https://www.scmp.com/rss/328089/feed David Hutt is a research fellow at the Central European Institute of Asian Studies (CEIAS), a European think-tank, and the Southeast Asia columnist at the Diplomat. He also writes commentary for Radio Free Asia, Nikkei Asia, Asia Times and the BBC. As a journalist, has covered Southeast Asian politics since 2014, based in Cambodia between 2014-2019. He is a former president of the Overseas Press Club of Cambodia. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com There is a hint of wishful thinking in seeing the appointment of a four-star general as Vietnam’s new president to balance the influence of the domestic security hawks with increased authority for the military as a welcome return to normalcy in Hanoi. Last week’s elevation of Luong Cuong, formerly the top political commissar of Vietnam’s armed forces, to head of state did reconstruct the “four pillars” system, which divides the four main political offices between four individuals, a way of... https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3284112/can-vietnams-new-president-check-power-its-party-chief?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/opinion/asia-opinion/article/3284112/can-vietnams-new-president-check-power-its-party-chief?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Oct 2024 21:30:07 +0000 If Beijing stops and looks around, its friends aren’t doing too well. Its “no limits” comrade in Moscow just survived a mercenary mutiny with a column of a few thousand irregulars and ex-criminals almost strolling into the capital. And Iran is still reeling from protests after Mahsa Amini died in “morality police” custody last year. The “anti-hegemonic” coalition of China, Russia and Iran, as former US national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski forecast in 1997 (what historian Niall Ferguson... https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3227180/why-ironclad-friend-cambodia-might-just-be-chinas-model-ally?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/comment/opinion/article/3227180/why-ironclad-friend-cambodia-might-just-be-chinas-model-ally?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:15:19 +0000 Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen marks 35 years in office today, a landmark that divides opinion in the politically tense Southeast Asian nation. According to his critics, his longevity has been achieved through murder, repression, endemic corruption and dictatorial power – from his still-shrouded actions as a Khmer Rouge deputy commander in the 1970s to the bloody coup he orchestrated to take power in 1997. After dissolving the country’s largest opposition party in 2017, he has turned Cambodia... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3046046/cambodias-hun-sen-has-ruled-35-years-he-looking-shore-his?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3046046/cambodias-hun-sen-has-ruled-35-years-he-looking-shore-his?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 14 Jan 2020 11:00:13 +0000 Ever since the referendum in 2016 that decided Britain should leave the European Union, senior Japanese officials have been uncharacteristically vocal in raising concerns about the country crashing out of the bloc without a deal. A so-called no-deal Brexit would probably mean that Britain has to trade on World Trade Organisation terms, and UK-based firms, including Japanese ones, will have to pay new and expensive tariffs on imports from the EU and goods sold to the rest of the bloc. Carmakers... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3021230/no-deal-brexit-sends-japanese-firms-search-uks-exit?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/economics/article/3021230/no-deal-brexit-sends-japanese-firms-search-uks-exit?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 03 Aug 2019 07:45:14 +0000 Cambodian strongman Hun Sen’s supposed sweeping victory in the last weekend’s heavily rigged general election is set to cement the role of the country’s armed forces in politics and pave the way for his son’s rise to power. Although official results won’t be announced until the middle of this month, the ruling Cambodian People’s Party (CPP) spokespeople have publicly said it took roughly 80 per cent of the popular vote and won all 125 seats of the National Assembly. If true, it would consolidate... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2158246/son-rises-cambodia-after-hun-sens-rigged-election?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2158246/son-rises-cambodia-after-hun-sens-rigged-election?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Aug 2018 06:45:00 +0000 “It will be difficult to win this month,” lamented Sarath, a member of the Grassroots Democratic Party, one of Cambodia’s 19 minor political parties that will compete in a general election on Sunday against Hun Sen’s long-ruling Cambodian People’s Party. “But, maybe in 2023, we have a chance,” he added, walking by a motorcade during a party rally in Phnom Penh this month. His scepticism is well justified. The CPP, which has been in power since 1979, is widely expected to secure yet another... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2157232/cambodian-election-what-chance-does-opposition-have?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/2157232/cambodian-election-what-chance-does-opposition-have?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Jul 2018 08:00:15 +0000