Policy lessons for Japanese disaster responses  
     

The coming months will be a watershed, not only in physical reconstruction terms, but also in terms of restructuring Japan's "resilience." Resilience goes beyond disaster preparedness and response. It also includes the capacity to recover from disasters, while maintaining the structure and function of society by protecting people and assets with short- and long-term plans to ensure public safety and national security.               (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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Thailand’s General Elections and Fears about Continuing Political Instability  
  

In Thailand’s July 3 general elections, 42 parties will compete for 500 seats in the Parliament’s lower house and vie for the support of 47 million eligible voters. The ruling Democrat Party and the main opposition Puea Thai Party are the primary contenders, but other smaller parties are contesting as well. No party is expected to win a majority of the parliamentary seats, which means that smaller parties will have to join one of the main parties to form a coalition government. (CSIS)

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Vietnam weighs patriotism against diplomacy in China spat   
  
As anti-China protests in Vietnam enter their fourth week, Hanoi's recent rapprochement with China has raised the question of how well the government can balance diplomatic requirements with the public's patriotic demands. (M&C)

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Thai election results will affect ASEAN    

The upcoming Thai elections are only days away. Pheu Thai Party’s Yingluck Shinawatra is ahead in the polls and the military has just, not so subtly, nudged its support in the direction of the Democratic Party. Whilst a repetition of the 2006 coup d’état is far from imminent, the implications of a recurrence of such an event would not only affect Thailand, who has the second largest economy in the region, but the ASEAN region as a whole. (The Jakarta Post)

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Understanding the claims and claimants in the South China Sea  
   
How do we resolve the territorial disputes in the South China Sea (SCS)? There is no clear answer, but the first step to settling any argument is to examine all sides of the story. (East Asia Forum)

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Indonesia: Workshop of the world  
  

A recent wave of investment in manufacturing in Indonesia could herald the country’s rise as an international industrial player. A rapidly growing domestic market of more than 230 million people, as well as the potential for exports both regional and across the globe, are major draws for companies from around the world. (The Jakarta Post)

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Multilateral diplomacy indispensable to improve ties with China   
   
Foreign and defense ministers from the U.S. and Japan have held a meeting of the Security Consultative Committee, known as two-plus-two, in Washington and issued a joint statement on their new common strategic objectives based on changes in the security environment in the Asia-Pacific region including China's military buildup. (The Mainichi Daily)

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Soul searching Singapore’s 2011 general election  
  
The effects of Singapore's May 7th election are still being felt in this global city state. When the results came in, the incumbent People's Action Party (PAP) had marked its worst performance since independence, losing 39.9% of the popular vote and a record six seats out of 87 in one of the country's most competitive elections. Two weeks after the election, the cabinet was completely transformed, as eleven out of fourteen ministers had been replaced and the PAP's first two premiers, Lee Kuan Yew and Goh Chok Tong, resigned. (Asia Pacific Bulletin)

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