National government
Head of state
Abe vies with China for influence over ASEAN gateways
The warm welcome afforded Myanmar’s de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, here on November 2 underscores Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s eagerness to counter Chinese overtures to a country, like the Philippines, of great geopolitical importance in Southeast Asia. Abe greeted Suu Kyi at the ...
Philippines says China ships still at shoal, but fishermen unhindered
China has scaled down its presence at a disputed South China Sea shoal but has not interfered with Filipino fishermen, the Philippine president’s security adviser said on October 30, after the administration had said China had withdrawn completely. Hermogenes Esperon said Chinese ships were still present ...
We’ll always have Paris
Amid the winding-down of the Cold War in early December 1987, Prime Minister Hun Sen and Prince Norodom Sihanouk met in the quiet northern French village of Fère-en-Tardenois for their first talks on ending Cambodia’s intractable civil war. It was an overture that opened the road ...
State counsellor addresses Rakhine attacks while in India
“We as a nation are struggling to make the democratic culture take root,” State Counsellor Daw Aung Suu Kyi told reporters after meeting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on October 19. The state counsellor was on her first official visit to New Delhi where she attended ...
NA to hold first ordinary session next week
The national socio-economic development plan, state budget, monetary policy, audit results, the work of prosecutors and judges and legislation approval will all be on the agenda of the upcoming first ordinary session of the National Assembly’s ‘s Eighth Legislature. Head of the NA Secretariat Ms Suansavanh ...
China may give Filipino fishermen access to Scarborough - sources
China will consider giving Filipino fishermen conditional access to disputed waters in the South China Sea after the presidents of the two countries meet in Beijing this week, two Chinese sources with ties to the leadership said. Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte plans to raise the plight ...
Is the Belt and Road Initiative globalizing China’s national security policy?
Chinese security policy experts use potential threats to BRI projects to highlight the necessity of a globalized security posture. The suicide bomb attack on the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan in August 2016 highlighted China’s rising external vulnerability in a region at the heart of its signature ...
After Thai King Bhumibol's death, succession may be delayed
On October 13, news broke that Thailand’s 88-year-old king, Bhumibol Adulyadej, died after suffering complications from hemiodialysis treatment at Bangkok’s Siriraj hospital. King Bhumibol, the world’s longest reigning monarch, was revered as a demi-god and, for most Thai citizens, was the only monarch they had ...
China’s Xi Jinping visits King, Hun Sen
Throngs of cheering school children greeted Chinese President Xi Jinping upon his arrival in the capital on October 13, with balaclava-clad soldiers enforcing order and whole sections of the city shut down as he paid visits to the King and the prime minister. On his first ...
Thailand forever altered as King Bhumibol Adulyadej dies
After seven decades, the longest-serving monarch in the world has died. Southeast Asia Globe looks back at King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s reign. Thailand’s King Bhumibol Adulyadej, the longest-reigning monarch in the world and the ninth ruler in the unbroken Chakri dynasty, is dead. A reign that ...
