Governance

Foreign policy bloggers and pundits are already gushing forth with advice for President-elect Obama. Allow me to add some of my own, at least as far as Asia policy is concerned.

Here we go again. Less than a year after Abe Shinzo stunned supporters with a sudden resignation from office, Japanese Prime Minister Fukuda Yasuo has decided to do the same. Fukuda blamed a divided Diet, plummeting approval ratings, and a desire to avoid a political vacuum for his decision to step down. It’s an odd move, although one very much in keeping with Fukuda’s character.

So far, events have proven the optimists to be correct.  The dialogue between Taiwan's Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) and the PRC's Associations for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS) has resumed.  As the basis, the Taiwan side only pledged adherence to the "1992 consensus," and Beijing did not object to President Ma Ying-jeou's forumulation of this phrase, even t

After years of blissful ignorance, the world woke up to the situation in Myanmar last year, when her people, led by monks, took to the streets to protest the military junta that has ruled with an iron fist for more than 40 years. The junta responded swiftly and the rebellion was crushed. Even the monks, so revered in Burmese society, were not spared.

TAIPEI.

It is an accepted wisdom that in international relations every nation pursues its own national interest. This notion is based on state sovereignty, the basis of relations between states since the Treaty of Westphalia in 1648.

The May 4 referendum in Bolivia's Santa Cruz region to approve an autonomy statute highlights the deep lack of consensus that permeates Bolivian politics and society. Under its terms, the statute establishes Santa Cruz as an “autonomous department” within Bolivia with many of the rights and privileges normally reserved for a national government.

The Maoist victory in Nepal's April 10 elections came as a shock to many observers in Nepal, India, and the United States. They will now head a minority government tasked with both writing the new constitution and running the country.