December 30, 2010
Asean ends the year
Asean ends the year on an upbeat note. Vietnam, the Asean country that appears to be having the most difficult time with its economy saw that economy recover and GDP increased by 6.7 percent in the context where the world economy was facing instability after global recession. More

December 29, 2010
Laos struggles with influx of foreign workers
In previous reports on Laos in Asean Analysis, we’ve discussed the “spheres of influence” contest being waged in countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion, namely, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam, between the U.S. and China. More

December 28, 2010
Asean rides the economic teeter-totter
A unique new form of economic gymnastics is evolving in Asean, the teeter-totter. More

December 27, 2010
Where is the Chinese economy going?
In this era of globalization, this is a question for China, and the rest of the world to consider. More

December 26, 2010
WEEKLY SUMMARY
These were the most significant stories reported by Asean Affairs during the week of December 18-December 24.More

December 24, 2010
Labor issues in Asean
A recent story, “24,000 Vietnamese workers strike at 2 South Korean plants,” points out several important aspects of labor issues in Asia and portends of more issues developing when the Asean Economic Community (AEC)starts in 2015 allowing for labor mobility within Asean.More

December 23, 2010
VW moves into Asean
After some earlier flirtations with entering the Asean region, Volkswagen (VW) kicked off its assembly plant in Malaysia on Tuesday of this week and signed an agreement with its Malaysian partner, DRB Hicom, with Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak in attendance.More

December 22, 2010
Keys to look for in 2011 Asia
China has announced that its goal going forward in 2011 is economic stability to allow its rapid growth to continue. That is threatened by the inflation rate in China and underlined by the recent rise in reserve requirements for banks.More

December 21, 2010
Thailand’s emergency decree is gone
In Bangkok the weather is beautiful, meaning temperatures are lower and there is little rain, and the Emergency Decree that has been in place in Bangkok since the red shirt protests in April has been lifted.More

December 20, 2010
Top official sentenced to jail
In what must be considered an uncommon and revolutionary event in Southeast Asia, a top Malaysian government official has actually been convicted and sentenced to a long jail term on charges of graft.More

December 19, 2010
WEEKLY SUMMARY
These were the most significant news stories reported by Asean Affairs during the week of December 11-December 17.More

December 17, 2010
Air travel bringing Asia closer together
One of the major developments in the last several years has been the rise of budget airlines in Asia, allowing a large number of people to not only fly for the first time and to increase the amount of tourism within the Asian region.More

December 16, 2010
Talking family planning in the Philippines
The estimated population of the Philippines as of mid – 2010 was close to 100 million with a fertility rate of 3.23 children per woman and a per capita income of US$3,300 ranking it 164 in the world.More

December 15, 2010
Energy awareness increases in Asean
Soon after Asean Affairs’ News Update for December 15, with a lead story about the growing use in Cambodia of biomass electricity generators, another story surfaced from Vietnam.More

December 14, 2010
Power plays in the Greater Mekong Subregion
About a year ago, Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping visited Cambodia to sign US$1.2 billion in economic deals with the Cambodian government of Prime Minister Hun Sen.More

December 13, 2010
Will they or won’t they?
Over this past weekend, the Chinese central bank did not raise interest rates as many financial experts had predicted. More

December 12, 2010
WEEKLY SUMMARY
These were the most significant stories that were published by Asean Affairs during the week of December 4-December 10.More

December 10, 2010
WikiLeaks says Myanmar is going nuclear
News leaks from WikiLeaks are becoming an everyday experience and today’s major leaked cable reports rumors of the building of missile and nuclear sites in Myanmar.More

December 9, 2010
Does this political party have nine lives?
Once again, Thailand’s Democrat Party, the country’s oldest political party (established in 1946), has survived a dissolution case before that nation’s Constitutional Court.More

December 8, 2010
When is free trade not really free trade?
Noel Jones, Ph.D., an Irish academic, who studies free trade issues, gave a stimulating talk on free trade at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand on Tuesday, December 7, on free trade issues. More

December 7, 2010
Quest for Thaksin gets WikiLeaks connection
The rumour mills are beginning to heat up and local Thai media are working overtime to develop storylines around the impending visit to the United States of fugtive former prime minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra.More

December 6, 2010
The Thaksin saga continues
The most interesting story in Asean today is the invitation for fugitive former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to travel to the United States to testify before the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe about human rights abuses in Thailand More

December 5, 2010
WEEKLY SUMMARY
These were the most significant stories published by AseanAffairs during the week of November 27-December 3.More

December 3, 2010
The call center sweepstakes
One of the businesses that has taken hold in Asia is the US$ 21 billion call center industry.More

December 2, 2010
A bamboo solution
In various campaigns to protect the environment, from time to time there is the call to “Plant a Tree.”More

December 1, 2010
Is this a real move to reconcile?
Since the tragic end of the red shirt protests on May 19, when lives were lost and about 40 arson attacks occurred on private and government buildings, there has been an effort under way to reconcile Thailand’s opposing political forces.More