By Orçun Göktürk The 20th Shangri-La Dialogue, held in Singapore from June 2 to 4, revealed important clues about US strategy for NATO expansion in the Asia-Pacific. Originally Chinese, the word Shangri-La means “heaven on earth” or “utopia”. Some have called the meeting “Asia’s Munich Security Summit”. The organizer is the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), a London-based “think ...
Despite its geographical proximity to China, which became the center of the new coronavirus’ spread in early 2020. The virus spread slowly in the region for the first two months of the year, but there has been explosive growth in cases since mid-March. Thailand: royal isolation In October 2019, Thailand was ranked sixth by the WHO in terms of preparedness ...
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte decided to cancel the 1998 agreement with the United States this week, which had granted thousands of US troops the right to legally reside in the country. The decision to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States (VFA) was announced on Tuesday February 11 by his spokesman Salvador Panelo. “The president will not entertain ...
On Monday, January 21, a referendum on autonomy for the Mindanao region was held in the Philippines. Locals voted on whether or not they support the creation of a self-governing region in Mindanao for the island’s Muslim majority region. The results will be announced on January 26, with 2.8 million Muslims already having participated in the referendum. If the referendum ...