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Local Government in Asia

  • Japanese royals pay respects to King Bhumibol

    JAPAN, 2017/03/06 Japanese Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko on Sunday paid their respects to the memory of King Bhumibol Adulyadej during the last leg of a week-long trip that as well took them to Vietnam. Next wrapping up their trip to Vietnam, the emperor and empress flew to Thailand, where the royal family has traditionally maintained close relations with the Japanese imperial family.
  • Security and the meaning of Japan’s constitution

    JAPAN, 2016/11/24 A fundamental revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution has become possible for the initial time since it was promulgated in 1947. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe presently has the opportunity to pursue his long-held desire for constitutional revision next the coalition led by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won the 2016 upper home election. Alongside its junior coalition partner Komeito and two conservative micro parties, Initiatives from Japan and The Party for Japanese Kokoro, the LDP presently holds a two-thirds majority in both houses of the Diet.
  • Lessons for Myanmar in Indonesian politics

    INDONESIA, 2016/11/24 Since becoming the leader of Myanmar’s government in April, Aung San Suu Kyi has often said that her top priority is achieving peace — ending the civil war that has raged in her country since independence in 1948. She has as well stressed the importance of overcoming the poverty that the general people has sunk into during the completed five decades of military policy.
  • Rebalancing Philippine foreign policy

    PHILIPPINES, 2016/11/24 In recent years, the Philippines, with the diplomatic and political support of the United States, has been a leading challenger of China’s historical and territorial claims in the South China Sea. But in an unprecedented turn of events, President Rodrigo Duterte has changed tack, challenging the Philippines’ long-standing alliance with the US while engaging and openly accommodating China as its new partner of choice. This has led a lot of observers to conclude that the Philippines has pivoted towards Beijing at the expense of its time-honoured relations with Washington. But looking beneath the surface suggests that the recent major strategic realignment is a classic domestic–foreign policy issue linkage rooted in US disapproval of Duterte’s anti-drug war that has left thousands dead.
  • India names top diplomat as its new envoy to RI

    INDIA, 2016/01/28 India, the second-most populous country in the world, appointed Nengcha Lhouvum Mukhopadhayay, one of its top diplomats, its new ambassador to Indonesia, the Indian Embassy announced in Jakarta on Wednesday. “Our new ambassador will arrive in Jakarta on Thursday. Ambassador-designate Ms. Nengcha Lhouvum will any minute at this time submit her letter of credentials to President Joko Widodo,” Indian Embassy’s Charge d’ Affaires Manish told The Jakarta Post on Wednesday.
  • What the Osaka elections mean for national politics in Japan

    JAPAN, 2015/12/03 It is rather exceptional in Japan that both the governor of a prefecture and the mayor of a city within that prefecture represent a regional political party.The results of the November 2015 ‘double election’ for the Osaka Prefectural governor and Osaka City mayor are in. The regional Osaka Ishin no Kai candidates won both positions with huge margins, defeating their rivals — including those supported by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and other national political parties. Incumbent governor Ichiro Matsui returned to his four-year term as governor and newcomer and former parliamentarian Hirofumi Yoshimura won the mayoral election. Yoshimura restored the founder of the Osaka Ishin no Kai, Toru Hashimoto, who before as well served as governor of Osaka prefecture. Hashimoto is by no means a conventional Japanese politician. Japanese politicians normally come from a political family, start their political career as a secretary to an established politician or enter politics next retiring as a high-ranking bureaucrat endorsed by a major political party.