Charlie McCann, Southeast Asia correspondent for the Economist, shares insights into the ongoing struggles of the Rohingya people, five years after their expulsion from Myanmar. He highlights the dire living conditions and systemic discrimination faced by refugees. Jeremy Page, Asia diplomatic editor, discusses new railway routes in Central Asia, emphasizing their potential to shift trade dynamics away from Russia and boost economies in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. The conversation underscores urgent calls for international attention on both crises.
Five years after a brutal campaign that drove nearly 750,000 out of Myanmar and into Bangladesh, conditions for the Muslim minority remain appalling on both sides of the border. Central Asian countries are laying plans for railways that would fill their coffers, distance Russia and empower China. And the economics lessons in London’s queue to see Queen Elizabeth II.