Southeast Asia

Program Publications

• March 22, 2013 / By Chhith Sam Ath, Danny Marks
  The NGO Forum’s Campaign Against Xayaburi
  

  Since the beginning of 2011, the Rivers Coalition in Cambodia (RCC), led by the NGO Forum on Cambodia, has worked ceaselessly to demand the cancellation of Xayaburi Dam.   RCC has taken

  … Read More »
• March 12, 2013 / By Richard Cronin
  LETTER FROM THE MEKONG:  Examining Hydropower Dams
  

  NOTE: Stimson Senior Associate Rich Cronin and Research Associate Zach Dubel recently returned from a trip to Laos and Thailand to examine the status and future of hydropower dams on

  … Read More »
• January 29, 2013 / By Alan D. Romberg, Yuki Tatsumi, Richard Cronin
  Presidential Inbox 2013:  Find the Right Balance in Asia Policy
  

  The Presidential Inbox series gives Stimson experts a chance to offer their views on key international security challenges and pragmatic steps the Obama Administration can take to

  … Read More »
• October 09, 2012
  A Primer on the Trans-Pacific Partnership
  

  By Sheryl Tibung | October 9, 2012

  What is the TPP?

  The Trans-Pacific Partnership, otherwise known as the TPP is envisioned to be a multilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) that would

  … Read More »
• August 28, 2012 / By Richard Cronin, Zach Dubel
  Maritime Security in East Asia: Boundary Disputes, Resources, and the Future of Regional Stability
  

  Maritime territorial disputes increasingly threaten the peace and stability of East Asia. Currently three areas of maritime East Asia involve the most consequential disputes: in the

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• August 14, 2012 / By Richard Cronin, Zach Dubel
  Sea of Absurdity:  Sansha, China’s New Island “City”
  

  Conflicting maritime boundary claims in the South China Sea are serious business involving potentially North Sea-scale offshore oil and gas deposits; fisheries that are increasingly

  … Read More »
• August 09, 2012
  Xayaburi Reaching A Critical Point
  

  By Nhina Le | August 9, 2012

  The World Bank has blacklisted the Pöyry Group, which has faced criticism on its research into the Xayaburi hydro dam project. According to the Bank's

  … Read More »
• July 02, 2012 / By Zach Dubel
  Regional Implications for China’s Newest Oil Rig
  

  The May 9^th launch of a new oil rig by the Chinese National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) is a fresh cause of concern among observers of the South China Sea. Some believe that China

  … Read More »
• April 19, 2012 / By Richard Cronin
  China and the Geopolitics of the Mekong River Basin
  

  Two decades after the Paris Peace Accord that ended the proxy war in Cambodia, the Mekong Basin has re-emerged as a region of global significance. The rapid infrastructure-led

  … Read More »
• April 04, 2012 / By Chheang Vannarith
  A Cambodian Perspective on Mekong River Water Security
  

  By Chheang Vannarith, Executive Director

  Cambodian Institute for Cooperation and Peace (CICP)

   

  Water scarcity is getting more serious in the region, as it is driven by population

  … Read More »
• February 03, 2012 / By Richard Cronin
  Mekong Turning Point: Shared River for a Shared Future
  

  The political economy of the Mekong River Basin shifted in 2011 from policies that exploited this transboundary resource shared by China and five Southeast Asian countries, to

  … Read More »
• December 08, 2011 / By Dao Trong Tu
  A Vietnamese Perspective on Proposed Mainstream Mekong Dams
  

  A short discussion on the hydropower dam system on the Mekong River mainstream and its impacts to Mekong delta

  By Dao Trong Tu. Ph. D

  CEWAREC- Vietnam

  
  1.  Why are China's massive

  … Read More »
• December 06, 2011 / By Richard Cronin
  Laos’ Xayaburi Dam Decision Requires a “Mekong Standard”
  

  The Economic Ministers from the four member countries of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) - Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, and Vietnam - are meeting this week in Siem Reap, Cambodia, for a

  … Read More »
• September 21, 2011 / By Teerapong Pomun
  A Thai Perspective on Proposed Mainstream Mekong Dams
  

  The Mekong River is very important for millions of local communities along the mainstream and its tributaries who depend heavily on the river's natural ecosystem functions.  The health

  … Read More »
• July 13, 2011 / By Richard Cronin
  China’s Claims in the South China Sea
  

  Incidents at sea in mid-2011 involving Chinese maritime patrol vessels and geological survey ships deployed by Vietnam have sharply ratcheted up long-standing tensions over conflicting

  … Read More »
• November 10, 2010
  Obama’s Asia Policy after the Midterms
  

   

  President Obama was criticized by many last November for asserting his intention of becoming the first “Pacific President.”  One year later, with Secretary Clinton just returning from

  … Read More »
• September 23, 2010 / By Richard Cronin
  Testimony before Senate Foreign Relations Hearing on Water and Security in Southeast Asia
  

   

  Statement of Richard P. Cronin

  Director, Southeast Asia Program

  Stimson Center, Washington, DC

   

  Before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations

  Hearing on Challenges to Water and

  … Read More »
• April 07, 2010 / By Richard Cronin
  Mekong Tipping Point
  

  The October 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia closed the book on four decades of bitter conflict in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia.  The Accords created new opportunities for

  … Read More »
• February 04, 2010 / By Richard Cronin
  China’s Activities in Southeast Asia and the Implications for U.S. Interests
  

  Hearing statement

  
  February 4, 2010
  Dr. Richard P. Cronin
  Senior Associate and Director, Southeast Asia Program
  The Stimson Center
  Washington, DC

  
  Testimony before the U.S.-China Economic and

  … Read More »
• January 31, 2009 / By Richard Cronin, Amit Pandya
  Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia
  

  Exploiting Natural Resources: Growth, Instability, and Conflict in the Middle East and Asia presents views on the unsustainable exploitation of three key natural resources - forests,

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• January 08, 2009 / By Richard Cronin
  China’s Falling Growth and US Hopes for Stabilizing the Global Economy: Mind the Gap
  

  By Dr. Richard Cronin

   

  The Challenge

  The accelerating meltdown of the global economic and financial system has caught the United States off guard. China, now the largest holder of US

  … Read More »
• August 21, 2008 / By Nguyen Vo Dan Sinh
  The Political Economy of Hydropower Dam Construction in Vietnam
  

  The recent surge in the development of economic infrastructure in the six countries that share the 5,800 kilometer long Mekong River, most controversially hydropower dams, has ignited

  … Read More »
• May 02, 2008
  Commercial Transportation on the Mekong River
  

  The Mekong River has provided a means of transportation for thousands of years. Recent efforts have focused on improving the commercial navigability of the water course, led to a large

  … Read More »
• October 11, 2007 / By Richard Cronin
  China in the Eyes of its Neighbors: Notes from a trip to four lower Mekong countries and Japan
  

  In a subregion defined by a 4,880 kilometer-long river system, worries about a too powerful China include both nontraditional and conventional security elements, but broader geopolitical

  … Read More »
• March 26, 2007 / By Richard Cronin
  Destructive Mekong Dams: Critical Need for Transparency
  

  The once war-ravaged Mekong River Basin is under new assault by the relentless forces of development and globalization, with energy-hungry China leading the charge. Also known as the

  … Read More »
• December 10, 2005 / By Richard Cronin
  The North Korean Nuclear Threat and the US-Japan Security Alliance
  

  "The North Korean Nuclear Threat and the US-Japan Security Alliance" (Fletcher Forum, Winter 2005)

  The problem of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has emerged as the

  … Read More »
• February 20, 2004 / By Richard Cronin
  Growth and Governance in Asia: Significance for Regional Growth and Stability
  

  … Read More »