Vishal Arora

After Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Bhutanese Prime Minister Jigmi Y. Thinley met for the first time on the sidelines of the U.N. Rio+20 Conference in Brazil last week, Beijing announced that the two leaders had expressed their willingness to establish diplomatic relations. Thimphu promptly disputed the report, but the statement reveals Beijing’s desperation to establish formal ties with Bhutan. more

Less than a month after Nepal’s Constituent Assembly was dissolved, the country’s ruling Maoist party split this week. Discord and delay have characterized the country’s peace process since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Accord between the government and Maoist rebels in 2006. They have now led to a political crisis that has disillusioned citizens and made India and China edgy. more

The apparent coup d’état that ousted President Mohamed Nasheed in the Maldives on Feb. 7 came after Nasheed's pro-reform policies had created a sustained clash with an opposition determined to preserve the pre-eminence of Islam in public life. Now the resulting political instability threatens to exacerbate regional rivalries in which the strategically located island nation has increasingly figured. more

Thailand's call for the repatriation of more than 140,000 refugees from Myanmar is likely aimed at enhancing investment opportunities in the politically isolated country. Bangkok's insistence that the refugees, who live in nine camps along Thailand's western border, had become a burden came shortly after a report indicated that China had overtaken Thailand as Myanmar's leading investor. more

The term of Nepal's Constituent Assembly, which was already extended for an extra year in May 2010, will likely come to an end on May 28 without the assembly having fulfilled its mandate to write a new constitution. Though it is easy to blame the country's bitterly divided political parties for the failure, there is actually some merit to the politicians' claim that they faced significant obstacles. more

NEW DELHI -- Last week's visit to India by Burma's military ruler, Gen. Than Shwe, highlighted the tensions in New Delhi's policy toward the isolated Southeast Asian country. The red carpet welcome that New Delhi accorded to Than sparked protests by Burmese refugees, who in addition to denouncing Than as a murderer and dictator, argued that a democratic Burma would better serve India's strategic interests. more

KATMANDU, Nepal -- Nepal's ruling coalition inked a compromise deal with the opposition Maoists to extend the term of its interim Parliament, which was on the verge of expiration on Friday. While the standoff was prolonged by a narrow power struggle between the two blocs, observers can take comfort in the fact that both sides ultimately heeded the popular mood demanding stability. more

THIMPU, Bhutan -- Nepal's Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal returned home from the 16th SAARC summit in Bhutan on April 30 to face a political crisis in his landlocked Himalayan nation. The deadlock between the pro-India government and the Maoists, who believe in counterbalancing India's pre-eminence in Nepal, has unsettled both of Nepal's powerful neighbors, India and China. more