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Kusu News 17-Jan-2022

Thai government restarts talks with insurgents after COVID-19 halt

13-Jan-2022 Reuters

BANGKOK, Jan 13 (Reuters) - Dialogue between the government and the main rebel group fighting an insurgency in Thailand's Muslim deep south have resumed, participants said on Thursday, with both sides expressing hope for peace after a two-year break in talks.

The government delegation and representatives of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) took place on Monday and Tuesday in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, the first contact since the process was halted due to the coronavirus pandemic.

More than 7,300 people have been killed in bombings and shootings since 2004, when a decades-old rebellion flared up in the provinces of Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani, a predominantly Malay-speaking Muslim area in majority Buddhist Thailand.

Among the topics discussed was finding a political solution, reduction of violence, a public consultation processes and the establishment of mechanisms for future talks that would "allow the two sides to have meaningful and flexible discussion with tangible outcome," Thailand's government said.

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Can the United States Really Decouple From China?

Probably not—but that doesn’t mean it won’t try.

11-Jan-2022 Foreign Policy

Despite their differences, U.S. President Joe Biden has continued his predecessor’s hard line toward Beijing. Biden, like former U.S. President Donald Trump, believes the United States must “decouple” from China by reducing U.S. dependence on Chinese products and supply chains—for both economic and national security reasons. Biden is not alone in this conviction. Much to the disappointment of those who favor more U.S.-Chinese trade and investment, moves to put distance between the two economies are gaining support among Democrats and Republicans alike.

Yet despite bipartisan support, economic decoupling is a tall order. If the Biden administration wants to succeed, the United States will not only have to reorder large parts of its own globalized economy but also ensure the participation of other countries that are big trade partners of—and investors in—China. Both objectives will be harder to achieve than many in Washington expect.

So far, Biden has built on the Trump administration’s decoupling efforts—albeit with softer rhetoric. Last June, the White House outlined a comprehensive plan for boosting production at home to reduce Washington’s dependence on fragile global supply chains, especially those originating in China. It focused mostly on critical industries like semiconductors, where the United States has seen a sharp decline in its market share over recent decades, and rare earth minerals, where it depends on China for around 80 percent of its needs. Meanwhile, Biden has retained the tariff hikes Trump imposed on imports from China and taken steps to ban U.S. companies’ investments in 59 Chinese firms that have ties to the Chinese military or produce surveillance equipment. Some were already on Trump’s blacklist, including telecommunications giant Huawei.

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Covid has dealt a big blow to Asean but the region's economic outlook is bright

13-jan-2022 The Business Times

ASEAN economies may have been dealt harder blows by Covid-19 than the rest of Asia, and the Sino-US relationship remains worrisome, but analysts say the outlook for the growth-driven region is bright and its stocks, relatively cheap.

Ken Peng, Citi Private Bank's head of investment strategy for the Asia-Pacific, said the multi-year forces driving the shift in economic power towards the region have not changed. More people are joining the ranks of the middle class, and urbanisation - particularly in India and Indonesia - may add 100 more names to the list of global cities with populations of over a million.

"When the rest of South-east Asia reaches sufficient vaccination levels, its economic recovery is likely to accelerate, as pent-up goods and services demand is unleashed," added Peng, who likes South-east Asia for its relatively low sensitivity to China's slowdown, its quickly developing digitisation trends and its greater potential for eventual recovery from the pandemic.

HSBC sees South-east Asia growing by 5.2 per cent, which translates to an earnings growth of 12.3 per cent for corporates.

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Biggest opportunity for reinvention lies in post-COVID world; crisis is 'reset button': Ong Ye Kung

13-jan-2022 CNA

SINGAPORE: The biggest opportunity for reinvention lies in the post COVID-19 world, with the pandemic akin to a reset button that has forced Singapore to rethink the way it does things, said Health Minister Ong Ye Kung on Thursday (Jan 13). 

"In many ways, the crisis is like a reset button, forcing us to rethink the way we do things to be better, to be smarter."

Speaking at the Singapore Perspectives 2022 forum organised by the Institute of Policy Studies, Mr Ong highlighted several ways in which Singapore has evolved and reinvented itself due to the pandemic. 

"WE HAD TO ROLL WITH THE PUNCHES"

Going forward, a post-COVID-19 work environment should embrace a hybrid work arrangement, said Mr Ong, adding that this would be "more efficient" and "outcome focused" and allow people to "juggle their lives".

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‘No Progress’ on ASEAN Peace Plan for Myanmar: Singaporean PM

Four Southeast Asian nations have now expressed criticisms of Cambodia’s unilateral crisis diplomacy on Myanmar.

17-Jan-2022 The Diplomat

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong says that there has been no “significant progress” on the implementation of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) peace plan on Myanmar, calling on the bloc’s current chair Cambodia to include “all parties” in its efforts to mediate the crisis.

Lee made the comments in a call with Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen, who controversially traveled to Myanmar on January 7-8 for talks aimed at resolving the crisis that has gripped the country since the military takeover last February.

Since taking over the rotating chairmanship of ASEAN late last year, Cambodia’s government has made clear its intention to pursue a policy of pragmatic engagement with the self-appointed military government in Naypyidaw.

This marked a break from the more robust position that coalesced under the leadership of last year’s chair Brunei, which saw the bloc disinvite coup leader Min Aung Hlaing from the ASEAN Summit in October. The bloc took the (for ASEAN) drastic step after months of junta stonewalling on the implementation of ASEAN’s Five-Point Consensus peace plan, which calls (among other things) for an immediate cessation of violence and inclusive political dialogue including “all parties” to the country’s conflict.

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