In conjunction with President Bush’s current visit to Asia, the Christian Science Monitor today published the story “What Asia Wants from the Next U.S. President,” which highlights policy recommendations made in The Asia Foundation’s forthcoming America’s Role in Asia: Asian and American Views report.
Find out more about the America’s Role in Asia program.
By V. Bruce J. Tolentino
Last week, the latest round of talks under the “Doha Round” of multilateral trade negotiations ended in disarray and disappointment. The trade ministers and negotiators gathered in Geneva could not – again – reach agreement on reforms in agricultural support and trade…. Read the full story in The Asia Foundation’s blog, In Asia.
Every four years, America’s Role in Asia brings together a distinguished group of Asian and American policy experts, current and former diplomats, and scholars to develop recommendations for U.S. policy toward Asia. The program reflects The Asia Foundation’s view that if workable solutions to common problems are to be found, perspectives from both sides of the Pacific must be heard and shared. Find out more about America’s Role in Asia.
Some of the recommendations are previewed in today’s Agence France-Presse wire story, “Experts ask new U.S. president to give Asia urgent attention,” which was picked up by a number of media outlets including AsiaOne News, the Wall Street Journal’s LiveMint, the Philippines Inquirer, and the Singapore Straits Times.
An op-ed written by Roderick Brazier, The Asia Foundation’s Representative in Cambodia, on next week’s Cambodia elections was published in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal. Read the full piece, entitled “Cambodia at the Ballot Box.”
Brazier was also quoted in coverage of the upcoming elections in a variety of other media outlets including articles in the International Herald Tribune, ABC News, and ABC Radio Australia, and audio interviews with ABC Radio Australia and Radio Singapore.
KPPOD and The Asia Foundation jointly released the most recent in a series of surveys ranking the “Investment Attractiveness” of regencies and cities in Indonesia. This study, conducted in collaboration with The Asia Foundation and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has expanded in scope each year, covering 90 regions in 2001, 134 in 2002, 200 in 2003, 214 in 2004 and 228 in 2005. In 2006, the survey was redesigned and implemented as the Local Economic Governance Survey of 243 Regencies/Cities in 2007.
Read the full press release.
Download the surveys in Bahasa Indonesia or English.
Read “Regional autonomy: Which administrations govern best?” an Op-Ed written by The Asia Foundation’s Director of Economic Programs in Indonesia, which appeared in today’s Jakarta Post.
The Asia Foundation Now Accepting Applications for Junior Associates Program
The Asia Foundation has announced its Fall 2008 Junior Associates program. Graduate students and recent graduates are invited to apply for a limited number of short-term positions with The Asia Foundation. The application deadline is August 29, 2008. Read more about the Junior Associates Program, or download the application form.
The Asia Foundation has received support from the Henry Luce Foundation for a three-year exchange program to promote education and dialogue on Sino-American relations. The project will include: 12 master’s degree fellowships for junior staff selected from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to attend the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at The Johns Hopkins University; three study tours to China for a total of 30 American graduate students from Fletcher and SAIS; and three bilateral dialogue events in Beijing for approximately 150 participants.
Through this program, participants from both sides of the Pacific will explore contemporary issues that influence Sino-American relations, including current foreign aid policy, East Asia community building, and the environment, as well as domestic factors that shape Chinese and American approaches to regional and global affairs.
The Asia Foundation has maintained exchanges between China and the U.S. for the past 26 years, and the Henry Luce Foundation’s support allows the program to expand. The first group of Fellows will begin classes in the Fall.
Neil McCulloch, Director of Economic Programs in Jakarta, is quoted in Tuesday’s Christian Science Monitor article, “Indonesia’s answer to rising food prices,” in which he discusses Indonesia’s approach to self-sufficiency in rice.
The summary of The Asia Foundation’s observation results relating to the recent Mongolian voting process, and to voter perceptions of the June 29th elections, was recently released. The Asia Foundation deployed 17 two-person teams to observe the parliamentary election.
Over 1,500,000 citizens were registered to vote nationwide, and voter turnout is estimated at 70%. A total of 356 candidates from 12 political parties, one coalition, and 45 independent candidates competed in 26 multi-member constituencies as prescribed by the 2005 Election Law. The number of candidates in a constituency varied from 20-30, and the number of seats in each constituency varied from two to four, depending upon the population.
In 94% of the stations visits, observers saw no campaign activities (which would have been illegal on election day), or efforts to influence voters. Campaign materials had been removed from the immediate areas surrounding all polling stations in accordance with the election rules, with an exception of one station in Songinokhairkhan.
In 6% of the stations, observers identified individuals seemingly trying to influence the voting behavior of others. Most of these cases occurred in the Bayanzurkh district, and involved middle-aged adults. When queried at one station, the individuals denied any involvement in voter manipulation or influence, and they did not disclose their party affiliation.
In 86% of the station visits, there was no loitering near the station by local government or party officials. However, in 18 of the station visits, party officials and candidates were observed 4 times in different stations in Khuvsgul Aimag, and in 5 discreet stations in the Bayanzurkh district.
Read “Observation of the Mongolian Elections”, for more on the findings.
In Tuesday’s New York Times, The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative in Mongolia, Bill Infante, was quoted on post-election riots in a piece called “In Election Dispute, A Challenge for Mongolia’s Democracy”.
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