A Letter from the Editors

Dear Reader

The world is edging into another technological transformation, the so-called Fourth Industrial revolution. The last one, centered on the Internet, PCS and smartphones, gave birth to tech giants such as Google, Facebook, Apple and Amazon, as well as China’s Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent. But the coming revolution promises more radical changes and could upend global business models, impacting societies in ways only starting to be imagined. developments in artificial intelligence, quantum computing, Big data, machine learning, the Internet of Things, new frontiers in medicine, science, transportation and municipal governance herald the next Brave New world.

These developments come as decades of widening income and wealth gaps and a political backlash against globalization have given new life to an age-old scourge of international co-operation: nationalism. From the US to the UK and other parts of europe, and China and beyond, nationalism has again reared its ugly head and promises to be a potent force in the Fourth Industrial revolution. The recent horrific events in New Zealand serve as a reminder to the Asia-pacific region that the pathologies of race-based nationalist extremism, amplified by social media networks, are a threat to peace all over the world.

In our cover package, we look at how technonationalism is likely to shape the use and possible misuse of emerging technologies in this new era of nationalist-driven geopolitical rivalry, especially between the US and China. Given Asia’s leading role in many cutting-edge technologies, countries in the region will have to find new modes of remaining competitive, while grappling with the national-security implications of advances being made by potential rivals.

elsewhere in the issue, our debate section focuses on whether government intervention or market mechanisms are the best way to address South Korea’s gnawing problems with inequality.

our In Focus section looks at Malaysia’s challenges in transforming its political system after the shock election results of May 2018, which saw the party that had ruled the country since independence in 1957 lose power.

In our Features section, two articles explore differing visions of a “Free and open Indo-pacific,” that of Japan and India. For New delhi, the issue is central to managing Beijing’s encroachment on the Indian ocean region. Tokyo’s vision is central to its desire for a greater regional role. we also look at the folly of international peacemaking groups in their efforts to resolve long-running ethnic conflicts in Myanmar. Finally, in the wake of the Trump-kim summit in hanoi, we ask what North Korea could learn from Vietnam.

As usual, our Book reviews section has a rich range of some of the most intriguing new books on Asia. dip into them and enjoy.

In conclusion, we wish to announce that Global Asia’s long-time Associate editor, hong hyung Taek, who also served as Secretary General of the east Asia Foundation, retired at the end of 2018. he was with Global Asia from its birth in 2006 and played an instrumental role in its success. we thank him warmly for his contribution and wish him the best of luck. our new Associate editor is John delury, who is Associate Professor at Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies and formerly our book reviews co-editor.

Sincerely yours,

Chung-in Moon Editor-in-chief

David Plott Managing Editor