News
ASEAN’s megacities in danger
As megacities emerge across the globe, the ones in Asia remain among the fastest growing and cheapest places to build. These cities will continue to grow in size and affluence, due to ever-increasing urban populations. The United Nations (UN) describe megacities as urban areas with ...
Liyana Hasnan
Pompeo to visit Bangkok, commit to Southeast Asia: official
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will recommit the United States on a visit to Bangkok to supporting the development of Southeast Asian nations in the face of a rising China, an official said Thursday. Pompeo will travel to the Thai capital for the July 29-August 3 ...
ASEAN not on track for SDG goals
Despite its best efforts to reach the United Nations’ (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) released on Monday stated that on its current trajectory, Asia Pacific will not achieve any ...
Jason Thomas
ASEAN, Myanmar to implement practical measures on Rakhine situation
ASEAN and the Myanmar government agreed to immediately commence practical measures to alleviate the situation in Rakhine State following a high-level coordination meeting today in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar. Secretary-General of ASEAN Dato Lim Jock Hoi, Executive Director of the ASEAN Coordinating Centre for Humanitarian Assistance ...
Asean calls for improvement in key biodiversity area identification
A series of workshops held in Bangkok this week aims to help participants identify sites critical to the global persistence of biodiversity in the Asean region. It will also develop visualisation tools to aid the reporting processes for multilateral environmental agreements. Keep reading ...
ASEAN lacks crucial data on air pollution
A large portion of the population in Southeast Asia do not have proper information on the air they breathe every day. While an analysis of air pollution readings from Greenpeace and AirVisual found that 95 percent of Southeast Asian cities surveyed exceeded the World Health Organization’s ...
China committed to work with ASEAN on Code of Conduct – Ambassador Zhao
China is committed to work with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in crafting the code of conduct in the South China Sea to keep peace and stability in the region, Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Zhao Jianhua said on Wednesday. Keep reading ...
BRI backlash: time for China to reassure Asean
China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) continues to draw criticism and disapproval. Its sceptics brand it as China’s Marshall Plan, or as a ‘neo-imperial project’. To ensure the initiative’s success, China should heed some of these concerns and take steps to improve the implementation ...
ASEAN’s human trafficking woes
As most human rights defenders are already aware, Southeast Asia faces a problem when it comes to human trafficking. The United States (US) State Department’s latest annual Trafficking in Persons Report doesn’t paint a prettier picture either. Dubbed by the US State Department as the ...
Reducing Inequality in ASEAN with Blockchain
The poverty rate in ASEAN has been reduced significantly, and the quality of life has improved for a vast number of the region’s 625 million residents. The ASEAN reported in 2017 that since 1990, the region has seen a dramatic reduction in the proportion of ...
