Letter From the Editors

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the February 2018 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

Individual decisions, for better or for worse, can reverberate across nations or even around the world, yet the factors driving personal choices often get lost in the broader narrative. Whether beleaguered exiles who champion Chinese democracy abroad, or the Central Asian migrants in Russia who find themselves at the center of a debate on radicalization, the communities that have the most at stake are often overlooked in mainstream discussions. Meanwhile, broad global trends also have their impact on individual nations and their societies, whether that means the rise of “leftism” in Nepal or the arrival of the #MeToo movement in Mongolia. In this issue, we explore the intersection of individuals, societies, and global trends, each a part of the complex story of Asia today.

In our cover story, Han “Harry” Chen, a freelance reporter from China, interviews dozens of members of the Chinese activist-in-exile community, now largely based in New York City. Since its heyday in the immediate aftermath of Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square, the overseas democracy movement has been weighed down by China’s growing economic clout, as well as factionalism and finger-pointing among the activists themselves. Today, as China narrows the space for discussion even more, dissidents overseas are left largely bereft of support at home and abroad.

Next, Nepal-based journalist Peter Gill takes us through the results of Nepal’s 2017 elections. Held in five stages over eight months, Nepalis voted for local, provincial, and national representation in 2017. As the final stage of elections approached last fall, two rival communist parties declared an alliance. Now, with the Left Alliance victorious but not officially merged, the question is how much change the next government can spark in Nepal, a small country often overshadowed by the geopolitical connotations of its position between India and China.

In 2017, a series of terrorist attacks were carried out by Central Asians in Istanbul, St. Petersburg, Stockholm, and New York, bringing a little discussed region to the forefront of international media. Meanwhile, analysts have long noted a pattern: Central Asians who ended up fighting in Syria and Iraq often had lived and worked previously in Russia. Mohammed Elshimi and Raffaello Pantucci, both of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), recently took part in research aimed at explaining the radicalization of a minority of Central Asian labor migrants in Russia.

Finally, Peter Bittner, a journalist based in Ulaanbaatar, examines Mongolia’s reckoning with gender-based violence. Following the West’s #MeToo movement and a national outcry over high-profile sex crimes, activists in Mongolia have sought to urge their fellow citizens to #OpenYourEyes. While the moment and movement have sparked new energy in Ulaanbaatar to address gender-based violence issues, not all Mongolian lawmakers are similarly motivated. “It’s part of our national identity,” one said of domestic abuse.

We hope you enjoy these stories, and the many more within the following pages.