After almost a decade in the making, the world’s largest free-trade bloc has finally been finalized in the direst of times. As the world faces an economic recession, RCEP delivers new hopes for its signatories to rebuild better, and most importantly, bounce back stronger in overcoming the threats posed by the pandemic. Bringing together major players of Southeast Asia, Asia Pacific, and Oceania, the signing of this historic pact indicates that countries are searching for hope in surviving the pandemic through multilateralism.
Global Town Hall is a 15-hour marathon discussion where world leaders and high-level experts will discuss on the theme, “Rebuilding from the COVID-19 World.” The conference will discuss the state of the world beset by the COVID-19 crisis, evaluate policy challenges and lessons learned, and gather ideas for future direction, especially in terms of how to rebuild the world economically, socially, environmentally, diplomatically and even geopolitically. Global Town Hall is organized by a consortium of 12 reputable think-tanks from around the world and will be watched by a global audience.
In welcoming the 30th anniversary of the ASEAN-China relations next year, FPCI Research & Analysis department conducted a public survey about the ASEAN-China relationship from June until October 2020. The survey is titled “ASEAN-China Survey 2020: Assessing the Present and Envisioning the Future of ASEAN-China Relations.” The survey involved 1000 respondents from 10 ASEAN Member States and coming from five segments of the general public: government officials, academia, business community, civil society, and students.
FPCI Virtual Public Forum on Assessing the Present and Envisioning the Future of ASEAN-China Relations
On Friday, 4 September 2020, Foreign Policy Community of Indonesia (FPCI) convened a virtual public forum on “Assessing the Present and Envisioning the Future of ASEAN-China Relations.” This public forum served as a form of ‘community briefing’ for ASEAN nationals on the preliminary findings of FPCI’s ASEAN-China Survey 2020. The forum was begin with an opening remarks from Dr. Dino Patti Djalal, Founder of FPCI.
The discussion was moderated by Dr. Shofwan Al Banna, Head of Undergraduate Programme of International Relations Department at the University of Indonesia, who is also the Senior Advisor of ASEAN-China Survey 2020 featuring the following panelists: 1) Dr. Kin Phea, Director General, International Relations Institute of Cambodia (IRIC) 2) Dr. Jayant Menon, Visiting Senior Fellow, ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute, Singapore 3) Dr. Ha Anh Tuan, Executive Director, Foundation for East Sea (SCS) Studies, Diplomatic Academy of Vietnam (DAV)
The panel highlighted achievements that ASEAN and China have reached together and delivered substantive insights into identified challenges, gaps to be addressed, and opportunities to seize, based on the perspectives of the region’s grassroots community.
In less than three months away, Americans will decide who their next president will be. With so much at stake, this year’s election will map out the country’s stance on democracy, liberal international order, and most importantly, determine the recovery of a nation that has been stricken with economic, public health, and social crises.
The COVID-19 pandemic has had huge economic, social, and political implications in Southeast Asia and around the world. Additionally, economic instability in Southeast Asia is intensifying and prolonging geo-political upheavals, with disputes becoming more unpredictable as states struggle to control the pandemic.
The OECD Economic Outlook published this June revealed that an unprecedented collapse in the first half of this year due to the novel coronavirus outbreak caused an almost 13% decline in global GDP. This was a far cry from the more optimistic interim prediction of 1.5% that was projected back in May 2020.
The impact of the COVID-19 to the national and global political, economy, health, and social landscapes have been dominating many discussion sessions lately, but to date, minimal attention has been directed towards the issue of security, particularly in regard to terrorism and other forms of violent extremism. There are, in fact, emerging waves of new cases related to acts of terror across the globe. Over the past following weeks, researchers and practitioners have been voicing out their concerns about a crack the pandemic may open to terror groups that seek to advance their causes. One researcher alerts that “terrorism is likely to morph into new shapes and forms. Terrorist groups have positioned themselves to exploit the opportunities of a post-COVID-19 world.”
President Trump’s Middle East Peace Plan revealed in January this year significantly favors Israel, with a ‘take it or leave it’ deal that leaves the Palestinians completely out of the discussion. It involved a United States-backed annexation plan of the West Bank that may take place as soon as July 1st. The plan also declared that Jerusalem will ‘remain Israel’s undivided capital.’ East Jerusalem, also claimed by Palestine to be the capital of their future state, has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East War.
