Op-ed

South Korea’s 20th presidential election: Finding a Korean balance between the US and China in the Indo-Pacific region

South Korea’s presidential election is scheduled to be held on 9 March 2022. The two major parties, the ruling liberal Democratic Party (DP) and the conservative People Power Party (PPP), nominated their presidential candidates, both of whom have no legislative experience in the National Assembly. The former Gyeonggi Province Governor, Lee Jae-Myung, was nominated by the DP to succeed incumbent President Moon Jae-In, and the former Prosecutor-General, Yoon Suk-Yeol, was nominated by the PPP (opposition camp) to rebrand the party following the 2017 impeachment of former President Park Geun-Hye.

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Germany after Merkel – Charting a new Course on Foreign Policy?

With the official election of Olaf Scholz as the new German Chancellor by the newly constituted parliament (the Bundestag) on 8 December 2021, the 16-year-long era of Angela Merkel as head of the German government came to an end. Along with Merkel’s farewell ended the governing role of her conservative party, the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), after achieving a record low of voter shares in the September 2021 parliamentary elections.

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The 13th ASEM Summit (ASEM13) in Phnom Penh, Cambodia

The 13th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) took place on 25-26 November 2021 via videoconference under the theme “strengthening multilateralism for shared growth”. ASEM has major untapped potential but remains a valuable platform for dialogue and the exchange of information for its members.

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Japanese Politics After Suga: Who is Fumio Kishida?

Who is Fumio Kishida, the new leader of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party succeeding Yoshihide Suga after his stepping down as Prime Minister? Standing for the 31 October 2021 general elections we look ahead and assess who he is and what he represents within the party and for the country.

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