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We index full-text journals with open access platforms in our Asia-Studies Full-Text Plus section. Here is the list of journals available.

  
 

 

  
 

 

  
 

 

  
 

January 2026 Current Topics

  

Source

 

 

  

 

Navigating Geopolitics and Geoeconomics: Challenges and Opportunities for the Philippines, December 2025. Derisking strategies are commonplace in business and finance, but they now take central importance in national security discussions amidst a brewing technology cold war. For the Philippines, this heightened US-China competition presents both threats and opportunities. While vulnerable to economic coercion and national security risks due to exposure to both superpowers, the Philippines stands to gain from investment shifts connected to US friendshoring and the relocation of Chinese firms...

  

EWC

Indonesian Nuclear Energy: Quo Vadis? December 2025. Entering the end of the first quarter of this century, Indonesia remains the largest country without a nuclear power plant. The government has recently accepted nuclear as part of its long-term energy supply planning (due to climate and energy security concerns), but challenges remain. This paper suggests that the government repurpose remote ex-mining areas on the island with low earthquake potential to solve the location selection problem. The BOT scheme with foreign entities may also solve domestic limitations in funding and financing the plant, as well as in procuring the (enriched) uranium...

  

EWC

Reframing the Australia–Japan Energy Relationship, December 2025. Australia and Japan both aim to reach net zero emissions by 2050 while growing their economies amid rapid technological change. Their trade relationship amplifies the risks, yet also offers opportunities to mitigate them — opportunities yet to be fully grasped. Japan plans to decarbonise through coupling fossil gas with carbon capture and storage, and using hydrogen and ammonia as fuel. These technologies are uneconomic and likely to remain so. If they fail, Japan risks dependence on unmitigated fossil fuels, missed emissions targets, exposure to carbon tariffs, and loss of competitiveness in steelmaking and all downstream industries...

  

Lowy

Navigating the Storm: Southeast Asia and the Global Trade Shocks, December 2025. Southeast Asia’s trade-oriented economies are facing a confluence of global trade shocks. The Trump administration in the United States has imposed punitive tariffs while depressed domestic demand in China has led to a “second China shock” that threatens to crowd out the region’s manufacturing industries. Both superpowers are engaged in aggressive mercantilism and Southeast Asia risks being caught in the crossfire. Yet the region has proven remarkably resilient. Rather than shrinking, exports to the United States have boomed as Southeast Asian goods replace Chinese ones in the American market...

  

Lowy

Japan-Australia Defence Cooperation in the Pacific: The Case for a Partial Division of Labour, December 2025. This report argues that Australia and Japan should develop a partial division of labour in the Pacific to protect the critical sea lines of communication (SLOC) connecting the two countries. This is necessary to reinforce deterrence now and prepare for a possible war instigated by China. In such a conflict, the United States would likely be focused on fighting China and expect allies to shoulder most of the burden of protecting their own supply chains. The report divides the Pacific into four zones and highlights which areas matter most for each partner’s strategic interests...

  

ASPI

Aligning for Advantage: Integrating Autonomous Systems Into the Australian Defence Force, December 2025. This ASPI Special Report argues that there needs to be investment into greater numbers of autonomous systems, acquired in a manner that leads to a larger and more powerful ADF, with greater resilience and combat sustainability. It argues that this needs to occur quickly. Whilst Australian defence policy recognises the importance of these technologies, there is a risk that it is moving too slowly. There is a need to make fundamental changes to policy on capability acquisition and sustainment, develop new organisational structures, and challenge traditional culture in relation to capability development, if the ADF is to gain the greatest benefit from autonomous systems...

  

ASPI

The Party’s AI: How China’s New AI Systems Are Reshaping Human Rights, December 2025. This report shows how the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming China’s state control system into a precision instrument for managing its population and targeting groups at home and abroad. China’s extensive AI‑powered visual surveillance systems are already well documented. This report reveals new ways that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using large language models (LLMs) and other AI systems to automate censorship, enhance surveillance and pre‑emptively suppress dissent...

  

ASPI

Financial Stability Review 2025. The global economy has shown greater than expected resilience this year despite a challenging trade and geopolitical backdrop. Global growth has been supported by the frontloading of demand, strong technology-related investments, and accommodative financial conditions. Amid moderating inflation, many central banks—notably in emerging markets (EMs)—have reduced policy rates, as broad-based easing trends in the dollar provided additional monetary space to support growth. Globally, financial stability risks are elevated despite the buoyant sentiments across several financial markets. Some equity markets are seeing relatively stretched valuations, particularly in the technology and artificial intelligence (AI) segments...

  

MAS

MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, December 2025. The December 2025 Survey was sent out on 21 November 2025 to a total of 25 economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore economy. This report reflects the views received from 20 respondents (a response rate of 80%) and does not represent MAS’ views or forecasts. The Singapore economy expanded by 4.2% year-on-year in Q3 2025, exceeding the respondents’ median forecast of 0.9% in the previous survey (Chart 1). In the current survey, the respondents expect the economy to grow by 3.6% year-on-year in Q4 2025...

  

MAS

2025 Singapore Corporate Debt Market Development. Global bond issuance volume increased YoY from USD 6.6 trillion to USD 9.1 trillion in 2024, bolstered by interest rate cuts which lowered borrowing costs and encouraged issuers to capitalise on more favourable financing conditions. In Asia, issuance volume of Asia (Ex-Japan) G-3 bonds increased 40% YoY to USD 224 billion1, driven by improved credit conditions and a recovery in investor confidence. The issuance volumes in Singapore in 2024 reached USD 75 billion2, close to the record issuance volume in 2023, and 15% higher than the average issuance volumes in the past five years...

  

MAS

The Digital Connectivity-Energy Nexus: Asia’s Path to Sustainability, December 2025. Theoretically, digitalization reduces energy consumption by improving energy efficiency through changes in energy use behaviors, ultimately contributing to energy sustainability. However, it may also conversely cause excessive energy consumption if not managed well. Nowadays, digitalization has been widely adopted across Asia, driven in part by the expansion of digital connectivity, impacting not only the economic sector but also various social activities. This development is believed to improve energy efficiency towards energy sustainability in the long-run...

  

ISEAS

Medical Tourism in the Post-Pandemic Era: Experience from Thailand, December 2025. This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on medical tourism in Thailand. Policy enthusiasm in promoting the industry is often boosted by an overestimation of often-cited foreign patient flows. Medical tourism in Thailand is unlikely to exacerbate the brain drain problem in the country as the treatments involved in the medical tourism industry have minimal overlap with those demanded by locals. The entrance of smaller sized service providers in the wellness segment of the industry is expected to continue. This is driving freshly graduated medical doctors into this segment...

  

ISEAS

Trends in Southeast Asia 2026 #2: A Set of Trump Cards for Trump’s Tariffs: Perspectives from Thailand. The United States began imposing tariffs in February 2025, resulting in a clear 19 per cent reciprocal tariff rate for Thailand by August. In return, Thailand is obligated to eliminate tariffs on 99 per cent of US products imported into the country. The US tariff will raise prices for Thai goods, consequently reducing US demand for them. But Thailand’s zero tariff will have two-pronged effects. On the one hand, it will put pressure on Thai farmers and some local producers. On the other, it will lower costs for Thai manufacturers who use US raw materials, potentially boosting their cost competitiveness...

  

ISEAS

Trends in Southeast Asia 2026 #1: Governing Research in Indonesia: Present and Future Challenges. The establishment of Indonesia’s National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) in 2021 was intended to address issues related to Indonesia’s research ecosystem. Officially, BRIN has three mandates: integrate research and innovation resources (human, infrastructure, budget); create an open (inclusive) and collaborative global standard research ecosystem; and establish the foundation for a strong and sustained research and innovation-based economy...

  

ISEAS

Trends in Southeast Asia 2025 #23: Vietnam’s New Industrial Policy Under To Lam. Vietnam’s industrial policy has passed through three phases since the adoption of Doi Moi in 1986: liberalization with ownership bias (1986–2010), failed state-led industrialization (2000s–2010), and strategic neglect (2011–24). Each phase was marked by fragmented implementation and achieved only limited progress in structural industrial transformation. The rise of To Lam as general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 2024 marks a potential inflection point...

  

ISEAS

Trends in Southeast Asia 2025 #22: Batam After Covid: Cross-Border Business as Usual?. Originally established to capture investment spillovers from Singapore, the neighbouring island of Batam has grown into one of Indonesia’s key manufacturing-for-export hubs. Over the past thirty years, Batam’s economy has undergone a structural transformation, and it now houses clusters of electrical and electronics firms, large-scale shipyards, and a wide array of tourism and business travel operators. Involvement by the central government in Batam’s economic management has undeniably aided this rapid development...

  

ISEAS

The Rise of the Organization of Turkic States: Is Turkic Cooperation Filling a Geopolitical Vacuum? December 2025. In October 2025, the Organization of Turkic States (OTS) convened a pivotal summit in Gabala, Azerbaijan, demonstrating its emergence as a significant geopolitical entity on the Eurasian landscape. During the summit, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev emphasized the OTS’s evolution into a key geopolitical center, while Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev referred to it as an authoritative structure uniting Turkic populations. This gathering marks a critical juncture in the organization’s development, solidifying its influence in a region that links the Mediterranean to Central Asia.

  

ISDP

The New Leaders of DPK and PPP: What Will This Mean for Korea’s Political Future, December 2025. South Korean politics is entering a phase of heightened instability marked by intensified polarization, leadership conflicts, and deteriorating institutional trust. The impeachment and removal of President Yoon Suk-yeol and subsequent early presidential election have deepened partisan confrontation rather than easing it. Newly elected party leaders—Jung Cheong-rae and Jang Dong-hyuk—symbolize a shift toward more confrontational, zero-sum politics, driving legislative deadlock and escalating battles over institutional reform...

  

ISDP

Green Transition: Taiwan’s Climate Strategy and Prospects for EU Cooperation, December 2025. Climate change remains a key issue in Taiwan and Europe, despite being undermined by geopolitical conflicts and economic challenges. The average temperature in Taiwan, Europe, and across the world reached record-high levels in 2024. During June and July 2025, Europe experienced recordbreaking heatwaves, with the highest 46°C recorded in Spain and Portugal. These high temperatures not only led to wildfires and drought but also increased sea surface temperatures and sea levels...

  

ISDP

Taiwan’s Sports Diplomacy: Expanding Nation Branding Beyond Politics and Technology, December 2025. Taiwan’s unique position in the international community presents a challenging environment for Taipei to build and sustain relations with other countries. In response to these constraints, Taiwan has developed several innovative approaches to enhance its international image, strengthen its global presence, and deepen connections with like-minded partners. Among these efforts, sports diplomacy, a form of informal diplomacy, has been increasingly valued by Taipei in recent years. The establishment of the Ministry of Sports (MOS) reflects this ongoing trend and Taipei’s intent to leverage sports for diplomatic purposes...

  

ISDP

Latest APEC publications:

  

APEC
Latest ADB Working Paper Series:  

ADB
Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:  

ADB
Latest ADB Publications:  

ADB

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

December 2025

  

 

 

 

  

 

Lowy Institute Asia Power Index: 2025 Key Findings Report. The annual Asia Power Index — launched by the Lowy Institute in 2018 — measures resources and influence to rank the relative power of states in Asia. The project maps out the existing distribution of power as it stands today, and tracks shifts in the balance of power over time. The Index ranks 27 countries and territories in terms of their capacity to shape their external environment — its scope reaching as far west as Pakistan, as far north as Russia, and as far into the Pacific as Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. The 2025 edition is the most comprehensive assessment of the changing distribution of power in Asia to date...

  

Lowy

North Korea’s Two Koreas Policy and Prospects of Inter-Korean Relations, November 2025. This article examines the origins, strategic calculations, and implications behind Kim Jong-un’s 2023 “two Koreas policy,” which redefines South Korea as a “hostile state” and formally abandons the goal of peaceful unification. It traces the policy’s roots to the failure of the 2019 Hanoi summit and Pyongyang’s ensuing foreign policy reorientation, marked by a hardened stance toward the United States, deeper ties with Russia and China, and a public rejection of denuclearization. The article argues that there are three reasons for Kim Jong-un’s policy shift vis-à-vis South Korea...

  

EWC

North of 26 South and the Security of Australia: Views From the Strategist Volume 12, November 2025. The Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre’s latest compendium, North of 26 degrees south and the security of Australia: views from The Strategist, Volume 12, contains articles published in ASPI’s The Strategist over the last six months. Expanding on previous volumes, this edition introduces thematic chapters focused on a range of subjects relevant to northern Australia. These include: 1. Sovereignty and strategic resilience; 2. Building the North; 3. Critical minerals and economic security; 4. Indigenous partnership and agricultural security...

  

ASPI

Pressure Points: Taiwan and the Taiwan Strait, November 2025. Pressure Points part 2 explores Beijing’s growing use of military coercion against Taiwan, detailing events around Asia’s most volatile flashpoint. The analysis draws on open-source data, satellite imagery, military imagery, governmental reporting and other resources to deliver an accurate and comprehensive picture of China’s approach. It examines how Beijing frames its claim to Taiwan, the coercive and military tools it increasingly wields to enforce that claim, how Taipei is responding to mounting pressure, and how other governments are managing the growing risk of confrontation. It also details potential scenarios that President Xi may pursue to forcibly unify Taiwan...

  

ASPI

In Whose Tech We Trust: Part II – Mitigating Foreign Owned, Controlled or Influenced Technology Risks and Building Resilience, November 2025. Foreign ownership, control and influence (FOCI) risks associated with technology vendors have become a significant fault line in the Indo‑Pacific’s strategic, technological and economic landscape. As global technology supply chains have become increasingly concentrated and interdependent, concerns have grown that some foreign vendors may be subject to external direction or legal obligations that could expose national systems to influence, coercion or disruption. Governments across the region face an enduring dilemma: their economies depend on affordable, high‑performing foreign technology...

  

ASPI

In Whose Tech We Trust: Part I – Mapping Indo-Pacific Security Approaches to Foreign Owned, Controlled or Influenced Technology, November 2025. While leading countries in the Indo‑Pacific do fret about a hypertransactional Trump administration, they worry about another superpower when it comes to foreign ownership, control and influence (FOCI) of technology. As China has risen to dominate global manufacturing supply chains, it has flexed its growing national power to assert its interests at the expense of its neighbours, deploying force to press its territorial claims on India, Japan, Taiwan and the South China Sea, and backed up those efforts with economic coercion. But regulating Chinese technology is a tricky balance...

  

ASPI

Allies Entwined: Australia’s Strategic Convergence With the Philippines, November 2025. The Philippines contains vital terrain in maritime Southeast Asia, for the US and its regional allies. The Philippines is also worth defending, in normative terms, as a democracy of approximately 115 million people whose sovereignty is under daily challenge from an expansionist authoritarian power, China, which has fixed the Philippines in its strategic crosshairs. The positional importance of the Philippines coupled with its revived treaty alliance with the US makes it pivotal to deterring aggression against Taiwan and other parts of what US strategists call the First Island Chain...

  

ASPI

Australian Public and Institutional Responses to Taiwan Strait Crises, October 2025. This report addresses the increasing strategic risks and geopolitical tensions surrounding the Taiwan Strait, which have direct and significant implications for Australia’s national security, economic stability, and social cohesion. The Taiwan Strait is no longer a remote concern; it sits at the heart of Australia’s strategic conversations about its future in the Indo-Pacific region. A crisis in the Taiwan Strait could disrupt Australia’s economic trajectory, disrupt key trade routes, impact Australia’s alliance commitments (such as ANZUS and AUKUS)...

  

ASPI

Sea Lines and Strategic Frontiers: The Territory’s Maritime Advantage: Views From the Strategist, October 2025. The Northern Territory is not Australia’s frontier; it is our strategic heart. The Northern Australia Strategic Policy Centre’s latest report, Sea lines and strategic frontiers: The Territory’s maritime advantage – Views from The Strategist, brings together 14 maritime-focused articles published in ASPI’s The Strategist over the past 18 months. With a foreword by The Hon Lia Finocchiaro MLA, Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, and a special introduction by Dr John Coyne and Raelene Lockhorst from ASPI’s National Security Program...

  

ASPI

Unconventional Deterrence in Australian Strategy, October 2025. As Australia prepares its 2026 National Defence Strategy (NDS), the nation must recognise that a window of strategic risk exists now and will do so into the early 2030s. The medium-term acquisition of nuclear-powered, conventionally armed submarines under AUKUS, intended to deter conflict, is irrelevant to the short-term problem of maintaining deterrence through the coming five-year period of heightened risk (2027–2032). That’s because the first AUKUS submarines—US Virginia-class boats—won’t be delivered until 2032, while the purpose-built SSN-AUKUS won’t arrive until the early 2040s. We can’t, in effect, solve a 2027 deterrence problem with a 2032 deterrent capability...

  

ASPI

Trends in Southeast Asia 2025 #21: Malaysia’s Fatwa Institution: Reform or Relic?. Educational trajectories, jurisprudential affiliations and political interests decisively influence the outlooks of individual muftis, often provoking debates and controversies within society. Personal experiences and religious leanings of muftis shape fatwas, and these are subject to critique, sometimes eroding public confidence in both the mufti and the fatwa institution. Sustaining legitimacy requires self-reflection and forward-looking reinterpretation. More studies are needed that examine both past and present muftis, focusing on their backgrounds, political affiliations, theological orientations, contributions to Islamic development, and the structural or situational constraints that circumscribe their authority...

  

ISEAS

Rupture in the India-U.S. Relationship: An Indian Perspective, November 2025. In recent months, India-United States relations have experienced considerable strain. The U.S. President has imposed reciprocal tariffs as well as additional tariffs on India for its Russian oil imports. These abrupt actions have disrupted a bilateral partnership that, over nearly two decades, had grown into one of the world’s most consequential, built on convergences in economic, defense, and technological cooperation as well as shared interests in maintaining a favorable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific region. However, in President Trump’s second term, longstanding areas of divergence have intensified, testing the resilience of the partnership...

  

ISDP

Webinar Report: Maritime Security Governance and the Future Challenges, November 2025. Maritime security in the Indo-Pacific has grown increasingly complex amid rapid technological and geopolitical change. In this context, the Institute for Security & Development Policy (ISDP), in collaboration with Murdoch University’s Indo-Pacific Research Centre (IPRC), convened a lecture by Captain Sarabjeet S. Parmar (Retd), Distinguished Fellow at the Centre for Strategy and Defence Research (CSDR), on the theme Maritime Security Governance and the Future Challenges. This report summarizes Captain Parmar’s presentation and the subsequent discussion, which examined the evolving dynamics of maritime security in the Indo-Pacific...

  

ISDP

Report of the Digital Taiwan Online Lecture Series. Taiwan in Limbo: Challenges and Prospects for Participation in the United Nations System, November 2025. The Stockholm Taiwan Center of the Institute for Security and Development Policy held a webinar for the Digital Taiwan Lecture Series on September 12, 2025, to explore Taiwan’s ongoing struggle to engage the United Nations (UN) system and discuss how current geopolitical dynamics may influence Taiwan’s future participation in the international arena...

  

ISDP

Information Warfare: How Emerging Technologies Threaten Europe and Taiwan, November 2025. The intersection of emerging technologies and disinformation has created unprecedented challenges for democratic societies, particularly in geopolitically sensitive regions like Taiwan and Europe. As artificial intelligence (AI), deepfake technology, computer vision algorithms, and social media algorithms become increasingly sophisticated, the landscape of information warfare has transformed dramatically in recent years...

  

ISDP

Report of the Second Stockholm Forum on Himalaya: Climate Crisis in Tibet, November 2025. The Second Stockholm Forum on Himalaya: Climate Crisis in Tibet, held on October 16, 2025, at Sjöfartshuset in Stockholm, gathered scholars, policymakers, and experts from Europe, Asia, and the Indo-Pacific to spotlight Tibet’s worsening ecological and geopolitical challenges. The Forum’s central message was clear: the Tibetan Plateau, the “Third Pole” that regulates monsoons, river systems, and global weather patterns, must be placed at the center of international climate diplomacy ahead of COP30 in Belém, Brazil...

  

ISDP

Latest APEC publications:

  

APEC
Latest ADB Working Paper Series:  

ADB
Latest ADBI Working Paper Series:  

ADB
Latest ADB Publications:  

ADB

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

November 2025

  

 

 

 

  

 

Monetary Authority of Singapore: Macroeconomic Review, Volume XXIV, Issue 3, October 2025 (Full Report). Singapore’s GDP growth in the first three quarters of 2025 has turned out stronger than earlier expected. The economy’s pace of expansion is projected to moderate as the impact from tariffs become more apparent, though there are other factors that could provide some offsetting support to growth. Inflation is low but should trough in the later part of 2025. MAS Core Inflation is forecast to average 0.5% this year and pick up gradually to 0.5–1.5% in 2026. In October, MAS maintained the prevailing modest rate of appreciation of the S$NEER policy band, with no change to the width and the level at which it is centred.

  

MAS

MAS Survey of Professional Forecasters, September 2025. The September 2025 Survey was sent out on 12 August 2025 to a total of 25 economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore economy. This report reflects the views received from 20 respondents (a response rate of 80%) and does not represent MAS’ views or forecasts.The Singapore economy expanded by 4.4% year-on-year in Q2 2025, exceeding the respondents’ median forecast of 3.0% in the previous survey (Chart 1). In the current survey, the respondents expect the economy to grow by 0.9% year-on-year in Q3 2025...

  

MAS

High Frequency Macroeconomic Forecasts Current Quarter Model: 2025Q4, October 2025. After a 1.2% year-on-year decline in private consumption expenditure in 25Q1, a 1.9% rebound in 25Q2 helped lift Hong Kong’s economic growth to 3.1% for the quarter. However, frequent severe weather disrupted logistics and adversely affected retail and tourism-related activities, with GDP growth expected to slow to 2.7% in 25Q3. The unemployment rate is projected to rise to 3.8% in 25Q4, reflecting more cautious business sentiment amid weakening external demand. While entering a rate-cut cycle is expected to benefit Hong Kong’s economy, persistent US–China trade tensions and uncertainty over the US inflation trajectory leave the pace and scale of Fed rate cuts in doubt, tempering investment and trade growth. Hong Kong’s real GDP growth in 25Q4 is forecast to slow to 2.5%. The economic growth for Hong Kong in 2025 as a whole is projected to be 2.8%, in line with the previously published forecast.

  

HKU

A Pacific Eyes Intelligence-Sharing Agreement, October 2025. The Pacific Islands face cascading difficulties arising from great power competition and a range of overlapping transnational governance, environmental, and technological challenges. The Pacific Islands have become an arena of intensifying geopolitical competition, with Beijing making unprecedented inroads. China’s secretive 2022 security pact with Solomon Islands signalled a new phase, raising fears of a future Chinese military presence in Australia’s immediate neighbourhood. Since then, China has dispatched police advisers across the region, signed an action plan for a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Cook Islands, and increased the frequency of its naval and coastguard deployments in Pacific Island waters...

  

Lowy

Pacific Aid Map, October 2025. The global development landscape faces a moment of profound upheaval as major donors, most notably the United States, sharply cut back on foreign aid. These reductions carry far-reaching consequences, not only for sustainable development in the world’s poorest countries, but also in the contest for influence between China and Western nations. The Pacific Islands face an especially uncertain outlook as the world’s most aid-dependent region, confronting both large development financing gaps and an aid landscape increasingly shaped by geopolitical competition. Against such a backdrop, this eighth edition of the Pacific Aid Map presents five key findings that are critical to understanding the future of development and competition in the region...

  

Lowy

The People’s Liberation Army: Modernised but Still Mistrusted, October 2025. Modernisation is at the core of the mission of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to change the People’s Republic of China (PRC), and beyond—to ‘set off a wave of modernisation in the Global South,’ as China’s paramount leader Xi Jinping has urged. This is all about party control. This naturally incorporates the party’s military arm: the People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Xi has stressed that it means accelerating the PLA’s development into ‘a world-class army’ capable of seizing and holding down Taiwan, which in recent decades the party has insisted is an integral part of the PRC, even though the PRC has never ruled it...

  

ASPI

The Women, Peace and Security Agenda at 25: Views From the Strategist, October 2025. On 31 October, 2000, the United Nations Security Council passed the landmark Resolution 1325 and created the Women, Peace and Security agenda. To commemorate the resolution’s 25th anniversary, ASPI has released this compendium which features a collection of articles published on The Strategist. This series reflects on the progress made since 2000, including the transformative changes in women’s representation across security. More women are performing in combat roles, participating in peace processes and representing their nations in multilateral institutions...

  

ASPI

ASEAN Matters for America/America Matters for ASEAN (7th Edition), October 2025. The 7th edition of ASEAN Matters for America/America Matters for ASEAN covers US relations with the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Topics include: diplomatic and defense ties, trade and investment (with spotlights on the digital economy, agriculture, semiconductor chips, health, and energy and infrastructure sectors), job creation, travel and tourism, student exchanges, ASEAN Americans, and sister relationships. This publication was produced in partnership with the US-ASEAN Business Council and the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.

  

EWC

Vietnam Matters for America / America Matters for Vietnam, October 2025. This project explores the important and multifaceted relationship between the United States and Vietnam at the national, state, and local levels. Part of the Asia Matters for America initiative, this publication and the website AsiaMattersforAmerica.org provide tools for a global audience to explore the growing connections in the US-Vietnam relationship in the 21st century.

  

EWC

Archipelago in the Crossfire: Indonesia Between Washington and Beijing, October 2025. As strategic competition between China and the United States intensifies across the Indo-Pacific, Southeast Asia has become a critical arena of competition. Positioned at the center of this contest is Indonesia, one of the region’s most politically influential countries and a leading member of ASEAN. Given its strategic importance, Jakarta is likely to become a central focus for both Beijing and Washington as they vie to advance their competing interests in the region. Examining Indonesia’s past political relationships with the two leading powers of the Indo-Pacific offers valuable insight into how past interactions may shape Jakarta’s political decision-making in the event of a major regional crisis that might threaten the existing balance of power...

  

ISDP

NATO Engagement in the Indo-Pacific? A Three-Country Case Study: India, Indonesia & the Philippines, October 2025. Notwithstanding some overlap in NATO’s core interests with India, Indonesia, and the Philippines, particularly deterrence and crisis prevention, in its current incarnation, direct NATO cooperation with these three pivotal countries in the Indo-Pacific is difficult to reconcile. The Indo-Pacific strategic landscape and the unpredictability characterizing the second Trump administration make Indo-Pacific partners hedge even more, such that most resident actors oppose any factor or actor that may destabilize the region. This is reflected by India and Indonesia’s disinterest in direct traditional security cooperation with NATO...

  

ISDP

The Dragon in the North: On China’s Arctic Push, October 2025. China’s self-proclamation as a “near-Arctic state” and its recent deployment of icebreakers near Alaska illustrate its growing Arctic push. In response, the United States has reinforced surveillance and naval reconnaissance through Operation Frontier Sentinel, commissioned the heavy icebreaker USCGC Storis, and coordinated NATO patrols across the northern waters. The Arctic giant, Russia, combines militarization with economic development by reviving Soviet-era bases along the Northern Sea Route and testing advanced weaponry while concurrently seeking investors for Arctic energy resources...

  

ISDP

North Korea’s Ascension as a Global Player: Security Implications and Diplomatic Challenges, October 2025. Over the past few years, North Korea has undergone a dramatic transformation from an isolated pariah state to an increasingly influential global actor, reshaping security dynamics in Asia and beyond. Kim Jong Un’s international standing, elevated by the Trump summits of 2018–2019 and then again through Pyongyang’s deepening alignment with Moscow since 2022, has direct security implications that reach far beyond Northeast Asia. These developments demand that the U.S. and its allies adapt their strategies to counter the growing threat posed by Pyongyang. The structural shift in North Korea’s global position carries profound implications, including accelerated North Korean military modernization through Russian support...

  

ISDP

Why the Republic of Korea Matters to the Nordic Countries, September 2025. The global situation is increasingly insecure, with, among others, an unpredictable U.S. isolating itself from traditional allies, a Sino-American geopolitical struggle that threatens to destabilize international affairs. Both the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Nordic states are in this scenario, striving to reestablish collaboration with the U.S while also diversifying their relations to mitigate dangers to their national security by boosting cooperation with like-minded allies. This Asia paper aims to highlight some current areas of cooperation with the intent of emphasizing the importance and compatibility of Nordic-ROK cooperation...

  

ISDP

Trends in Southeast Asia 2025 #20: Re-Examining the Five-Point Consensus and ASEAN’s Response to the Myanmar Crisis. The Five-Point Consensus (5PC) encapsulates ASEAN’s response to the Myanmar crisis precipitated by the military’s seizure of power on 1 February 2021. As criticism about the effectiveness of ASEAN continue to mount, the current chair of the association has proposed the appointment of a “permanent” special envoy by extending its term beyond one year. In addition to revisiting its tenure, ASEAN should also consider providing the special envoy with the necessary political backing, adequate funding and efficient administrative support. More importantly, ASEAN needs to expand its mandate from an exclusive focus on conflict management to conflict resolution...

  

ISEAS

Connected Yet Conflicted: Exploring the Effects of Screen Use on Well-being and Relationships, October 2025. This study examines how screen use relates to well‑being and family dynamics in Singapore, surveying 1,033 parents in Sept–Oct 2024; 517 of these formed matched parent–teenager pairs, plus a booster of 195 lower‑income parents to surface socio‑economic differences: 1) Digital Life Today: Screens are deeply woven into daily routines. On average, teenagers reported 8 hours 21 minutes of screen use per day, while parents averaged 8 hours 44 minutes. Smartphones and computers were the most commonly used devices...

  

IPS

Latest APEC publications:

  

APEC

Asian Development Review, Vol. 42, No. 3, September 2025 (Full Report). This issue explores topics including low-carbon development, progress in addressing stunting, education expansion as a tool for reducing infant and maternal mortality, and the impact of childhood vaccination on human capital formation.

   ADB
Latest ADB Working Paper Series:  

ADB
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ADB
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ADB

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 
 
 

  

 
 

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