Under the leadership of President Xi Jinping, China has begun to more aggressively challenge America’s role as the key economic and political power in Asia. Increasingly repressive at home, Xi has not shied away from asserting China’s regional influence, positioning Beijing as the powerbroker on everything from trade routes to territorial disputes. And with its Belt and Road Initiative, China’s influence is spreading well beyond Asia, into much of Africa and even Europe. China’s ascendance is also evident in how much attention other global powers are paying to Beijing and its policies.
But while China’s rise often makes headlines, it is not the only trend shaping events in Asia. Illiberalism has become a force in democracies like India, where Prime Minister Narendra Modi has ridden the wave of Hindu nationalism to successive electoral victories. And in the Philippines, former President Rodrigo Duterte’s six years in office undermined the country’s democratic institutions and rule of law, although his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., has proven to be an improvement in his first year in office, much to the surprise of many observers. Meanwhile, Myanmar’s already faltering process of democratization came to an abrupt end in February 2021, when the military seized power from the democratically elected government. The subsequent protests and the military’s violent crackdown in response have left the country facing a civil war and failed state status.
Though democracy has taken a hit across parts of the continent, South Korea and Japan continue to offer models of liberalism. Both face challenges, though, primarily of the economic variety. South Korea is attempting to tackle corruption while deepening its ties with other parts of the continent, and Japan’s government is hoping to finally turn the corner on a period of flagging economic growth. But uncertainty over the future of the U.S.-China rivalry, as well as fallout from the war in Ukraine, have dampened the region’s economic prospects.
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Regional flashpoints also remain. A deadly border clash between India and China in June 2020 put residual tensions between those two powers back in the spotlight as well. Afghanistan faces an uncertain road in the aftermath of the U.S. military withdrawal and subsequent Taliban takeover in August 2021. North Korea remains a perpetual wild card. And in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the prospect of China using military force to seize control of Taiwan has been the subject of heightened debate.
WPR has covered Asia in detail and continues to examine key questions about what will happen next. Will rising trade protectionism deal a blow to Asia’s dynamic economic growth? What will growing strategic competition between the U.S. and China mean for the region? How will the economic impact of the war in Ukraine affect the region’s economies—and politics? Below are some of the highlights of WPR’s coverage.
Our Most Recent Coverage
Hindu Nationalism Is Gaining Traction in Nepal—With Help From India
In Nepal, the emergence of Hindu nationalism coupled with attacks on the country’s secularist credentials hint at an organized effort to increase the salience of religion in domestic politics. The stakes are urgent, as the health of Nepal’s young democracy would suffer if Hindu nationalism makes significant inroads there.
Politics and Diplomacy
It is a worrying period for democracy on the continent. In addition to the more uninhibited authoritarianism on display in supposed democracies like Cambodia and the Philippines under Duterte, Thailand’s outgoing prime minister initially won office in a managed election after having headed the country’s military junta. The leaders of the military coup in Myanmar probably hoped to replicate that model, but now risk creating a failed state at the heart of Southeast Asia. There are some glimmers of hope, though. In Thailand, a civilian government emerged from the country’s recent elections, although the top-finishing reformist party was excluded from the government by a system skewed to protect the military’s interests. And before they were crushed by Beijing, the protests in Hong Kong demonstrated that the appeal of democracy is still strong in the region.
- Why voters were more grumpy than grateful ahead of New Zealand’s recent elections, in Labour’s Hopes Dim in New Zealand’s First Post-Ardern Election
- Why new revelations about Sri Lanka’s Easter Bombings in 2019 could be a political bombshell, in New Accusations Roil Sri Lanka Over the 2019 Easter Bombings
- What a recent clash between police and Islamist militants revealed about the fragile peace in southern Philippines, in The Philippines’ Bangsamoro Peace Process Is Not Yet Complete
- Why a series of corruption scandals has been so damaging for Singapore’s ruling PAP party, in Singapore’s Social Contract Is Starting to Fray
China’s Relations With Asia—and the World
Though the Belt and Road Initiative has drawn increasing global scrutiny as it expands into Africa and Europe, the plan’s impacts are still most keenly felt in Asia—and particularly in Southeast Asia. Observers fear that heightened economic leverage will in turn grant China expanded political influence, particularly over countries that are heavily indebted to Beijing, but also over those whose economies are heavily dependent on exports to China. Meanwhile, regional powers increasingly calibrate their strategic ties through the prism of China’s rise.
- What’s driving the thaw in Australia-China relations—and why it may not be durable, in The Thaw in Australia’s Relations With China Could Be Fleeting
- Why it’s premature to conclude that China is backing away from its global development role, in China Hasn’t Abandoned Its Global Development Ambitions
- Why the global impact of China’s economic slowdown won’t be uniform, in China’s Slowing Growth Won’t Be All Bad News for the Global Economy
- How the ASEAN member states could counter China’s aggression more effectively, in Another ASEAN Summit Gives China’s Bullying Tactics a Pass
The U.S. Role in Asia
After an initial focus on restoring ties with U.S. allies in Europe, President Joe Biden’s approach to Asia—and China—has begun to come into focus. Biden took initial steps to reestablish diplomatic engagement with Beijing, particularly over climate diplomacy. But he has also invested time and energy into strengthening ties with long-time allies; building them with newly emerging partners, like India; and developing new coalitions, like the Quad and the so-called AUKUS security partnership with Australia and the U.K., to put teeth into the U.S. pivot to Asia. For now, however, his outreach on trade has proven to be a disappointment among regional partners.
- Why the U.S. still benefits from science and tech cooperation with China, in The U.S. Can’t Afford a Science and Tech Decoupling From China
- Why the states of Central Asia make for good partners for the U.S., in The U.S. Should Seize Its Strategic Opening in Central Asia
- Why the U.S. has to rethink how it is engaging with Southeast Asia, in The U.S. Is Losing Ground to China in Southeast Asia
- What’s missing in Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy, in The U.S. Indo-Pacific Strategy Has a Navy-Sized Hole in It
Economy and Trade
For the four years of Donald Trump’s presidency, the U.S.-China trade war cast clouds over the economic outlook for a region that had been projected to continue its steady development. The uncertain future of U.S.-China ties has now persisted through the third year of President Joe Biden’s term, with implications for the supply chains on which global trade is currently based, even as the fallout from the war in Ukraine poses a risk to regional economies.
- Why a bigger population won’t be enough for India to overtake China’s economy, in India Will Need More Than Population Growth to Surpass China’s Economy
- How the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated Laos’ pre-existing economic problems, in Laos’ Debt-Fueled Economy Is Going Up in Smoke
- How populist politics torpedoed Sri Lanka’s economy, in In Sri Lanka, the Rajapaksas Made an Economic Crisis Worse
- Why the EU’s infrastructure investment initiative won’t be enough to compete with the BRI in Southeast Asia, in The EU Will Have Trouble Backing Up Its Ambitions in Southeast Asia
Editor’s note: This article was originally published in June 2019 and is regularly updated.