Asialink Insights

“If we don’t clear up the virus of lies, facts won’t hit our citizens.”

When it comes to press freedom in Asia, the ‘new normal’ increasingly looks a lot like the past. Veteran correspondent and journalism professor, Keith B. Richburg, surveys the state of the media in the region and finds a familiar picture – the return of tactics used in a previous era of authoritarian regimes to control the message.

Following the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) on 28 July, senior adviser to Asialink and former ambassador to Washington, John McCarthy, argues our strengthening alliance with the US does not preclude building closer relations with Asia, including a potential modus vivendi with China.

Amid a once-in-a-century pandemic that has closed borders and deflated economies, two of Australia’s most senior cabinet ministers flew to Washington for the Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) on 28 July. Ministers and foreign affairs and defence chiefs were to undergo two weeks of quarantine on return to Australia. In an era when G20 meetings and leaders’ summits have taken place by video link, Michael Wesley asks what is so compelling about these talks that justifies chewing up three weeks of two senior ministers’ time?

Must we talk only about the U.S. and China? Have other states in our region no agency? Are there no positive scenarios? Tony Milner and Astanah Abdul Aziz have identified some optimism regarding a possible regional role for ASEAN.

The future of political and legal rights in Hong Kong has become central to the rivalry between the US and China. While for some the issue is purely one of power and realpolitik, respected Hong Kong observer Prof. Sonny Lo argues there are deeper currents at work – a clash between two culturally-distinct political systems that is likely to condemn Hong Kong to many years of turmoil.

Hong Kong has a new ‘Party Secretary’, a new all-powerful government agency, and a new basis to charge the opposition as terrorists. The National Security Law effectively replicates in Hong Kong the same Party and government structure that exists in the rest of China, writes Hong Kong-based lawyer and writer Antony Dapiran – and the implications are profound.