ECONOMY

What Happened: North Korea continues to insist that it has not had a single case of COVID-19. Is that possible? And, if so, why does Pyongyang continue to tighten its restrictions, despite increasing signs of economic devastation?

Our Focus: North Korea’s restrictions and economic data suggest that “it is having trouble with containing the virus and it had already confirmed coronavirus cases,” Park Won-gon, a professor of international relations at Handong Global University in South Korea, told The Diplomat. “It is unreasonable to say that there is no coronavirus case in North Korea.”

What Comes Next: Pyongyang’s border closures, coupled with currency restrictions and devastating floods, have the country’s people on the economic brink. The Eighth Congress of the Workers’ Party, due this week, will signal how the North intends to rebuild its economy.

CHINA POWER

Jerome A. Cohen, founding faculty director emeritus of NYU Law School’s US-Asia Law Institute, on the latest turn in the Jimmy Lai case: “The usually mundane bail issue … has become the most immediate arena in which the ongoing struggle between China’s Communist Party and Hong Kong’s judicial system is taking place.”

Northeast Asia

China’s foreign minister is making his first trip of the new year to Africa, in one tradition that has continued in spite of COVID-19. From January 4 to 9, Wang Yi will visit Nigeria, the DRC, Botswana, Tanzania, and the Seychelles. Beijing is looking to keep China-Africa ties going strong with a renewed focus on health care cooperation, all in preparation for this fall’s big FOCAC summit between Xi Jinping and African leaders.

South Asia

Two trips – one by the Indian External Affairs Minister S. Jaishnkar to Sri Lanka that began on January 5, and an upcoming one by Nepal's Foreign Minister Pradeep Gyawali, to India – highlight how domestic politics in smaller South Asian states such as Sri Lanka and Nepal influence, and are influenced by, competition between big regional powers. A key Indian project in Sri Lanka, designed to reclaim influence in the island nation, as well as India’s relations with Nepal, now depend on how local politics in both countries evolve in the near future.

Southeast Asia

On January 8, Indonesia is set to release from prison the notorious radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir. As spiritual leader of the al Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiah network, Bashir allegedly masterminded the 2002 Bali bombings and other terrorist attacks. His release comes as Jakarta begins to push back against religious intolerance and restrict the activities of radical Islamic groups.

Central Asia

On Sunday, December 10, citizens of both Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan head to the polls. Protests of some sort are likely to accompany both sets of elections (parliamentary in Kazakhstan and presidential in Kyrgyzstan, plus a referendum to determine what kind of government the state needs) but only in Kyrgyzstan does any such protest action have the potential to flip the political board. Sadyr Japarov looks set to win the presidency, but what happens after is anyone's guess.

SOCIETY

In December 2020, Bangladesh began the controversial relocation of Rohingya refugees to Bhashan Char, a previously uninhabited island in the Bay of Bengal.

SOCIETY

“Blazing oven”: The Vietnamese name for the anti-corruption campaign that has become the political signature of Communist Party General Secretary and President Nguyen Phu Trong.