zero” foreign policies (“Zero problems with neighbors”, and “Zero enemies, million friends”, respectively) are trying not only to lay a new foundation for their bilateral relations, but also to use their vast potential for the benefit of the global community.

Global Insights: Russia's Positive Role in Korea Talks   

Many observers of the Korean Peninsula have traced the apparent relaxation of tensions there to the supporting contributions made by China and the United States, with attention now focusing on the upcoming inter-Korean dialogue. But Russia’s role in this process also deserves mention, since Moscow can be a positive force regarding the Koreas. (World Politics Review)

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Indonesia Steps onto the World Stage   

Last week in the snowy Swiss enclave of Davos, President Susilio Bambang Yudhoyono of Indonesia threw down the rhetorical gauntlet and announced Indonesia’s plans to be a global player. Addressing a well-heeled World Economic Forum audience, he asserted Indonesia’s intent to influence global trends: “Asia is of course more than China, Japan, and India,” he said. (CSIS)

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Rethinking our approach to the Korean crisis   

North Korea’s calculated military provocations over the past year and its continued nuclear development have raised tensions on the peninsula to dangerously high levels. Giving extra urgency to this already dangerous scenario is the 2012 problem: next year we will see presidential elections in South Korea and the United States and a leadership change in China. (East Asia Forum)

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Dancing with giants   

Indonesia, Southeast Asia’s largest economy, increased the depth and breadth of its ties with emerging economic giant India by signing joint venture agreements on Tuesday that will commit US$15 billion worth of new investments and more than double bilateral trade to $25 billion in 2015 from $12 billion last year.  With the agreements signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono during his visit to New Delhi earlier this week, Indian companies will develop mineral resources and build basic infrastructure such as railways and airports in Indonesia. (The Jakarta Post)

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