The Diplomat

Tuberculosis (TB), an infectious disease affecting the lungs and causing fever, hemoptysis, night sweats, and weight loss, has ravaged Southeast Asia for decades. According to the World Health Organization, the region contains one third of the world’s TB cases. TB has threatened Vietnam, where HIV ...

Laos’ reputation as having some of the most lush and diverse forests in the Mekong remains under serious threat after a December investigation by government officials found evidence of large-scale illegal logging operations in the southern Attapeu province, despite recent efforts to end the practice. ...

Last week, the United States and Vietnam jointly launched the most recent iteration of what has become an annual disaster response exercise and exchange for the mainland Southeast Asian states along the Mekong River, one of the world’s largest, longest, and most resource-rich rivers. The ...

Rather than ecologically harmful dams, Cambodia should explore solar power to fill its energy gap.[] One such project is the proposed Sambor Dam, to be located on the Mekong River’s mainstream at Sambor town, Kratie province, Cambodia. This would be one of eleven large hydropower dams ...

[] Sustainable development of the Mekong basin is too important to be persistently ignored. Approximately 284 million people, including around 400 ethno-linguistic groupings, live on the Mekong River. A majority of Mekong communities are considered “primary producers,” as they rely on the river’s ecosystems for their survival through ...

As China heads into its Party Congress next week, concerns have been surfacing over the past few months about the state of the world’s second-largest economy, which has implications not just for Beijing but also neighboring Southeast Asian states. The recent downgrading by Standard & Poor’s (S&P) ...

The sudden shift, years ahead of schedule, from coal toward renewables is remaking Asia’s energy economy – with repercussions to be felt across the world. The present – and future – does not look good for what, only a few years ago, seemed like a ...

When Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met with U.S. President Donald Trump in February, they agreed to convene a bilateral economic dialogue – led by U.S. Vice President Michael Pence and Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Taro Aso – to “[explore] cooperation across ...

Tomorrow, U.S. President Donald Trump will begin his first face-to-face meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping. The meet-and-greet, to be held at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, will be the first direct engagement between the two leaders since a phone call on February ...

With both countries displaying world-leading economic prowess, along with mounting military expenditures, as well as their increasingly heard – and sought after – diplomatic voices, China and India are determinedly on the rise within international affairs. Their collective ascent is a fundamental element within contemporary ...