Economy
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Reprioritising Education for Effective Poverty Reduction in Lao PDR
While Laos has made progress in reducing poverty, a deeper problem remains hidden beneath the numbers. Today, poverty is no longer determined by where people live, but rather by whether children finish school. Education deprivation has become the bottleneck in solving Laos’s poverty issue, yet current developmental policies continue to…
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Malaysia in the Middle of the AI Stack: How Capital Flows are Reshaping Supply Chains
While all eyes in the AI boom are centered on innovation and competition between American and Chinese firms, capital is quietly flowing into the infrastructure that underpins this long-term growth trajectory. Malaysia’s growing role as a key player in the middle of the AI stack, with its environment conducive to…
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From Beijing to Strategic Autonomy: How Carney’s China Agreement Revives the Third Option
Mark Carney’s landmark trade agreement with China—reducing Canadian EV tariffs to 6.1% in exchange for slashed canola tariffs—proves that Canada’s long-failed quest for strategic autonomy can succeed. But only when built on power, not ideology: Carney is fixing Pierre Trudeau’s Third Option by securing material strength first, then diversifying from…
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Plugging Timor-Leste Into ASEAN: Could China Power the Region’s Next Great Integration?
Timor-Leste’s entry into ASEAN exposes a structural weakness in the region’s energy integration. The ASEAN Power Grid promises resilience through connectivity but remains vulnerable if new and weaker members stay outside its core infrastructure. With Timor-Leste reliant on costly diesel and lacking interconnections, external support is unavoidable. China’s deep experience…
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The World’s Factory is Producing Less, and Southeast Asia Stands to Benefit
China’s economy, after dominating global manufacturing for almost three decades, is beginning to mature away from low-cost manufacturing in favour of innovation and high-value sectors. This, combined with higher labour costs and geopolitics, has increasingly pushed mass manufacturers—foreign and Chinese—toward Southeast Asia as an industrial hub. While presenting immense benefits,…
Sino-Southeast Initiative 