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The Debate
The Debate is our home for the best opinions from around Asia. Whether it is negotiating with Iran, responding to North Korean provocations, discussing Japan's looming demographic issues, or considering the new balance of power in the Asia-Pacific, some of the region's leading thinkers offer their take.
The West Shouldn’t Push India to Condemn Russia
By Krzysztof Iwanek
Instead of lecturing India, the West should take India’s interests seriously and make better offers to New Delhi than Moscow does.
Living and Dying for Rice in North Korea
By Doohyun Kim
The world must send food aid, specifically rice, to North Korea to avoid a humanitarian disaster.
For Vietnam, Climate Justice Means Tackling Disparities Globally and at Home
By Kanni Wignaraja and Caitlin Wiesen
For middle-income countries like Vietnam climate change mitigation cannot come at the expense economic development and improving the lives of the poor.
Biden’s Afghanistan Policy Pleases No One. But Some Critics Are Wrong Too.
By Jasmine Bhatia and Sarajuddin Isar
Both proponents and critics of the controversial decision to order the unfreezing and splitting of Afghanistan’s foreign reserves are getting it wrong.
It’s Time to Put the DOJ’s China Initiative on Trial
By Dai Huizhong
The DOJ's efforts to combat Chinese espionage have not made America safer -- quite the opposite.
Building a Just Peace for Women in Pakistan’s Tribal Belt
By Shehryar Fazli
The renewed militancy prompted by the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan threatens hard-won gains for the women of northwest Pakistan.
The UN Shouldn’t Let the Olympics’ Celebration of Uyghur Repression Go Unchallenged
By Sophie Richardson
Where is the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights’ report detailing human rights violations against Uyghurs?
ASEAN Can Still Make a Difference in Myanmar
By Marzuki Drusman
The foreign ministers’ meeting this week must seize the moment and return ASEAN to the more principled course it had begun to take before the New Year.
Pakistan Continues to Exhibit Gory ‘Islamophobia’ Against Ahmadis
By Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
Pakistan is indubitably more phobic of the Ahmadiyya sect, and their interpretation of Islam, than most of the states that Khan vocally deems “Islamophobic.”
As COVID-19 Crashes Across Solomon Islands, Vaccines Must Be Available to All
By Clement Manuri
If we want Solomon Islanders to have a safe future, our people must embrace vaccinations everywhere, on all islands, from the coast to the mountains and the valleys.
The Philippines’ COVID-19 Response Has Left the Most Vulnerable Behind
By Yvonne Su and Sivakamy Thayaalan
Far from being a "great leveler," the pandemic is much more likely to impact socioeconomically disadvantaged communities.
Addressing the Southeast Asian Food Security Vulnerabilities Exposed by COVID-19
By Mark S. Cogan and Paul D. Scott
The pandemic has highlighted just how precarious the region's food supplies are.