Governments across Asia are confronting a new kind of policy challenge — one that’s moving faster than most have ever had to legislate for. The astonishing speed of generative AI development has prompted both excitement and alarm in Asia’s capitals, where the potential for economic growth and national prestige is being weighed against serious questions about risk, regulation, and long-term control. In China, we’ve seen some of the world’s earliest binding regulations on generative AI, with polic...
Jul 14, 2025•45 min•Season 2025Ep. 163
Despite all the talk of trade wars and other tensions, China remains the largest source of international students worldwide. In Australia alone, there are over 125,000 China nationals attending higher education, representing 22% of all international uni students. Needless to say, these large international numbers provide a massive revenue boon for Australia's cash-strapped institutions of higher learning. But what is the experience of Chinese students here in Australia? Given their large numbers...
May 12, 2025•47 min•Season 2025Ep. 162
While Mandarin has long been China's official language, recent policies have accelerated its dominance — often at the expense of minority languages. Despite constitutional protections, a 2020 legislative shift has cast a shadow over the future of minority language education, raising concerns among ethnic minority groups like the Zhuang in southern China and communities in Tibet. Why is China doubling down on Mandarin’s dominance despite its already firm hold? What impact do these language polici...
Mar 25, 2025•54 min•Season 2025Ep. 161
Afghanistan’s Taliban government has been busy appointing ambassadors, courting foreign investment, and participating in global forums, all with the aim of winning international recognition and standing. And it's paid off to a degree: last year China and the UAE both established formal diplomatic ties with the Taliban government, putting stability and economic opportunity ahead of ideological concerns like human rights that have inhibited similar moves by Western nations. Meanwhile, the Afghan p...
Jan 21, 2025•55 min•Season 2025Ep. 160
China's growing influence in Central Asia marks a strategic pivot in its bid to challenge a global order still largely led by the US. Through the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), Beijing is positioning itself as a dominant player in a region long under Russia’s sway. With Moscow’s focus diverted by its war in Ukraine, China is leveraging the moment to deepen ties with Central Asian republics. This strategic expansion serves a dual purpose: securing ...
Dec 12, 2024•38 min•Season 2024Ep. 159
China-Taiwan relations remain tense as Beijing maintains its stance on potential military action to "retake" the island—a position rooted in the unresolved Chinese Civil War (1927-1949). This ideological conflict pitted the Nationalist Party (KMT), which advocated national self-strengthening, against the Communist Party (CCP), which promised socialist revolution and class equality. The war inflicted massive civilian casualties and transformed Chinese society, particularly affecting family struct...
Nov 24, 2024•57 min•Season 2024Ep. 158
The Korean language, once limited to the Korean Peninsula, has experienced a dramatic surge in global popularity due to the rise of K-pop, Korean dramas, and films. Even though this has led to increased enrollment in Korean language courses by both ethnic Koreans and non-Korean learners, achieving fluency remains a significant challenge. For the Korean diaspora worldwide, maintaining their linguistic heritage poses unique difficulties because as new generations emerge, the use of Korean as the p...
Oct 31, 2024•49 min•Season 2024Ep. 157
China's maritime aggression towards the Philippines has been escalating, with the China Coast Guard now ramming Philippine naval vessels in disputed waters. This has put intense pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to defend the archipelagic nation's maritime territory against a superior force. Despite efforts by the current and past administrations to address China’s incursions into the Philippines' exclusive economic zone (EEZ), Beijing continues to expand its territorial claims in viola...
Oct 17, 2024•45 min•Season 2024Ep. 156
As East Asian countries like Japan, China and South Korea experience rapid population ageing due to declining fertility rates and increasing life expectancy, the demographic shift in the land of the living is having a parallel impact on what happens after life. Deathcare -- which encompasses post-death services, products, policy, and governance -- is changing too. Rapid urbanisation has disrupted long-observed burial practices and post-death rituals, while smaller family sizes and a jump in one-...
Sep 24, 2024•58 min•Season 2024Ep. 155
The rivers of the Eastern Tibetan Plateau, a lifeline for hundreds of millions of people across Asia, are a hotbed of geopolitical tension. A history of colonialism, border disputes, and competing interests has made present-day transboundary governance exceptionally challenging, as national governments, non-state actors, international organisations, and local communities vie for influence. Heated negotiations over managing the rivers, including plans for dams and other water infrastructure, impa...
Sep 10, 2024•49 min•Season 2024Ep. 154
More than a quarter century since landmark democratic reforms, Indonesia's labor movement remains surprisingly subdued. Workers continue to face low wages, poor working conditions, and laws that put employers first, as efforts to organize labor remain encumbered by a mix of nationalist and religious rhetoric, government policy, and the rise of the gig economy. So what will it take to significantly improve workers' ability to organize and fight for their rights? And what are their chances of a be...
Aug 27, 2024•50 min•Season 2024Ep. 153
South Korea has a reputation for very long work hours. Despite laws limiting the working week to 40 hours, overtime is rampant, fueled by a culture of "more is better." This relentless pace has resulted in overwork-related deaths and has played a part in South Korea having the world's lowest fertility rate. At the same time, the tradition of lifetime employment is fading, exacerbating job insecurity for many. So how did a work culture that puts such pressure on workers come to be? How can South ...
Aug 12, 2024•51 min•Season 2024Ep. 152
While Narendra Modi was able to secure a historic third term as India's Prime Minister in recent elections, he no longer enjoys presiding over an outright parliamentary majority by his party, the BJP. Instead, Modi is now forced to rely on alliance partners, who will likely bristle at his autocratic leadership style and his party's Hindu-nationalist agenda. Yet, Modi will have to find a way to address India's serious policy challenges, which include persistent inflation, the need to find tens of...
Jul 15, 2024•47 min•Season 2024Ep. 151
With escalating military conflict between Myanmar's ruling junta and various ethnic armed organisations (or EAOs) in recent months, China is pursuing a delicate balancing act along their shared 2200 km border, juggling its economic interests, security concerns, and regional reputation. While Beijing has traditionally supported the junta, recent events have signalled the limits of such backing as the regime appears to weaken. In Northern Shan State, a region with a rich tapestry of ethnic groups ...
Jul 01, 2024•52 min•Season 2024Ep. 150
Undersea cables underpin global communication and the digital economy, with between 95-99% of data for international banking, e-commerce, video calls, and intelligence sharing travelling via these largely hidden transoceanic routes. However, this critical multi-billion-dollar infrastructure faces increasing risks from shipping accidents, natural disasters, geopolitical tensions, and sabotage threats. Meanwhile, in the Indo-Pacific region US-China tech competition is leading to a fragmented cable...
Jun 18, 2024•49 min•Season 2024Ep. 149
Almost four decades since Vietnam abandoned Marxist central planning in favour of market socialism, Vietnam is now well integrated in the global supply chain and is an important manufacturing hub for labour-intensive industries like textiles, electronics, and even automobiles. The economic expansion -- powered by foreign investment and exports -- has reshaped Vietnam's labour market, creating higher-skilled jobs but also challenges like wage stagnation and worker abuse. For all the fanfare over ...
Jun 05, 2024•56 min•Season 2024Ep. 148
For the nearly eight decades since its founding, Pakistan has struggled to find a balance between civilian democratic governance and the power wielded by its armed forces. The military has directly ruled the country for almost half of its existence through coups d’etat and martial law. Even during periods of civilian rule, its influence has loomed large, often described as a "state within a state." The result has been a democracy where no prime minister has ever completed a five-year term. So wh...
May 20, 2024•53 min•Season 2024Ep. 147
For decades, Iran has skillfully employed a network of proxy militant groups across the broader Middle East to project power and advance its interests, while maintaining an impression of plausible deniability on the global stage. At its core lies a "forward defence" strategy: pushing away or pre-empting threats from Iranian soil. Yet while this approach prioritises security, it also carries risks. As conflict in the region has intensified in recent months with the Israel-Gaza war, we ask how muc...
May 03, 2024•55 min•Season 2024Ep. 146
Straddling the boundaries of Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan, the Baloch people have long endured as a distinct ethnic group whose aspirations have been overshadowed by the ambitions of larger state actors. In Balochistan, in Pakistan's west, Baloch ethno-nationalist assertions of identity have long driven protests and petitioning directed at Islamabad -- occasionally taking the form of militant insurgencies. Added to the mix are tensions arising from the Beijing-backed China-Pakistan Economic C...
Apr 11, 2024•47 min•Season 2024Ep. 145
Indonesia, the world's third largest democracy, has elected Prabowo Subianto to be its next president in a sweeping victory. Yet, Prabowo, who enjoyed substantial support from Indonesia's young voters, is a controversial figure with a reputation marred by human rights violations, a history of anti-democratic rhetoric, and ties to the authoritarian regime of Suharto (1967-1998). So what can Indonesia expect after Prabowo assumes his country's highest office in October? Will he pursue a stance of ...
Mar 20, 2024•46 min•Season 2024Ep. 144
Malaysian society stands at a crossroads as ethnic tensions simmer, fueled by fiery rhetoric and a rise in Malay nationalism. Recent elections exposed a divided democracy, with populists pushing an agenda that strains the nation's multicultural fabric. Despite the absence of actual violence, social media is amplifying hate speech that paints minorities as threats, thus widening the rift between the Malay majority and other ethnic groups. What's behind this ethno-nationalist trend in Malaysian po...
Mar 04, 2024•52 min•Season 2024Ep. 143
China's Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), proposed by President Xi Jinping in 2023, aims to reshape global governance by emphasising mutual respect between civilizations and common human values. While it ostensibly appears to embrace diversity, some analysts argue that it primarily serves China's own interests by reshaping international norms in favour of authoritarian regimes. The GCI is part of a trio of multilateral initiatives, including the Global Development Initiative and the Global S...
Feb 13, 2024•45 min•Season 2024Ep. 142
Despite China's official stance that reunification with Taiwan is non-negotiable, the perspectives of mainland Chinese writers, filmmakers, and television producers who have lived on the island are often far more nuanced. How have these artists reconciled their ties to the mainland with their experiences in Taiwan? What distinguishes the works of those who fled the mainland at the end of the Chinese Civil War from those who arrived in Taiwan decades later? Historian and translator Dr. Craig Smit...
Jan 23, 2024•56 min•Season 2024Ep. 141
With the return of the El Niño weather pattern after a three-year hiatus, several Southeast Asian nations are preparing for the resurgence of the hazardous haze caused by peatland fires in Indonesia. Indonesia’s 24 million hectares of tropical peatlands – the largest holding worldwide – support vital biodiversity and carbon storage. However, agricultural expansion and drainage for oil palm and pulpwood plantations pose severe threats to these ecosystems. These activities release vast amounts of ...
Dec 11, 2023•45 min•Season 2023Ep. 140
As India’s diaspora continues to expand in Western nations, what are the implications of caste identity, and the discriminatory practices that accompany it, for corporate managers? Despite being prohibited by law in India, cultural norms and social practices have allowed caste-based discrimination to persist. The over-representation of higher caste Indians in leadership positions abroad has correlated with a sharp rise in caste discrimination in Western workplaces, leading some local US jurisdic...
Nov 23, 2023•59 min•Season 2023Ep. 139
China’s ambitious push into the Pacific Islands through infrastructure investments and loans has raised concerns about its grand strategy and geopolitical goals for nearby middle powers such as Australia. Meanwhile, Beijing's recent security deal with Solomon Islands plus its attempt to strike a larger deal with ten other island nations has prompted Australia to reaffirm its commitment to the region. So, what's been the real trade-off for the island nations caught up in China's Pacific aspiratio...
Nov 08, 2023•48 min•Season 2023Ep. 138
Myanmar is in the midst of a humanitarian crisis dating back to the military coup of February 2021, which toppled the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and triggered a massive popular uprising that has been met with a brutal junta-led crackdown on protesters and the civil disobedience movement. Thousands of civilians have been killed, thousands more detained and tortured, and severe restrictions have been imposed on internet access, media freedom, and civil liberties. All this on top of an ...
Oct 22, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Season 2023Ep. 137
With a history of conflict with large powers such as China and the United States, Vietnam now pursues a carefully calibrated foreign policy of multi-alignment and hedging to balance its strategic interests. The Southeast Asian nation has been working towards greater economic integration into global markets, yet it’s also using active diplomacy, seeking an expanded network of partners, to offset China's military and economic might. So, how well is Vietnam's approach working to safeguard or assert...
Oct 04, 2023•45 min•Season 2023Ep. 136
Although the rising popularity of the political far-right in Western liberal democracies has shifted Australia’s security gaze away from Islamic terrorism, two decades of terrorism countermeasures has left scars on Muslim communities down under and elsewhere. So how has living under the yoke of the War on Terror influenced how Muslims see themselves and their place in Western societies? What impact has this environment of suspicion and fear had on the generation of young Muslims who came of age ...
Sep 17, 2023•54 min•Season 2023Ep. 135
With the housing sector on the brink, high youth unemployment and slower than desired GDP growth, 2023 is shaping up to be an annus horribilis for China’s economy. Since many of its current economic woes are due to the lingering effects of its zero-COVID policy, it should come as no surprise that Western media are portraying this state of affairs as the consequence of overreach by Xi Jinping and the authoritarian Chinese Communist Party. However, the reality of the complex relationship between t...
Aug 30, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Season 2023Ep. 134
