In this issue

In October 2019, the 2nd International Forum on China and World Order was held in Beijing. For the cover package of this issue of Global Asia, we commissioned a number of pieces from that forum under the co-editorship of Chu Yun-han and Yang Guangbin to explore the issue of China’s efforts to establish a new world order. We didn’t count on the outbreak of Covid-19, but the pieces we’ve assembled here are updated to include that context in elucidating the topic of a new, Beijing-led world order.
Elsewhere in this issue of Global Asia, our Debate section looks at the risks to Hong Kong of Beijing’s new national security law for the city.
In our Features section, we examine how the latest conflict between China and Vietnam in the South China Sea draws attention to the importance to Hanoi of developing a sea-based, or blue, economy. We also look at how Taiwan’s success in dealing with Covid-19 hasn’t, unfortunately, bolstered its continuing efforts to win international legitimacy in multinational bodies such as the World Health Organization. Finally, we look at the complex role that India plays in shaping Nepal’s relations with China.
We have devoted our In Focus section to tangential issues that have emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, such as human rights, the plight of marginalized communities and ASEAN’s efforts to forge a common approach to the pandemic.
As always, our Book Review section provides you with a look at some of the best writing on the region.

Global Asia Magazine Description:

Global Asia is a quarterly publication of the East Asia Foundation. The foundation, established in Seoul in January 2005, strives to promote peace, prosperity, security and sustainability in East Asia by creating an open and creative forum for the exchange of ideas on regional co-operation and integration, among other goals.
The mission we have set for ourselves with Global Asia is both bold and urgent: It is to provide a compelling, serious, and responsible forum for distinguished thinkers, policymakers, political leaders and business people to debate the most important issues in Asia today.
Global Asia is not a journal with a fixed point of view, or a particular agenda. Our aim is to give voice to the global dimension of what is happening in Asia. In our pages and on our web site, we aim for Asia to speak to the world, and the world to Asia. That is important at a time when this region is playing an ever greater role in world affairs.
There are other fine publications on international affairs. What sets us apart is our focus: Asia. We believe that the world is moving into “the Age of Asia,” to borrow a phrase from one of the articles in the inaugural issue of Global Asia in September 2006. This transformation is not going to occur overnight, but it has already begun.
The region’s dynamic economic growth, stable and accountable political systems, maturing democracies, and evolving sense of community are giving Asia greater weight in the world. These developments will have enormous implications for governments, businesses, societies and individuals across the globe. How that transformation is viewed, and shaped, from within Asia and how it is perceived outside Asia is an essential part of the story we have to tell.
The forces of globalization are having a profound impact throughout the world. And they are being influenced and channeled in different ways in different parts of the world. Ours is the story of Asia’s experience with globalization, and the ideas and debates influencing it. In pursuing our mission, we aim to play a part, however modest, in helping to shape the future of Asia.