ASEAN
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Malaysia’s Silent Trade War: China’s Overproduction, Malaysia’s Overreliance
Malaysia is facing a silent trade war with China, as cheap imports erode the local market and weaken its domestic industrial base. Chinese dumping, which is driven by subsidies and overcapacity, has accelerated Malaysia’s premature deindustrialization. Anti-dumping duties can only provide a temporary buffer. Thus, only by attracting long-term, high-quality…
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Competition in the Ocean: China’s Vertical Expansion and India’s Horizontal Dominance
As China deepens its strategic footprint through vertical port development and energy corridors, India counters with a horizontally expansive maritime network rooted in historical connectivity. Both powers have increasingly prioritized the Indian Ocean as a geopolitical landscape, where ancient trade routes meet modern rivalries. In their ancient maritime treatises, “Bahr…
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Environmental Governance in ASEAN: Still Too Exclusive?
In light of ongoing global threats posed by climate change, ASEAN aspires to be a regional organization capable of advancing environmental sustainability through Vision 2040 and its four-pillar ASEAN Community Strategic Plans. To realize this vision, it has made progress in involving non-state actors including NGOs and the business and…
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The Strategic Relations of ASEAN and the EU: Trade, Green Economy, Geopolitics
Guest Article by Jit Soon Aw Once colonial, now collaborative: the EU and ASEAN are evolving history’s imbalance into a mutually lucrative partnership. The Association of Southeast Asia Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (EU) are undoubtedly two of the most successful regional blocs with the shared aim of enhancing…
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New Kid on the Bloc: Timor-Leste and the Future of ASEAN
ASEAN is at a pivotal geopolitical crossroads – global powers such as the US and China jostle for influence in Southeast Asia, with the organization often finding itself on the short end of the stick. Timor-Leste stands at the heart of it all, where the nation is on the brink…
Sino-Southeast Initiative 