Archiv: Asia-Pacific region


12.01.2021 - 11:43 [ World Association for Christian Communication ]

COVID-19 pandemic and biopolitics in Latin America

(17. AUgust 2020)

At the time of this writing [June 3, 2020], Latin America has become the new epicenter of the pandemic with growing number of reported cases of infections and deaths. Various governments in Latin America (Peru, Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Colombia and Brazil) and the Inter-American Development Bank have deployed digital technologies to control the transmission of the virus and to support testing and tracing. They have collaborated with private companies and universities in setting up mobile applications for geolocalizing and contact-tracing possibly infected people. Expectedly, these actions have raised concerns about the negative impact of massive surveillance.

However, while we recognize the legitimacy of these concerns, the problem in Latin America takes different dimensions than in Europe, North America, and East Asia. For the moment, the governments in the region have significant problems to launch and maintain massive digital surveillance apparatuses.

12.01.2021 - 11:41 [ waccglobal / Twitter ]

Does the #COVID-19 pandemic mark the birth of a new form of #biopolitics? The Latin American case shows important departures from Europe and the U.S., both in the adoption of surveillance technologies and in the types of biopolitical control

03.12.2020 - 17:16 [ theDiplomat.com ]

NATO Huddles With Asia-Pacific Democracies to Talk China

The incoming Biden administration has pledged to do even more to partner with allies on the China challenge.

In another step in that direction, on December 2, the foreign ministers of the NATO members, along with delegations from Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and South Korea, gathered virtually to discuss the rise of China and the implications for the global balance of power.

16.11.2020 - 13:40 [ ChronicleLive.co.uk ]

UK’s Covid-19 Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine on course to be ready by end of 2020

The UK has ordered 100 million doses of the Oxford AstraZeneca vaccine – enough for the entire population

14.11.2020 - 01:22 [ Reuters ]

National security adviser O’Brien to represent U.S. at Asia meetings

While Trump attended the U.S.-ASEAN summit in Manila in 2017, he has never attended a full EAS meeting. Vice President Mike Pence represented the United States at the meetings in Singapore last year.

13.11.2020 - 14:47 [ Dave DeCamp / Antiwar.com ]

Philippines Extends Military Pact Allowing US Troops in the Country

The Obama administration started challenging China’s claims to islands in the South China Sea by sailing warships near them, maneuvers known as Freedom of Navigation Operations (FONOPs).

27.08.2020 - 13:42 [ Global Times ]

Esper hints no hot war, but puts allies in quandary

On August 14, US Special Presidential Envoy for Arms Control Marshall Billingslea told Japan’s Nikkei that the US is in talks with its Asian allies to deploy midrange missiles to counter „the immediate threat“ of China’s nuclear arsenal. This week, Esper will head to Hawaii, Palau and Guam. In Guam, he is set to meet his Japanese counterpart. He will likely put pressure on Japan and talk about the deployment of midrange missiles.

29.07.2020 - 07:01 [ NIKKEI Asian Review ]

Chile picks Japan’s trans-Pacific cable route in snub to China

Japan’s route beat out a pitch by China that would have made Shanghai the final landing point. This decision comes amid a U.S. pressure campaign to keep China out of global telecommunication projects.

12.02.2020 - 01:20 [ The Economic Times ]

India may show greater willingness to resist Chinese assertiveness in Indo-Pacific: CRS report

India, the US and several other world powers have been talking about the need to ensure a free, open and thriving Indo-Pacific in the backdrop of China’s rising military maneuvering in the region, which is a large swathe of land and sea stretching all the way from the west coast of the US to the shores of east Africa…
Thus, Prime Minister Modi has articulated a vision of a free, open, and inclusive Indo-Pacific, and India has engaged Russia, Japan, Australia, and other Indo-Pacific countries as potential balancers of China’s influence while remaining wary of joining any nascent security architectures that could antagonise Beijing, the CRS said.

04.10.2019 - 19:02 [ Xinhuanet ]

Japan’s Abe prioritizes economy, urges debate on Constitution in policy speech

„Let us fulfill our responsibility as Diet members to the people,“ Abe told the session, with reference to the politically and socially divisive issue of changing Japan’s pacifist charter for the first time since World War II.

03.08.2019 - 16:39 [ New York Times ]

U.S. Ends Cold War Missile Treaty, With Aim of Countering China

But the new missiles are unlikely to be deployed to counter the treaty’s other nuclear power, Russia, which the United States has said for years was in violation of the accord. Instead, the first deployments are likely to be intended to counter China, which has amassed an imposing missile arsenal and is now seen as a much more formidable long-term strategic rival than Russia.

23.07.2019 - 09:53 [ Reuters ]

Australia to create new Pacific military unit in bid to woo the region

Australia, which has pledged A$3 billion ($2.11 billion) in cheap loans and grants in a bid to arrest its slide in influence, has pledged to work with the United States, Japan and New Zealand to provide electricity to 70% of the PNG population by 2030.

03.04.2019 - 19:30 [ German Foreign Policy ]

Deutschlands Partner-Sultanat

Deutschland intensiviert seit Jahren seine Beziehungen zu dem aktuell heftig kritisierten Sultanat Brunei. Brunei stößt international auf Protest, seit Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah angekündigt hat, die Todesstrafe für außerehelichen Geschlechtsverkehr und für Homosexualität einzuführen. Das entsprechende Gesetz ist am heutigen Mittwoch in Kraft getreten. Die Hohe Kommissarin der Vereinten Nationen für Menschenrechte, Michelle Bachelet, hat es als „grausam und unmenschlich“ verurteilt.

21.10.2018 - 19:42 [ The Japan Times ]

U.S., China agree to Asia defense rules to avoid air clashes

U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis and seven other regional military chiefs, including China’s General Wei Fenghe, gave broad endorsement to the rules in Singapore on Saturday, during an meeting hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The non-binding guidelines had been formally adopted a day earlier by defense ministers from ASEAN’s 10 member nations.

11.06.2018 - 13:43 [ Tradersmagazine.com ]

Nasdaq Expands Hong Kong Presence with Data Center Connections

Nasdaq (Nasdaq: NDAQ) today announced that it is establishing connectivity to three data centers in Hong Kong to increase its service to the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region through a Nasdaq Point of Presence (POP), helping to provide more efficient, cost-effective access to Nasdaq financial data in the region.

11.06.2018 - 13:29 [ Richmond News ]

Canadians feeling more connected to Asia Pacific region than a few years ago: poll

But while Canadians seem to be increasingly recognizing the economic importance of large Asian economies like China and India, the poll results also show most respondents want Canada to uphold its own values on the environment, labour standards, democracy and human rights when doing business with Asia.

11.06.2018 - 13:17 [ Economic Times ]

Peaceful North Korea can expand India’s Act East markets: Observers

„India has stepped up its focus on East Asia as well as ASEAN and any addition of an emerging market like North Korea will be most beneficial for the country’s expanding export-oriented industries,“ said a trade source.

India’s Act East Policy, that was introduced by the Modi government, focusses on the extended neighbourhood in the Asia-Pacific region.