Newly appointed Prime Minister of Japan, Yoshihide Suga certainly understands the political importance of continuity, especially in Southeast Asia. Suga recently made a first stop in Hanoi, Vietnam and continued on to his second visit in the region to Jakarta, Indonesia. Both these Southeast Asian countries are seen as key to Japan's “free and open Indo-Pacific,” strategy. There are other reasons for Suga to visit these two countries as well.

The world economy has risen from the depths of the initial COVID-19 plunge. But the recovery has been tepid, uneven, and fragile – and is likely to remain so for the foreseeable future.Start with the good news.

When I was governor of Hong Kong, one of my noisiest critics was Sir Percy Cradock, a former British ambassador to China.

In this exclusive interview for The ASEAN Post, Francesco Alberti speaks to His Excellency, Igor Driesmans, the European Union (EU) representative to ASEAN to discuss the relationship between the EU and ASEAN and the trade bloc’s role in today’s ever changing and increasingly polarised world.What Is The Current State Of The EU-ASEAN Relationship?“I would call the relationship excellent.”The EU stands out in several ways among the ASEAN dialog partners.

The confrontation between China and the West is escalating almost daily. The conflict is about technology, trade, global market share, and supply chains, but also about fundamental values. Underpinning this economic and ideological competition is the goal of global predominance in the 21st century. But why is the current escalation happening now? It is not as though the West suddenly had some epiphany about the implications of China’s rise.

In a move aimed at strengthening the relationship between Japan and ASEAN and promoting the digitalization of trade procedures, the Japanese government and a consortium of 20 of the country’s largest companies have announced the introduction of a digital platform to manage and integrate trade transaction information.

The World Trade Organization (WTO) is in the news mostly for the wrong reasons nowadays. Many people regard it as an ineffective policeman of an outdated rulebook that is unsuited for the challenges of the 21st-century global economy. And WTO members generally agree that the organisation urgently needs reforming in order to remain relevant.Recent months have brought further challenges.

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement released earlier this week that it has notified ASEAN countries that it had completed the legal procedures to amend the First Protocol of the ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCEP). The original partnership took effect in 2008 and was Japan’s first multilateral trade agreement. The first protocol was signed by Japan in February 2019 and in March and April of the same year by the ASEAN member states.

Beijing and Washington need to resume strategic communications, a senior Chinese government advisor said Thursday, noting relations were "very unsatisfactory" and that the coronavirus had hit the implementation of their trade deal.United States (US)-China tensions have been rising this year since the signing of a partial trade deal in January, with officials swapping barbs over the origin of the pandemic - which first surfaced in central China and has since ravaged the global econom

The conclusion of text-based negotiations for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) in November 2019 paves the way for the economies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to strengthen their economic integration with five of its dialogue partners, namely Australia, the People’s Republic of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and New Zealand.