In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

As discussions on the federal budget and sequestration continue here in Washington, D.C., The Asia Foundation’s Washington office sponsored an event
to discuss how various Asian nations are approaching and, in some cases, expanding their development assistance programs.

> More

Season’s Greetings! On behalf of In Asia‘s editorial board and bloggers, we thank you for your engagement and continued readership throughout the year. We’ll be taking a short break, but will return on January 9 for a special “Forecast: Asia in 2013″ edition. In the meantime, catch up on a few must-read pieces and highlights on the most pressing events and issues in Asia throughout 2012.

> More

South Koreans proved once again why they have one of the most vibrant democracies in Asia by narrowly electing the first woman as president of the country on December 19. Even though exit polls showed that she would lose, five-term lawmaker Park Geun-hye secured 51.6 percent…

> More

When President Obama made his first post-election international trip last month to Southeast Asia, his message was clear: as Asia becomes the driver of global politics in the coming decades, the U.S. is strategically reorienting its presence in the region. But the U.S. is not the only one that recognizes a need for reorientation – Asia itself does too.

> More

The Honorable Sadako Ogata, former president of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and current senior advisor to JICA, was The Asia Foundation’s special guest speaker last week in Washington, D.C., at its 25th Ellsworth Bunker Asian Ambassadors Series. A distinguished diplomat and academic, Mrs. Ogata is one of [...]

> More

On July 2 in Sendai, Japan, nearly a year and a half after the tragic earthquake and tsunami devastated the region, The Asia Foundation will participate with Google on a conference to examine using open data in disaster relief. As the world is seeing stronger effects of climate change and other factors, floods, rising sea levels, tsunamis, and monsoons threaten the lives of millions, this is a timely moment to call attention to natural disaster management across both developed and developing countries.

> More

“Afghanistan transition, 2014.” Ask citizens of countries engaged in Afghanistan since 2001 what this target date means, and the answer is likely to center on bringing home troops and resources. But ask the people of Afghanistan what 2014 means, and the answer is more likely to reflect anxiety…

> More

Tens of thousands are gathering in Brazil this week for the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which is expected to be the largest event in the history of the United Nations. World leaders will discuss the advances that have been made over the past two decades…

> More

Tadashi Yamamoto, founder and president of the Japan Center for International Exchange, passed away on April 15 at the age of 76. He was an extraordinary person whose career was marked by extraordinary accomplishment. He was a liberal internationalist, an optimist who believed wholeheartedly…

> More

Below is an excerpt from an interview that first appeared on World Politics Review with John J. Brandon, director of Regional Cooperation Programs for The Asia Foundation in Washington, D.C.

WPR: What is the current state of relations between Japan and Thailand?

This year marks the 125th anniversary of formal diplomatic relations between Japan and Thailand. Bilateral ties, particularly in the economic sphere, have strengthened considerably over the past decade.

> More