Letter from the Editors

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the Diplomat Magazine’s third year. This letter is a new feature and one through which we, your humble Editors, hope to explain some of our thinking when putting each issue together.

As 2016 taught us, forecasting is dangerous business, and we don’t go as far as asking our writers to predict what 2017 will hold in the cover story – that is a fool’s quest. Instead, we’ve asked them what to watch for in the coming year. What should we pay attention to in Asia? Unsurprisingly, most mention the incoming U.S. administration – led by Donald Trump – as a potentially dangerous source of uncertainty. Present regional anxiety highlights how transient the U.S. “pivot to Asia” under Barack Obama may prove to have been.

In our first lead story, Jenny Hayward-Jones, a nonresident fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, explores the shifting international dynamics in the Pacific Islands region. Most often, states like Fiji, Tuvalu, and Samoa are referenced in international media in relation to global warming. As important as that topic is – to the Pacific Island states and the world  – there is more going on in the south Pacific than rising oceans. Hayward-Jones discusses the diplomatic and security forces at play in the region, highlighting not only growing Chinese aid and investment but the interests driving Pacific Island states to pursue diplomatic diversification.

In August 2017, ASEAN will mark its 50th anniversary. In our second lead story, Termsak Chalermpalanupap, a fellow at ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore who previously served at the ASEAN Secretariat in Jakarta for nearly 20 years, provides an excellent primer on the organization’s history. ASEAN’s roots, formed in the heat of the 1960s’ anti-communism, have nonetheless expanded to bring together an astounding array of states: from democracies in Indonesia and the Philippines to communist Vietnam and the near-absolute monarchy of Brunei. ASEAN’s centrality isn’t a given and the states have found it difficult to forge consensus at times, but the organization's low profile belies the array of summits and forums it has spawned and the role such routinized gatherings have in sustaining regional peace.

Our final lead story heads to the streets of New Delhi, which experienced record-breaking smog in early November, as it does nearly every winter. Soma Basu, a journalist based in New Delhi, details India’s massive pollution problem and the government’s inability to manage it effectively. A confluence of natural and human phenomena conspired to choke the population of New Delhi  and various levels of the Indian government fumbled both preparation and response. Pollution – both its causes and potential solutions – is a deeply complex matter and one the powers-that-be seem completely inept at managing.

You’ll find these stories and much, much more in the following pages. We hope it helps you understand what’s going on in Asia and prepares you for what promises to be another wild year.

Sincerely,
The Editors