Why not to sweat about China  

Its current row with Vietnam in the South China Sea has alarmed many observers. But a similar spat with Japan shows that conflict isn’t inevitable. (The Diplomat)

(click on the headline to continue)

China’s hand in the renewed civil war in Burma   
  
The current armed conflict in Burma's northern Kachin State has effectively ended nearly two decades of ceasefire between the country's second largest ethnic army, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), and the newly sworn-in Naypyidaw government, bringing a strategic region near the Chinese border to the verge of a civil war. (The Irrawaddy)

(click on the headline to continue)

Keep ’em talking   
   
Indonesia should launch an initiative to bring China and others with overlapping territorial claims to an area in the South China Sea to the negotiating table, not so much to resolve the complex and difficult issue, but at the very least to make sure that everyone exercises restraint. (The Jakarta Post)

(click on the headline to continue)

Asia’s middle class on the rise  

The success of Asia’s economic growth has seen three quarters of a billion people emerge from poverty in the space of just a few decades. It has also already witnessed the emergence of a very sizeable middle class. (East Asia Forum)

(click on the headline to continue)

Great Game in the Indian Ocean   
  
Revelations that Pakistan has invited China to build a naval base at the strategic port of Gwadar once again underlines widespread anxiety in India and beyond about Beijing's Indian Ocean objectives. (The Japan Times)

(click on the headline to continue)

SE Asia wary of China as sea claim disputes intensify   
   
A buoy, posts and building materials on an inhabited outcrop sound unremarkable, but they mark an escalation of a dispute over one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, resource wealth, and how Southeast Asia manages China's rise as a regional power. (Reuters)  
(click on the headline to continue)

Spartlys row a test of President Aquino mettle  

The celebration on Sunday of the 113th anniversary of Philippine independence was resonant with the theme of national sovereignty, but it was drowned out by messages concerning the territorial conflict over disputed islands in the South China Sea, including those claimed by the Philippines. The messages also raised the first foreign policy challenge to the mettle of the Aquino administration to defend Philippine territorial claims to the Spratly Islands. (The Inquirer)

(click on the headline to continue)

Euroasian geopolitics face Astana earthquake   
   
Asian regional power seeks to counter US-NATO military strategy and gain control of energy flows into Europe and beyond. The stakes couldn't be higher. Washington is at a loss, facing regional integration led by Russia and China. (Al Jazeera)

(click on the headline to continue)

2011 East Asia Summit: New members, challenges and opportunities  

Based on the Kuala Lumpur Declaration 2005, this year’s Summit will continue to be a forum for dialogue on broad strategic, political and economic issues to promote ‘common security, common prosperity, and common stability.’ The event will also mark the addition of two new members, the US and Russia to EAS.        (The East Asia Forum)

(click on the headline to continue)