Looking at the economic landscape at the start of 2022, one cannot help but notice the emergence of new obstacles to a robust recovery. The United States (US), Europe, China, and others face a growing list of remarkably similar short- and longer-term challenges. The pandemic remains the most immediate concern. Without full global vaccination, new COVID-19 variants will continue to emerge, potentially forcing governments to renew partial or full lockdowns.

The reaction by governments in the Global North to the discovery of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in South Africa has provided further proof – as if any more were needed – of the deeply inequitable response to the coronavirus pandemic. The backlash against African countries was swift and severe, as if barring travellers from the region could somehow keep the rest of the world safe. It hasn’t, and closing borders won’t work when the next frightening variant emerges.

Each time a regional process risks impacting ASEAN’s role in driving the wider regional architecture, ASEAN proponents would warn of ASEAN’s centrality under siege. The formation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement was a case in point.

As the year draws to an end, we looked back at some of the events that have marked the relationship between ASEAN and the European Union.

United States (US) President Joe Biden will host a virtual democracy summit for leaders from government, civil society, and the private sector on 9-10 December 2021 with the themes defending against authoritarianism; addressing and fighting corruption, and promoting respect for human rights as per the statement released on the website of the US State Department. The invitations for the US Democracy Summit are out and more than half of the world was invited while the rest were left ou

Despite dips and disruptions from new variants of COVID-19, 2021 turned out to be a relatively positive year for economies and markets in most parts of the world.

The South China Sea (SCS), one of the most in-demand waterways in the world, is the object of contention of several claimant states with overlapping territorial and maritime sovereignty and sovereign rights claims over the disputed waters. The dispute is still unresolved today and can be dated back to the 1950s.The six-primary claimant states of the contested waters of the SCS are China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei, the Philippines, and Taiwan.

European countries are currently divided over whether to join United States (US) President Joe Biden’s diplomatic boycott of the upcoming Winter Olympics in Beijing. The episode underscores yet again that when it comes to dealing with China, Europe and the US truly are an ocean apart.

When Filipina Hidelyn Diaz won a Gold Medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics – which ended the Philippines’ 97-year Olympic gold medal drought – there was an outburst of exultation, joy, and national pride in the Philippines and among Filipinos all over the world.

This month, the world could have been celebrating the waning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead, vaccine apartheid and restricted production continue to fuel the spread of the coronavirus. A year has passed since the first COVID-19 vaccines were approved, offering hope that humanity could be liberated from this disease. Scientists did their part by creating safe and effective vaccines with unprecedented speed.