In Asia: Weekly Insight and Features from Asia

In recent decades, Asia has experienced transformative economic growth and reform, and women have made significant advances in gender equity, political participation, and personal security – but challenges remain. The Asia Foundation’s Women’s Empowerment Program seeks to identify change agents, create new political and economic opportunities for women, build constituencies for reform, develop leaders, increase women’s rights, and ensure their personal security.

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For over one million people, Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake is the pulse of life. Southeast Asia’s largest freshwater lake is a natural floodplain reservoir and drains into the Mekong River via the Tonle Sap River. Every year, the lake observes a phenomenal natural occurrence: the Mekong rises and flows into the Tonle Sap, expanding its area over five times…

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In January, development and philanthropy veteran and former president of the American University in Cairo David D. Arnold began as The Asia Foundation’s new president. In his first interview, he speaks to In Asia about development challenges in Asia, the shifting economic landscape, and the Foundation’s cutting-edge work in good governance. Read the interview.

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One year ago in this blog, Asia Foundation chief economist Bruce Tolentino expressed “cautious optimism” about the prospects for global recovery and Asian growth in 2010. His positive prediction for Asia was more than fulfilled, in spite of a dispiriting lag in U.S. recovery and severe economic crises in the Eurozone. In 2010, Asia’s diverse [...]

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When I first visited Vietnam in 1989 as a young graduate student, the country had recently undergone the doi moi, or economic reform policy, but there weren’t any physical signs of change yet. Hanoi in April 1989 was a gray city, preternaturally quiet with bicycles as the main mode of transportation, and electricity limited to [...]

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This is the loveliest time to be in Hanoi. The weather is cooler, and the light takes on a soft, golden glow spilling over the ochre walls of the numerous stately colonial buildings around the city. It makes the perfect setting as Vietnam ends its year of ASEAN chairmanship and hosts the 17th ASEAN Summit [...]

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These are boom times in U.S.-Southeast Asia relations. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton represents the United States at the 17th ASEAN Summit this week in Hanoi – the highlight of which is to be U.S. participation, for the first time ever, in the East Asia Summit (EAS). Secretary Clinton is also expected to travel to [...]

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On Friday, September 24, President Barack Obama will meet in New York City with 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including eight heads of state, for the second U.S.-ASEAN Leaders’ Meeting, also known as the U.S.-ASEAN Summit. For much of the past two decades, critics in Southeast Asia said the United [...]

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This summer has been one of the hottest summers on record in Vietnam, with temperatures often rising above 100 F in many parts of the country. Low rainfall has rendered the country’s network of hydroelectrical power plants virtually useless, and rising energy consumption has outstripped the capacity of the state-owned energy sector, leading to rolling [...]

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For the past 23 years, May 31 has held significance that few are even aware of – World No Tobacco Day. Started in 1987 by the World Health Organization (WHO), World No Tobacco Day has for almost a quarter century encouraged 24 hours of abstinence from all forms of tobacco around the globe, in an [...]

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