A Letter from the Editors
Dear Reader
Asia-pacific or indo-pacific? What’s in a name? for countries in Asia, that change in nomenclature encapsulates the complex dynamics that are reshaping geopolitics in the region as china and the United states increasingly square off over everything from national security to trade. The Us and some of its allies hail the era of a “free and open” indo-pacific as something embedded with norms and values that distinguish it from the more inclusive concept of the Asia-pacific, which has been in use for years. if shades of a coalition of the like-minded comes to mind, that’s probably no accident. But for countries in Asia that fear being coerced to side with one or other of the great powers, that is a problem. it is also an opportunity.
Enter the middle powers. in this cover package of Global Asia, we feature a series of articles that emerged from a workshop held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia July 11-13, “Middle Power Agency in an indo-pacific Era.” in their introductory essay, Paul Evans and cheng-chwee Kuik note that the terms Asia-pacific and indo-pacific “symbolize substantially different conceptions of the ambitions and structure of a regional order. But it is not as if the Asia-pacific flag is being symbolically lowered across the region and the indo-pacific one hoisted to replace it, though in some places and situations that is happening.” The essays in this cover package reveal the enormous range of thought that is being devoted to these changes and how middle powers can exercise their agency in the face of these shifts in the global order.
The workshop in Kuala Lumpur was organized by the institute of Malaysian and international studies at the national University of Malaysia and the East Asian international relations caucus. financial support was generously provided by the Konrad Adenauer stiftung, the University of British columbia and Bait Al Amanah.
our features section chronicles the new Great Game in central Asia, where china is deepening its grip over the security services of countries in the region to ensure it can play a greater role there in the future; we also look at how the Association of southeast Asian nations continues to slide into irrelevance amid challenges within and outside the bloc; how india is making a concerted effort to re-establish its influence in sri Lanka in the face of china’s inroads into its neighborhood; and how the chinese communist Party is unlikely ever to repay the blood debt it owes its people.
in our in focus section, we return to the topic of Thailand’s struggle to revive its democracy in the wake of the elections in May, which saw voters soundly reject the dominance of the political system by the military, the monarchy and the Bangkok elite — only to see the result of their overwhelming vote thwarted by backroom political maneuvering.
our Book reviews section, as always, highlights a sample of some of the most engaging works on Asia and includes an ample selection of long reviews, in addition to our signature short reviews. We wish you all happy reading.
sincerely yours,