Ear to Asia
News & Politics
About
On Ear to Asia, we talk with Asia experts to unpack the issues behind news headlines in a region that is rapidly changing the world. Ear to Asia is produced by Asia Institute, the Asia research specialists at the University of Melbourne, Australia. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Episodes
- Compound Capitalism: Inside Southeast Asia's Fraud Factories
Across Southeast Asia, vast compounds have emerged as the nerve centers of large-scale online fraud, run by transnational crime syndicates with links to ethnic Chinese networks. Their targets are ordinary people across Asia and beyond, ens…
- How are rice farmers faring in the Philippines?
Rice is more than a staple in the Philippines — it’s a measure of well-being and security. But decades of government policies built around industrial-scale production have struggled to deliver self-sufficiency in a country where rice farmi…
- Can India maintain strategic autonomy in the Trump 2.0 era?
While shared anxieties over China have brought India and the United States closer, President Donald Trump’s second-term tariffs and tougher immigration rules have injected fresh strain into the relationship. The pressure on New Delhi to cu…
- Indonesia under Prabowo—promises, protests, and power
A year into his presidency, Prabowo Subianto stands at a pivotal moment in Indonesia’s political journey. Elected on promises of both continuity and change, his government has faced unrest in the streets, the dismissal of a long-serving fi…
- Navigating East Asian names in a Western world
For many East Asians living in Western societies, the first challenge they face is their own name — mispronounced in classrooms, simplified in workplaces, or changed altogether to fit in. Behind these small acts lie deeper questions of ide…
- Profit, Politics, and the Future of Indonesia's Rainforests
Indonesia’s 17,000-plus islands boast the world’s third-largest tropical rainforest, home to endangered species and Indigenous communities, and a vital shield against climate change. Yet in 2024, the country lost 261,000 hectares of forest…
- How governments in Asia juggle the pros and cons of AI
Governments across Asia are confronting a new kind of policy challenge — one that’s moving faster than most have ever had to legislate for. The astonishing speed of generative AI development has prompted both excitement and alarm in Asia’s…
- How Chinese international students navigate their experience in Australia
Despite all the talk of trade wars and other tensions, China remains the largest source of international students worldwide. In Australia alone, there are over 125,000 China nationals attending higher education, representing 22% of all int…
- Can ethnic minority languages co-exist with Mandarin in China?
While Mandarin has long been China's official language, recent policies have accelerated its dominance — often at the expense of minority languages. Despite constitutional protections, a 2020 legislative shift has cast a shadow over the fu…
- The risks and rewards of engaging with Afghanistan's Taliban government
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has been busy appointing ambassadors, courting foreign investment, and participating in global forums, all with the aim of winning international recognition and standing. And it's paid off to a degree: last…
- Why Central Asia is key to unlocking China's global ambitions
China's growing influence in Central Asia marks a strategic pivot in its bid to challenge a global order still largely led by the US. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Beijing is po…
- The Chinese Civil War's lingering shadow over modern China
China-Taiwan relations remain tense as Beijing maintains its stance on potential military action to "retake" the island—a position rooted in the unresolved Chinese Civil War (1927-1949). This ideological conflict pitted the Nationalist Par…
- The Korean language abroad: Who's learning it and why?
The Korean language, once limited to the Korean Peninsula, has experienced a dramatic surge in global popularity due to the rise of K-pop, Korean dramas, and films. Even though this has led to increased enrollment in Korean language course…
- Troubled Waters: The Philippines' Maritime Standoff with China
China's maritime aggression towards the Philippines has been escalating, with the China Coast Guard now ramming Philippine naval vessels in disputed waters. This has put intense pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend the arch…
- Demography and deathcare in a changing East Asia
As East Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea experience rapid population ageing due to declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy, the demographic shift in the land of the living is having a parallel impact on wh…
- Trickle-down tensions: The hydropolitics of transboundary river systems in Asia
The rivers of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people across Asia, are a hotbed of geopolitical tension. A history of colonialism, border disputes, and competing interests has made present-day transbounda…
- Is Indonesia's labor movement stuck in neutral?
More than a quarter century since landmark democratic reforms, Indonesia's labor movement remains surprisingly subdued. Workers continue to face low wages, poor working conditions, and laws that put employers first, as efforts to organize…
- Searching for work-life balance in South Korea
South Korea has a reputation for very long work hours. Despite laws limiting the working week to 40 hours, overtime is rampant, fueled by a culture of "more is better." This relentless pace has resulted in overwork-related deaths and has p…
- What to watch for in India during Narendra Modi's third term as prime minister
While Narendra Modi was able to secure a historic third term as India's Prime Minister in recent elections, he no longer enjoys presiding over an outright parliamentary majority by his party, the BJP. Instead, Modi is now forced to rely on…
- How China safeguards its interests amid conflict in Myanmar
With escalating military conflict between Myanmar's ruling junta and various ethnic armed organisations (or EAOs) in recent months, China is pursuing a delicate balancing act along their shared 2200 km border, juggling its economic interes…
- The geopolitics of undersea cables in the Indo-Pacific
Undersea cables underpin global communication and the digital economy, with between 95-99% of data for international banking, e-commerce, video calls, and intelligence sharing travelling via these largely hidden transoceanic routes. Howeve…
- As Vietnam scales the global value chain, what does it mean for its workers?
Almost four decades since Vietnam abandoned Marxist central planning in favour of market socialism, Vietnam is now well integrated in the global supply chain and is an important manufacturing hub for labour-intensive industries like textil…
- The outsized influence of the military in Pakistan’s politics
For the nearly eight decades since its founding, Pakistan has struggled to find a balance between civilian democratic governance and the power wielded by its armed forces. The military has directly ruled the country for almost half of its…
- Iran’s strategy of outsourcing warfare in the Middle East
For decades, Iran has skillfully employed a network of proxy militant groups across the broader Middle East to project power and advance its interests, while maintaining an impression of plausible deniability on the global stage. At its co…
- What China's ambitions in Pakistan mean for Baloch aspirations and identity
Straddling the boundaries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, the Baloch people have long endured as a distinct ethnic group whose aspirations have been overshadowed by the ambitions of larger state actors. In Balochistan, in Pakistan's we…
- How will Indonesia fare under new president Prabowo Subianto?
Indonesia, the world's third largest democracy, has elected Prabowo Subianto to be its next president in a sweeping victory. Yet, Prabowo, who enjoyed substantial support from Indonesia's young voters, is a controversial figure with a repu…
- As ethnic tensions rise, is there any real prospect of an inclusive Malaysia?
Malaysian society stands at a crossroads as ethnic tensions simmer, fueled by fiery rhetoric and a rise in Malay nationalism. Recent elections exposed a divided democracy, with populists pushing an agenda that strains the nation's multicul…
- China wants to remake global governance – is the world ready for it?
China's Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2023, aims to reshape global governance by emphasising mutual respect between civilizations and common human values. While it ostensibly appears to embrace d…
- Taiwan through the eyes of mainland Chinese writers and filmmakers
Despite China's official stance that reunification with Taiwan is non-negotiable, the perspectives of mainland Chinese writers, filmmakers, and television producers who have lived on the island are often far more nuanced. How have these ar…
- How the future of Indonesia's peatlands will shape climate change
With the return of the El Niño weather pattern after a three-year hiatus, several Southeast Asian nations are preparing for the resurgence of the hazardous haze caused by peatland fires in Indonesia. Indonesia’s 24 million hectares of trop…
- Managing caste discrimination in the workplace
As India’s diaspora continues to expand in Western nations, what are the implications of caste identity, and the discriminatory practices that accompany it, for corporate managers? Despite being prohibited by law in India, cultural norms a…
- China's Pacific push: Assessing the impact on island nations
China’s ambitious push into the Pacific Islands through infrastructure investments and loans has raised concerns about its grand strategy and geopolitical goals for nearby middle powers such as Australia. Meanwhile, Beijing's recent securi…
- Aid under fire: The dilemmas facing humanitarian actors in strife-torn Myanmar
Myanmar is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis dating back to the military coup of February 2021, which toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered a massive popular uprising that has been met with a brutal junta-led…
- Vietnam's balancing act with powers great and near
With a history of conflict with large powers such as China and the United States, Vietnam now pursues a carefully calibrated foreign policy of multi-alignment and hedging to balance its strategic interests. The Southeast Asian nation has b…
- The legacy of the War on Terror for Muslims in the West
Although the rising popularity of the political far-right in Western liberal democracies has shifted Australia’s security gaze away from Islamic terrorism, two decades of terrorism countermeasures has left scars on Muslim communities down…
- Minding Xi’s business: How commercial enterprises navigate China’s political landscape
With the housing sector on the brink, high youth unemployment and slower than desired GDP growth, 2023 is shaping up to be an annus horribilis for China’s economy. Since many of its current economic woes are due to the lingering effects of…
- How do Cambodia’s ever closer ties with China affect Southeast Asia?
Cambodia has for decades been aligning itself ever closer to China, with substantial economic and political consequences for the Southeast Asian nation – and with geopolitical implications for its neighborhood and beyond. China's economic…
- India's long and winding road to affordable and accessible healthcare
India faces a daunting task in providing adequate healthcare for its 1.4 billion people. While it can boast world-class hospitals and skilled medical staff, there remain stark disparities in healthcare access and quality, particularly in r…
- What Erdoğan’s staying power means for the future of Türkiye
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's victory in Türkiye’s 2023 presidential election extends his two-decade reign by another 5 years yet raises important questions about the country's domestic politics. Despite his handling of a struggling economy and t…
- Gauging the health of democracy in the Philippines under Bongbong Marcos
As Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr begins his second year as president of the Philippines, how is his administration impacting the lives of ordinary Filipinos? The controversial term of Marcos’ immediate predecessor Rodrigo Duterte was mark…
- Why Taiwan leads the rest of Asia in recognising LGBTQ+ rights
In May 2019, Taiwan broke barriers by legalizing same-sex marriage, becoming the first in Asia to do so. While the enormous efforts of activists — coupled with the progressive mindset of Taiwanese youth — were instrumental in achieving thi…
- All at sea: Contending with maritime disputes in the South China Sea and beyond
While China asserts its right to some 90% of the South China Sea, its claims variously overlap and conflict with those of Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, and the Philippines -- themselves no strangers to past maritime disputes. In fa…
- How a Taliban-ruled Afghanistan affects security in the region
Since the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan in August 2021, the harboring of extremist or terrorist groups, continued high numbers of displaced Afghans, and ramped up production of opium for export are key concerns for neighboring n…
- Policing political discourse in Malaysia
In Malaysia, the 3 “R”s — race, religion, and royalty — are considered politically sensitive topics, and despite constitutional guarantees of freedom of speech, the state has passed laws that restrict their discussion, both online and off.…
- How Australia's future depends on better understanding Asia
There's no question that Australia is tightly bound to Asia. Indonesia is a close neighbor, China is its most important trading partner, and India and Japan are its strategic partners. While prioritizing Asia-focused education would thus s…
- Policy reversals and political impact in China
China's government has made significant policy shifts in recent months, including lifting the zero-covid policy, loosening credit regulations for real estate development, and a less strident tone in international relations. These changes s…
- The future of Taiwan-China relations: Is the status quo the best option?
In Taiwan, the victory in Taipei's 2022 mayoral election of Chiang Wan-an, the Kuomintang (KMT) candidate and purported great grandson of former strongman Chiang Kai Shek, has sparked debate about the future of the island's relationship wi…
- Singing songs of rebels, rice and romance in China’s lower Yangtze Delta
The Yangtze, Asia's longest river, flows through China's wealthiest region, the lower delta, which includes the metropolis of Shanghai. Sadly, the unique traditional cultures and epic folk songs of this region have all but succumbed to the…
- A changed Hong Kong under China’s national security law
In 2020, Beijing imposed a national security law on Hong Kong after months of mass protests, resulting in the prosecution and conviction of many activists and journalists. China introduced the law despite their 1997 agreement with the outg…
- Who wants to be Indonesia’s next president?
Although Indonesia's presidential elections take place in February 2024, it's already game on for the lineup of presidential hopefuls, and the nation's political machine is already in high gear. So who are the big names throwing their hats…