Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia
Opinions
ASEAN at 55 is Alive and Kicking
09 August 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Against all odds and naysayers, ASEAN has survived for the past five and a half decades. The bloc …
ASEAN Hardens Position on Myanmar
10 August 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: First of all, the ministers have taken the recent execution of four prodemocracy activists very seriously, so much …
Soaring Energy Prices Stunt Decarbonisation in the Indian Power Sector
12 August 2022
By Dr Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, Director of Research Strategy and Innovation: India is the world’s second largest coal importer. It also imports 80 per cent of …
ROK-China Relations Face Challenges
16 August 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: While United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has long departed South Korea for home, the news headlines …
UN Special Envoy and SAC more than tit for tat
24 August 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: When the United Nations Secretary General’s special envoy met recently with the military junta leader of a pariah …
Bolstering Thailand-India ties at 75
30 August 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Thailand and India have taken seven-and-a-half decades to transform their close historical and cultural ties into a more …
Thanks to Gorbachev, SE Asia Found Peace
06 September 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Lest we forgot, President Mikhail Gorbachev was the Soviet leader who was the game changer in bringing an …
PM Truss – be careful what you wish for
07 September 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Now that Liz Truss has been elected by the Conservative Party to the helm of the United Kingdom, …
Re-invigorating the International Trade System
08 September 2022
By Prof Shujiro Urata, Senior Research Advisor to the President: The world faces unprecedented and difficult challenges, including US–China rivalry, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, …
SE Asia to host big powers in November
13 September 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: For a 10-day period in the second week of November, the world's attention will be focused singularly on …
Rising S Korea deepens ties with Asean
20 September 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: To witness the dynamism of South Korea's rise and its relationship with Asean and each bloc member, it …
Aussie ties out of the woods, raring to go
27 September 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: 'Thais that bind: secret mission ends Aussie's torment," read the front page headline of The Australian on Nov …
US plans for Indo-Pacific 'misguided'
18 October 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: To ensure a free, open, prosperous, and secure world, the United States must be the winner in the …
Why Thailand abstained in UNGA vote
25 October 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: After Thailand abstained from voting at the UN General Assembly on Oct 12 before the 11th Emergency …
ASEAN Foreign Ministers must not lose their way
30 October 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Judging by the outcome of the special ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting in Jakarta on October 27th, the ASEAN …
Intellectual Property Rights: Key to Sustainability in Indonesia
31 October 2022
By Michelle Chandra Kasih, Research Associate: Indonesians are increasingly aware of the need to develop in a more sustainable manner. In October 2022, the Jakarta …
It's time to mainstream the AOIP
01 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: One of the top priorities that the Asean leaders have to vet and approve at the Asean-related summit …
India Has Become a Major Player in Low-Orbit Space
02 November 2022
By Dr Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, Director of Research Strategy and Innovation: In a historic maiden commercial flight, an Indian government rocket successfully placed 36 satellites of …
Thailand-Australia ties strengthen
03 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: The visit of Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong to Bangkok early this week has boosted bilateral ties with …
From Climate Negotiations to Actions: Will COP27 Be a Turning Point?
04 November 2022
By Dr Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, Director of Research Strategy and Innovation: The UN climate conference known as COP 27 will convene in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt on …
US midterms – Red ripples, but no tsunami
10 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: US President Joe Biden has benefitted from good Karma, because the outcome of the midterm elections on 8th …
PM Hun Sen excels in global politics
11 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Who could have imagined that Samdech Akka Moha Sena Padei Techo Hun Sen, or Prime Minister Hun Sen …
Significance of Vietnamese President Phúc’s visit
13 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Vietnamese President Nguyen Xuân Phúc will become the first APEC leader to arrive in Bangkok and will be …
Setting aside a slip of the tongue, Biden performs well at summit
15 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: President Joe Biden, mistakenly referring to the host “Cambodia” as “Colombia”, should be forgiven, because he performed very …
Xi’s visit to Bangkok, East Wind Blowing
18 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Thailand gladly welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping with three understandings at the forefront of its mind, namely that …
Three summits jointly boost centrality
22 November 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Cambodia, Indonesia, and Thailand with distinctive styles of leadership and diplomatic finesse have succeeded in performing the most …
G20-2023: What is India's agenda?
06 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: The success of the G20 in Bali has turned President Widodo Joko into a global leader for overcoming …
Humanitarian peril on western border
13 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: While the country’s political machinery and personnel are now gearing up for the upcoming election, there is a …
A Spirit of Idealism or Pragmatic Global Discourse? What to Expect from India’s G20 Presidency
21 December 2022
By Dr Venkatachalam Anbumozhi, Director of Research Strategy and Innovation: India inherited the Group of Twenty (G20) presidency from Indonesia on 1 December 2022 and …
Japan is no longer the same
25 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: It must be clear today that the Japan with which Southeast Asia has been familiar throughout the …
Myanmar’s quagmire and two new game changers
26 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: The recent newly passed bill by the Congress, known broadly as Burma Act 2022, which allows the US …
Asean's international status is rising
27 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: It might sound pompous to keep stating the strategic importance of Southeast Asia over the past year due …
Peace in Ukraine remains elusive
28 December 2022
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: Talk about peace has intensified since the visit of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky to Washington DC last week. …
Southeast Asia’s tech industry goes from a gallop to a canter
30 December 2022
By Giulia Ajmone Marsan, Strategy and Partnership Director: After a couple of years of spectacular growth, tech start-ups and tech giants alike are now facing …
Philippines, China seek to mend ties
10 January 2023
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: It's not an overstatement to say that the recent visit by Philippines President Ferdinand 'Bongbong' Marcos Jr to …
Indonesia’s Asean chair, continuity with prickly tweaks
11 January 2023
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: After the democratic transformation in the post-Suharto era in the past 25 years, whenever Indonesia has served as …
Can Indonesia Enable a Green Hydrogen-based Economy?
11 January 2023
By Ms Citra Endah Nur Setyawati, Research Associate and Dr Alloysius Joko Purwanto, Energy Economist: Climate change and the energy transition have made research and …
Incoming ASEAN chief faces new challenges
12 January 2023
By Mr Kavi Chongkittavorn, Senior Communications Advisor: An astute scholar of ASEAN from Cambodia, Dr Kao Kim Hourn, has now become the 15th Secretary General …
2023: a Decisive Year for Indonesia’s Renewable Electricity
17 January 2023
By Dr Alloysius Joko Purwanto, Energy Economist: The second half of 2022 was marked by two important decisions in Indonesia’s energy sector that shall significantly …
The Indonesian economy in turbulent times
18 January 2023
By Dr Dionisius A. Narjoko, ERIA's Senior Economist, and Prof Hal Hill of the ANU: The year 2022 got off to a relatively optimistic start …
