The Central Asian energy sector is undergoing transformations and uncertainties due to international and regional factors. Internationally, globally low oil prices and the unstable situation in the Persian Gulf and Middle East create tensions over the oil and gas sector.
The new EU strategy for Central Asia, adopted by the EU Council on 17 June is not really a strategy as it is not a plan of action that includes objectives or timelines. This is not a bad thing.
We are living in the ‘Asian Century’, some analysts suggest; but will the next decade become known as the ‘Central Asian decade’?
As a whole, Southeast Asia has had one of the longest historical relationships with China. However, modern relations between China and Southeast Asia only began after the Second World War.
Celebrating both the 44th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and the 16th anniversary of their strategic partnership in 2019, EU-China relations are among the most significant in the global arena. From an economic perspective, the EU and China are the largest exporters in the world, with the two blocs accounting for around 30 percent of global trade.
Nuovi venti di guerra tornano a spirare su una delle aree geopolitiche più strategiche del macrocontinente asiatico. L’atteggiamento provocatorio adottato dalla Corea del Nord nelle ultime settimane tiene il mondo con il fiato sospeso, soprattutto dopo il posizionamento da parte di Pyongyang di due missili Musudan a media gittata sulle rampe di lancio e l’invito rivolto alle ambasciate straniere a prepararsi a evacuare. Bluff o vera minaccia?
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s long-life obsession to revise the country’s pacifist constitution suffered a blow in Japan’s Upper House elections last Sunday. The pro-revision political parties and groups – Abe’s Liberal-Democratic Party (LDP), its junior coalition partner Komeito, the revisionist and nationalist Nippon Ishin no Kai (Japan Innovation Party) and a few independent lawmakers – did not win enough seats to hold on to the two-third majority in the 245-seat Upper House they obtained in 2016.
Dreaming big doesn’t necessarily mean acting big. Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s maiden Budget speech captures New Delhi’s $5 trillion aspiration by 2025 (that’s one year’s postponement) and delivers some of the minute needed to get there. If you’re looking for ‘big bang reforms’, don’t look for it in Budget 2019.
The heinous terrorist attacks against churches and hotels that killed 258 people and injured at least 500 in Sri Lanka on Easter Day, caused political turmoil and confirmed a worrying trend already on the rise in the last years: for Islamic State (IS), South and Southeast Asia are the next hotbeds of jihadism, and are an area where the terrorist organisation can sponsor local groups and merge its brand with local guerrillas.
In tempi di guerre commerciali e di confronto sistemico USA-Cina, tra gli analisti è ormai aperto il dibattito su una possibile nuova Guerra Fredda. Una Cold War 2.0 innescata dall’America di Trump per contenere la prepotente ascesa politica e tecnologica della Cina di Xi Jinping. Ben diverso, certo, il contesto odierno rispetto al confronto con l’Unione Sovietica, gigante politico dai piedi d’argilla non integrato nell’economia mondiale.
