ASIA WATCHU.S. Is Losing Ground to China in Southeast Asia | Six Lessons from Ukraine for Japanese Defense Planners | Myanmar on the Frontline of a New Cold War, and more
· Cambodia’s 23 July Elections Won’t Be Free or Fair. Here’s How to Respond
Prime Minister Hun Sen, who has been in power since 1985, controls all the levers of power
· South China Sea: Beijing Builds Research Port in Disputed Waters
Beijing is fortifying its presence by building military bases and civilian settlements on land claimed by at least six other governments
· The U.S. Is Losing Ground to China in Southeast Asia
Over the past five years, Beijing has embarked on a much more assertive military and diplomatic approach in Southeast Asia
· U.S.-Taiwan Relations in a New Era
Responding to a more assertive China
· In a Cross-Strait Scenario, Taiwan’s Semiconductors are Irrelevant
Semiconductor manufacturing is on everyone’s mind—except Beijing’s
· Micronesia as Headline Fodder in the U.S.–China Contest
Being treated as pawns is what many in the Pacific expect from global powers
· Six Lessons from Ukraine for Japanese Defense Planners
Any conflict involving China and the United States is unlikely to be a short one
· Is Myanmar the Frontline of a New Cold War?
How America and China are Reshaping the Burmese Civil War
Cambodia’s 23 July Elections Won’t Be Free or Fair. Here’s How to Respond (Editorial Board, Washington Post)
Cambodia’s July 23 national election was never expected to be free or fair. Prime Minister Hun Sen controls all the levers of power, including the courts and the National Election Committee. Many prominent opposition politicians are in prison or exile. Critical media has been all but silenced with the shuttering of one of the last independent outlets, Voice of Democracy, in February.
But a lopsided win in a rigged parliamentary election is apparently still not enough for Mr. Hun Sen, who has held power since 1985. Last month, Cambodia’s Constitutional Council upheld a decision by the National Election Committee to disqualify the much-diminished primary opposition party, the Candlelight Party. That leaves Mr. Hun Sen’s Cambodian People’s Party on track to win all 125 seats of the National Assembly, mirroring the result of the last such charade in 2018.
Mr. Hun Sen might also have cast an eye warily on neighboring Thailand, where an upstart, reformist opposition party, the Move Forward Party, stunned the political elite by coming in first in parliamentary elections on May 14, driven by a heavy youth turnout and vote. The following day, Cambodia’s National Election Committee disqualified the main opposition party – the Candlelight Party — on the spurious grounds of not having filed the correct paperwork.
South China Sea: Beijing Builds Research Port in Disputed Waters (Didi Tang, The Times)
China is building its first port dedicated to deep-sea research in the South China Sea as the country seeks to cement its claims over disputed waters in the area.
The project broke ground last week in the resort city of Sanya on the island province of Hainan. The China State Shipbuilding Corporation, a state-owned ship-maker, said it would serve the interests of national defense as well as supporting deep-sea experiments.
The port will be the core of the research base, docking experimental vessels and ensuring “highly efficient operations”, the state-owned company said.
Beijing is fortifying its presence by building military bases and civilian settlements — including a hot-pot restaurant, a cinema and a coffee shop — on land claimed by at least six other governments.
