SE Asia's Tough Upcoming Elections

Published on May 7, 2018 by Luke Hunt

Four pending general elections have the potential to reshape Southeast Asian political dynamics with the recent slide towards autocracy raising fears that the ballot box will become little more than a tool for entrenching authoritarian power structures. Voters in Malaysia and Timor-Leste will head to the polls on May 9 and 12, respectively. General elections are scheduled for July 29 in Cambodia and are widely expected in Thailand towards the end of this year. Read more. .

Vietnam Hopes for a Free Press

Published on Apr 18, 2018 by Luke Hunt

A free press has been an anathema in Vietnam ever since the communists seized control of the north in 1954 and annexed the south 21 years later. But there are hopes that Hanoi’s rigid control of journalism might ease amid its growing dependency on the West as a bulwark against Beijing’s expanding military reach across the region.That dependency was highlighted by the recent visit by the United States aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson, a show of military strength in Vietnamese waters which coincided with the scrapping of two-term presidencies in China, enabling Xi Jinping to rule for life as paramount leader.Read more..

Closure over Australia's Refugee Deal in Sight

Published on Mar 16, 2017 by Luke Hunt

Issues involving countries as far afield as Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Costa Rica still need resolutionBy Luke HuntClosure for Australia and its controversial Pacific Island refugee camps is finally looming with teams of contractors deployed by the United States kick-starting the resettlement programs amid lingering doubts over hundreds of asylum seekers who could be left behind.A team from the Bangkok-based Resettlement Support Centre East Asia have wrapped-up initial interviews on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea, a month-long process which initiated the first stages in the resettlement of up to 1,250 refugees.Another two teams from the Department of Homeland Security in the US have also arrived on Nauru and Manus to follow-up on those interviews and begin the “extreme vetting”....

Australia Tightens Security as US Vets Refugee

Published on Jan 13, 2017 by Luke Hunt

This article first appeared in The DiplomatBy Luke HuntAustralia has beefed up its maritime and military presence along its northern coastline as part of strengthened efforts to further deter people smugglers while officials from Homeland Security in the United States begin the arduous process of vetting refugees for resettlement under a recent “one-off” agreement with the Obama administration.The six naval Armidale-class ships already deployed to Australia’s north will soon be bolstered by a major fleet support unit, either an ANZAC-class warship or a guided missile frigate.Australia is also expected to send its newest addition, the P-8A Poseidon – a cutting edge surveillance and anti-submarine aircraft – to strengthen existing capabilities like the P3-Orion in guarding maritime approaches to the Australian....

Australia, China: ‘Fear and Greed’

Published on Jun 1, 2016 by Luke Hunt

For more than two decades, Australia has danced a delicate two-step with the United States and its longtime Pacific allies on one hand and a not-so-friendly but big-spending China on the other.It was a split-the-difference approach that raised eyebrows — and blood pressures — from Washington to Tokyo and Seoul to Manila, where the view of Beijing’s designs on the region is colored far more in terms of potential threats than trade-related partnerships.Read more from Luke Hunt in The Washington Times.