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The RSAA blog publishes new posts every week, covering the whole range of Asian current affairs, culture, travel, exploration and recent history from the Levant to East Asia. Browse our recent posts!
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Forced Labour in Xinjiang: Can Western Companies be Held to Account?
Nick Kenny looks at the scope in national and international law for responses to human rights abuses in Xinjiang As has become routine the last few years, yet again in 2020 we have heard worrying reports concerning China’s alleged mistreatment of its Uyghur population. For several years there have been stories of how Chinese authorities…
Breakthrough or Breakdown: Thailand’s Latest Political Pandemonium
Dr Bijan Omrani, Editor of Asian Affairs, the RSAA Journal, reports on this week’s online expert discussion On 18th November, the Society was addressed online by Dr Paul Chambers of Naresuan University, Thailand. Dr Chambers spoke to the Society directly from Bangkok, just a few streets away from where pro-democracy protests were actively taking place….
After the elections: where next for US/Asia relations?
Dr Bijan Omrani, Editor of the Asian Affairs Journal, reports on this week’s RSAA online expert panel discussion. The day after the US presidential election (Wednesday 4th November, when the final results were still unknown), the RSAA hosted an online panel discussion with four experts on US-Asia policy to discuss what direction the relationship between…
Silence in Hong Kong: a Focused Purpose Achieved
Angus Forsyth responds to Martin Purbrick’s 6 July blog with an alternative view of the imposition of the National Security Law in Hong Kong. As everybody worldwide now knows, we in Hong Kong are now subject to a new Hong Kong Basic Law Schedule 2 Supplemental Enactment by the National People’s Congress of China to…
As silence is imposed, freedom is a whisper in Hong Kong
Martin Purbrick looks at the impact of the Safeguarding National Security law in Hong Kong At 11.00pm on 30 June 2020, Hong Kong people were silenced by the Chinese Communist Party and the concept of One Country Two Systems ended. At that time the new national “Law of the People’s Republic of China on Safeguarding…
In Afghanistan, Coronavirus Threatens More Than a Medical Catastrophe
Rupert Stone looks at the likely impact of coronavirus in Afghanistan and anticipates worrying consequences reaching far beyond the medical challenge On Eid this year, a bizarre scene unfolded in eastern Afghanistan. Government officials, led by the national security advisor, prayed at the grave of former socialist president and secret police chief, Mohammad Najibullah….
China’s Responsibility for the Covid-19 Crisis – Should we be cautious about pursuing it through the courts? – Nick Kenny
Nick Kenny holds a master’s degree from the University of Oxford, and is now studying at the University of Law in LondonThe UK is approaching 40,000 deaths, the USA has passed 100,000, and the world has reached the 350,000 mark. Recession and severe economic downturn seem inevitable, if not already here. Individuals and leaders have…
The Singapore Circuit-Breaker: COVID-19 in a City State
Eleanor Thorp has shared this view of the successes and uncertainties of Singapore’s life with the coronavirus pandemic 24 May 2020 Singapore did not lockdown officially, we embarked upon a circuit breaker. Following a couple of months of global praise for its official response with contact tracing and isolation the key tactics, and relative calm…
Another decade, another aspect of living in the United Arab Emirates – now with the corona virus pandemic – Dr Frauke Heard-Bey
Dr Frauk Heard-Bey, the RSAA’s local Honorary Secretary in Abu Dhabi, offers this picture of the impact of COVID-19 in the United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi, 22 May 2020 The jury is still out on how effectively different countries dealt with the corona virus pandemic. Each and every authority is now looking back to the…
A Letter from Hong Kong – 21 May 2020
As Martin Purbrick (@mtpurbrick) leaves Hong Kong he reflects again on Covid-19 and Hong Kong’s relationship with China. It is difficult to describe the Coronavirus situation in Hong Kong when most people in the city remain preoccupied with the continued downward negative spiral of the political situation. Yet now in Hong Kong the Coronavirus pandemic…
Pakistan’s corona crisis puts Britain’s in perspective
Rupert Stone comments on the impact of Covid-19 in Pakistan While much of Europe and the US remains in varying degrees of lockdown as fatalities from the novel coronavirus continue to rise, Pakistan could be on the verge of a far more devastating crisis. With its huge population of around 220 million (the world’s fifth…
Asian Affairs Journal Special Issue 2020 – Call for Articles: Environment and Social Justice in Asia
Articles are invited for a special issue of the Asian Affairs Journal on the subject of “The Environment and Social Justice in Asia”, to be published in November 2020. Articles covering any field or issue under this heading, including mining, water issues, forestry, manual scavenging, climate change, pollution, wildlife issues, or any other related matter…
A Letter from Hong Kong – 20 April
Martin Purbrick (@mtpurbrick), the RSAA’s honorary local secretary in Hong Kong, continues his commentary on life with Covid-19. Martin is a regular contributor to Asian Affairs 20 April 2020 The Coronavirus in Hong Kong has led to a new normal lifestyle for us all. Bars, pubs, karaoke lounges, massage establishments, bathhouses, mahjong parlours,…
A Letter from Hong Kong
Coronavirus may be keeping us at home, but the RSAA is lucky to have members who can give us views from across Asia. This contribution is from Martin Purbrick (@mtpurbrick), honorary local secretary in Hong Kong. Martin is a regular contributor to Asian Affairs 4 April 2020 The Coronavirus affecting us now is not…
Sir David Akers-Jones GBM KBE CMG
Sir David Akers-Jones, local honorary secretary of the RSAA in Hong Kong, died on 30 September. Martin Purbrick, a regular contributor to Asian Affairs, remembers his life. Â Sir David Akers-Jones, who has died aged 92, lived in interesting times on the south coast of China and was part of some of the key moments in…
Batumi: Marseilles of the Caucasus
Hardly anyone ‘goes to Batumi’. It appears in travel accounts as the gateway to the Caucasus, the last place where you can have the advantages of a port city before you hit the mountains, the last place where you can think twice before you set off for winding roads and precipices. I would have followed…
Cazenove in Vietnam
Paul Cheeseright is a former FT correspondent, and also is a member of the Asian Affairs Editorial Board. Maurice de Cazenove was in his early 20s when he arrived at Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) as a young career officer of Marshal Leclerc’s Expeditionary Corps aiming to reclaim French control of Indochina. He was…
The Return of the Prodigal: A Turk visits Central Asia
Nagihan Haliloglu is an assistant professor at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and a resident of Istanbul. In his introduction to Mehmet Emin Efendi’s 1877 travelogue on Turkestan, Ahmet Mithat Efendi says that anyone interested in Ottoman history and culture ought to visit Central Asia ‘to appreciate how much a tribe that is originally…