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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.
20 Years Since Andijan, Remembering Past Abuses in Uzbekistan
By Mihra Rittmann
Addressing the lack of accountability for past human rights abuses, including the 2005 Andijan massacre, has not been high on the current government’s agenda.
When Development Finance Does More Harm than Good: The Case of Indorama Agro in Uzbekistan
By Lynn Schweisfurth, Caitlin Daniel, and Nina Lesikhina
In January 2025, Indorama Agro abruptly prepaid its loans and walked away from its contractual obligation to implement the EBRD’s E&S standards in Uzbekistan.
The Survival of Cambodian Press Freedom Requires More Than Funding
By Sao Phal Niseiy
Local media outlets will find ways to adapt to waning foreign financial support, but they still need external partners to stand up for the principles of free expression.
Australia’s Election Result Offers Certainty to a Region in Flux
By Trang Nguyen
Prime Minister Albanese’s victory offers the kind of stable partnership that Southeast Asia requires at a time of trade disruptions, climate pressures, and growing great power rivalry.
Now or Never: Australia’s Albanese Must Deliver for Climate Justice
By Pascale Hunt
With a fresh mandate, Albanese’s government will preside over Australia’s last chance to shift from climate laggard to climate leader.
Trump’s Art of the TikTok Deal Should be Carefully Scrutinized by Congress
By Blake Narendra
Democratic and Republican lawmakers who drafted the bill on TikTok knew that Trump might try to wiggle his way out of its statutory requirements, as he is doing now.
How US Aid Cuts Are Putting Millions of Lives at Risk
By Farhat Mantoo
A catastrophe is unfolding in clinics, refugee camps, and conflict zones worldwide.
Inflection Point: What to Do When the State is the Syndicate?
By Jacob Sims and Mark B. Taylor
A new UN report exposes the scam industry’s global growth – but countering it demands realism about sovereign complicity.
Protecting the Global Climate Agenda in an Era of China-US Competition
By Kevin Zongzhe Li
Climate alignment between Beijing and Washington once catalyzed historic breakthroughs. As their rivalry extends to the energy transition, can global climate diplomacy recover?
50 Years After Cambodia’s Cataclysm, It’s Time to Invest in Frontline Justice
By Kate Flower
Civil society groups have helped push the country's judiciary in the direction of greater accountability. They are in dire need of international support.
Earthquake Presents ASEAN With An Opportunity to Reimagine Its Approach to Aid in Myanmar
By Han Ya
The Southeast Asian bloc's preferred approach and mechanisms are ill-suited to Myanmar’s contested political realities.
How Efforts to Reconcile US and Vietnamese Veterans Reshaped Bilateral Relations
By Pham Quang Hien
People's diplomacy efforts between veterans of the two countries are a symbol of the transformation from confrontation to cooperation in U.S.-Vietnam relations.
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