In the Philippines, Can the President Buy Arms and Fight Corruption at the Same Time?   
   

Despite allegations and congressional inquiries into massive corruption in the Philippine military, the administration of Philippine President Benigno Aquino has announced that it will allocate over $250 million to the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) for the purchase of modern military equipment. The new funds will be used to acquire ships and other watercraft for the Navy, and helicopters for the Air Force, to deploy in Palawan and Sulu. The Philippine Army will acquire rifles, while the Navy may add more multipurpose attack craft. The Navy is also expecting a Hamilton class cutter from the U.S. Coast Guard. (CogitAsia)

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Six Party North Korea nuke talks may resume   
  

The six-party talks for the denuclearisation of North Korea may be resumed sometime this spring after a hiatus of more than two years. South Korean foreign minister Kim Sung-hwan and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton agreed in Seoul last week that they would pursue direct inter-Korean talks as a prelude to reopening the six-way talks. This concurs with China's recent proposal for a three-stage process, envisaging South-North and US-North talks leading to the multilateral session joined by Russia and Japan.        (The Brunei Times)

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From BRICS to BRYuKI, an alphabet soup of different needs  

China may take legitimate credit for pulling off a successful summit last week of the alternative powers — Brazil, Russia, India, South Africa and itself, informally known as BRICS. Yet, the fact remains that except for South Africa, which is seeking large-scale Chinese investment at home, the other three do not seem invested in allowing Beijing to expand its economic influence worldwide. (Business Standard)

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Are there real dangers in the Trans Pacific Partnership Idea?   
   

The idea of a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, at least among the nine Asia Pacific countries that are currently signed up for the negotiations, has been hyped up over the last year as the Obama administration declared it to be the way forward on a new American engagement with Asia. (East Asia Forum)

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Victory not all that sweet   
   

It was not quite the perfect storm that some people had predicted but the Sarawak election is a signal that the political landscape in the state has shifted in a way that its leaders had not foreseen. Chief' Minister Tan Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud was returned to power with a two-thirds majority but his victory was punctured by unprecedented losses. (The Brunei Times)

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Burma seeking to be the chairman of ASEAN in 2014   
   

Can Burma have its cake and eat it too? The answer rests with ASEAN. Right after the new civilian government was installed at the end of March in Naypyidaw, one of the first important tasks President Thein Sein did was to submit a letter to the ASEAN Secretariat stating Burma’s readiness to take up the grouping’s chair in 2014. (The Nation)

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Comparing ASEAN and SAARC   
   

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) was founded in 1967 and it has just announced that by 2015 the states included in it will have become a single market like the European Union (EU). Asean already trades 25 per cent within itself, which means it is fairly set to become a regional trading bloc like the EU. One can see what has happened. Like the EU, the nation-state is being transformed to get rid of conflict.         (The Express Tribune)

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Vietnam’s Cam Ranh Bay: Geopolitical power in play  

The large Vietnamese naval base at Cam Ranh Bay, once a symbol of Cold War rivalry in South-east Asia, is set to assume an important role in the unfolding geopolitical competition between China and the United States in the Asia-Pacific region. (The Straits Times)

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Life after Fukushima: the future of nuclear power in East Asia  

In early 2011, nuclear power was coming back. China and South Korea were undertaking significant expansion, while Vietnam, Thailand and Indonesia were en route to embracing nuclear power for the first time. China was determined to develop Generation IV thorium and fast reactors. The modern reactors were safer, simpler, smaller, cheaper, and more modular than ever before, with Generation IV technology holding the potential for consuming nuclear waste. Then the Fukushima accident reignited our nuclear fears. What will this mean for the future of energy in East Asia? (East Asia Forum)

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