By Sang-Hyop Lee, Cheol-Kon Park, and Andrew Mason
HONOLULU (26 May 2020)—South Korea has one of the fastest-aging populations in the world. Over the next 30 years, the share of Korea’s population age 65 and older is projected to grow from 15 to 40...
By Jagannath Panda
HONOLULU (22 May 2020)—The coronavirus pandemic has brought several international issues into sharper focus. One serious concern is the loss of confidence in the decision-making processes of global institutions, particularly in...
By Andrew Mason, Sang-Hyop Lee, and Donghyun Park
HONOLULU (8 May 2020)—Elderly populations in Asia are expanding more quickly than other age groups. Low fertility rates result in fewer children and eventually fewer working-age adults, while elderly...
By Rebecca Strating
HONOLULU (24 April 2020)—Many argue that China’s increasingly aggressive posture in the South China Sea is an attempt to unilaterally alter the US-led regional order, which includes an emphasis on freedom of navigation. In...
By Lora SaalmanHONOLULU (14 April 2020)—Artificial intelligence (AI) is an increasingly important component of weapons systems, with both positive and negative implications for nuclear deterrence. Integration of AI into military platforms has the...
By Boy Lüthje
HONOLULU (6 April 2020)—The development of electric and self-driving vehicles is bringing on a massive restructuring of the global automotive industry. Emerging forms of new and shared mobility undermine the very model of private car...
By James H. Spencer, Sumeet Saksena, and Jefferson Fox
HONOLULU (1 April 2020)—The current COVID-19 pandemic, which started in Wuhan, China, underscores what the public health community has warned about for more than two decades—the risk of viral...
By East-West Center
HONOLULU (March 27, 2020)—Population aging is affecting countries all across Asia. This ongoing demographic transition will leave many of the region’s economies increasingly dependent on an aging, and eventually a shrinking,...
By Jonathan Pryke
HONOLULU (March 2, 2020)—In an atmosphere of heightened geostrategic competition, China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has raised questions about the risk of debt problems in less-developed countries. Such risks are especially...
By Marcus Noland
HONOLULU (November 19, 2019)—Rising diplomatic tensions between South Korea and Japan are putting American security interests at risk. Yet the United States government appears detached, unable to facilitate a rapprochement between...
By Abby G. Frazier and Laura Brewington
HONOLULU (November 11, 2019)—Of all the earth’s environments, alpine regions are arguably the most vulnerable to climate change. This is especially true for alpine areas on islands. Island ecosystems are also...
By Anu Anwar
HONOLULU (November 1, 2019)—Originally announced by Chairman Xi Jinping in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) aims to bolster China’s connectivity with the world. While the name Belt and Road Initiative implies two routes—a...
By East-West Center
HONOLULU (October 4, 2019)—President Donald Trump first laid out a vision for a “free and open Indo-Pacific” at the November 2017 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Vietnam. From the start, statements describing...
By Charles E. Morrison and Mark Nuttall
HONOLULU (September 27, 2019)—In the summer of 2019, Greenland received considerable media attention for two developments: Its large ice sheet saw record rates of surface melt with potentially devastating...
By Tim Brown and Wiwat Peerapatanapokin
HONOLULU (September 17, 2019)—In 2018, roughly 6 million people were living with HIV in Asia and the Pacific, and 310,000 were newly infected, according to UNAIDS estimates. Despite these troubling numbers,...
By Sherry P. Broder
HONOLULU (August 28, 2019)—Since the 1950s when plastics were first produced, more than 150 million tons of plastic debris have accumulated in the world’s oceans. Marine plastic litter includes large items, such as nets, floats,...
By Marcus Noland
HONOLULU (August 23, 2019)—For three generations, the United States championed a rules-based multilateral trading system. That stance was overturned by the election of an avowed protectionist, Donald Trump, as president. It would be...
By Fan Lulu and Boy Luethje
HONOLULU (July 31, 2019)—With more than 800 million Internet users, China has become the global leader in e-commerce—the buying and selling of products and services online. Taobao (roughly “treasure hunt” in English) is...
By Wilmar Salim, Keith Bettinger, and Micah Fisher
HONOLULU (June 21, 2019)—With a population of more than 30 million, greater Jakarta is the largest metropolitan area in Southeast Asia and one of the most densely populated urban regions in the...
By Sumeet Saksena, Chinh Cong Tran, and Jefferson Fox
HONOLULU (May 24, 2019)—All over the world, more than three billion people—particularly in rural areas—cook on open fires or inefficient stoves that burn wood, coal, or crop residues. Burning...
