State of Asia

Human rights lawyer Bhavani Fonseka and human rights advocate Ambika Satkunanathan talk about their homeland Sri Lanka – the island nation just off the southeastern coast of India. Sri Lanka boasts a large, well-educated population, great economic potential, a history of democracy, and popular tourist attractions. At the same time, the country has been marred by political violence since its independence in 1948, and the current government’s stand on human rights and governance has come under the close watch of the United Nations yet again.3:48 Background information on Sri Lanka6:00 Bhavani and Ambika’s views on Sri Lanka, and its big brother India10:30 The post-war situation in Sri Lanka16:41 Sri Lanka’s government and its domestic and foreign politics28:21 Bhavani and Ambika’s recommendations for places to visit and food to tryYour host: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society Switzerland Moderator: Nico Luchsinger, Executive Director Asia Society Switzerland Speakers: Bhavani Fonseka, Senior Researcher and Attorney at Law with the Centre for Policy Alternatives Ambika Satkunanathan, Open Society Fellow and former Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Production: Denise StaubliShow NotesWatalappam – dessert made by Muslim community in Sri LankaHoppers – a staple of Sri Lankan cuisine that can come in many formsSri Lanka’s Vistas of Prosperity and Splendour. A Critique of Promises Made and Present Trends, 2021, Report by Center for Policy AlternativesEmblematic Cases Expose the Long Road to Justice in Sri Lanka, February 2021, by Bhavani FonsekaThe long wait for justice, August 2020, by Bhavani FonsekaSurviving War and Victimhood: Women and Tamil Nationalism, March 2021, The Wire, by Ambika SatkunanathanFading Sri Lankan Hopes for Justice Rest on U.N. Rights Council, 24 February 2021, New York Times, by Ambika SatkunanathanIs Sri Lanka's government failing to heal the nation?, February 2021, DW News, Interview with Ambika SatkunanathanDie srilankische Diasporain der Schweiz, 2007, by Joëlle Moret, Denise Efionayi, Fabienne Stants; Bundesamt für Migration BFMAsia Society Switzerland webcast A Closer Look at Sri Lanka with Bhavani Fonseka and Ambika Satkunanathan, May 6, 2021 

Journalist and Musician Kunga Tenzin Dorji, known as Supe, talks about his homeland Bhutan – the landlocked country located in the Eastern Himalayas. Until the 1960s, the kingdom of Bhutan was isolated from the rest of the world. When Bhutan started to open up, it did not modernize blindly, as Supe points out. The tiny nation wedged between India and China was able to preserve its national identity, which remains visible in the country’s cultural heritage, and in its political and socio-economic systems.Your host: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Simona Grano, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Taiwan Studies Project at the University of Zurich (UZH)Speaker: Kunga Tenzin Dorji (Supe), freelance journalist and musicianProduction: Denise StaubliShow NotesPhobjikha Valley – a spectacular wide valley in Bhutan at an elevation of 3’000 meters, where you also find the very endangered black-necked cranesEma Datshi – the national dish of Bhutan Anthony Bourdains’ series Parts Unknown on Bhutan, who gives a good assessment of BhutanThe History of Bhutan, by Karma PhuntshoSo Close to Heaven: The Vanishing Buddhist Kingdoms of the Himalayas, by Barbara Crossette, for a better understanding of geopolitics of BhutanThe Circle of Karma, by Kunzang Choden, fiction and quite revealing about Bhutan’s society and cultureAsia Society Switzerland webcast A Closer Look at Bhutan with Kunga Tenzin Dorji and Dr. Simona Grano, July 1, 2021

Our second podcast season "Meet My Country" is out. In this season, you will learn about a new Asian country in each edition from the perspective of leading local voices.

In politics, if you are criticized from all sides, it’s usually a sign you’ve reached a good compromise. So it was with Switzerland’s recently unveiled China Strategy: It was seen as either being too harsh or way too lax on China. Swiss Ambassador Raphael Naegeli shares with us why Switzerland’s new China Strategy is a good step forward and not all that different from other countries’ approaches.Your host: Nico Luchsinger, Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Nico LuchsingerSpeaker: Ambassador Raphael Naegeli, Head of the Asia Pacific Division, The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, SwitzerlandProduction: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society SwitzerlandSources:Interview with Ambassador Raphael Naegeli with Asia Society Switzerland’s Nico Luchsinger, June 17, 2021Switzerland’s China Strategy 2021-2024

As China increases its power and moves westwards, Russia is looking more to the East. The Soviet Union and newly communist China were, at a time, very close. In recent years and especially since the 2014 annexation of Crimea, the countries have intensified their relationship. The Sino-Russia relationship is more than a partnership, but less than an alliance as both countries share an ideology based on the notion of sovereignty. Your host: Nico Luchsinger, Co-Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandSpeaker: Alexander Gabuev, Senior Fellow and Chair of the Russia in the Asia-Pacific Program, the Carnegie Moscow CenterProduction: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society SwitzerlandShow notes:Asia Society Switzerland Webcast with Alexander Gabuev Sino-Russian Relations: A Threat for the West?, April, 2020 Latest analysis by Alexander GabuevCGTN article Timeline: Highlights of China-Russia ties in the past 70 years by Zhou Jingnan

While China’s largest neighbor India is expected to overtake China by population within only a few years, it is struggling in most other areas to compete with the other giant emerging country. The recent border clashes only led the already complicated relations to deteriorate. As for most countries, India will have to balance furthering its economic potential – that it will not achieve without China – and opposing a China led region by offering other countries opportunities to collaborate.Your host: Nico Luchsinger, Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Nico LuchsingerSpeakers: Tanvi Madan, Director and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution Samir Saran, President, Observer Research Foundation (ORF) Shashi Tharoor, Member of Parliament for Thiruvananthapuram and authorProduction: Serena Jung, Program and Communications Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandEditing: Denise Staubli, Program Manager, Asia Society SwitzerlandSources:Asia Society Switzerland State of Asia 2020: The Indian Imperative, November 27, 2020Asia Society Switzerland Webcast 'The Relations Between China and India Have Seen a Stabilization, but No Resolution' , April 16, 2020Book Fateful Triangle: How China Shaped US-India Relations during the Cold War by Tanvi Madan, Brookings Institution Press, 2020Book  Pax Sinica: Implications for the Indian Dawn by Samir Saran and Akhil Deo, Rupa Publications 2019Book The Battle Of Belonging: On Nationalism, Patriotism, And What It Means To Be Indian by Shashi Tharoor, 2020

China has responded to the call for investments in Africa like no other country. Since the end of the 1990s, China’s increasing financial and economic engagement in Africa has led to critical debates whether China can offer a good alternative to Western aid and charity. Its relationships with African countries has also become ever more political.Your host:  Nico Luchsinger, Co-Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Aleksandra Gadzala, Head of Research at The Singularity GroupSpeaker: Eric Olander, Co-founder of the China Africa Project (CAP)Production: Denise Staubli, Program Officer, Asia Society SwitzerlandSources:Asia Society Switzerland webcast What is China Doing in Africa? with Eric Olander and Aleksandra Gadzala, May 7, 2020Asia Society Switzerland Gen A essay African problems can only be solved by Africans...and Chinese? by Michael Rychener-Schreiner, November 22, 2020 Book Africa and China: How Africans and Their Governments are Shaping Relations with China, edited by Aleksandra GadzalaThe China in Africa Podcast, the China Africa Project (CAP)

China is the largest source of development assistance and investment in Cambodia and Laos. Both governments maintain close relations with China, where its presence is more marked than anywhere else in Southeast Asia. The region is one of the primary targets for the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), with one main line running from Kunming, China to Vientiane, Laos to connect Chinese markets to Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and Myanmar.Your host:  Nico Luchsinger, Co-Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Denise Staubli, Program Officer, Asia Society SwitzerlandSpeaker: Sebastian Strangio, Southeast Asia Editor, The Diplomat  Production: Denise Staubli, Program Officer, Asia Society SwitzerlandSources:Asia Society Switzerland Mini-Conference The Giant Next Door – China In Southeast Asia, The Case of Cambodia and Laos, November 10, 2020  Asia Society Switzerland Mini-Conference The Giant Next Door – China In Southeast Asia, keynote presentation by Sebastian Strangio, November 10, 2020In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century, by Sebastian Strangio, 2020 Asia Society Switzerland Webcast Can Laos Cope With Chinese Megaprojects? with Jessica diCarlo and Susanne Schmeier, May 13, 2020

Listen to Asia Society Switzerland's Nico Luchsinger on our first podcast season "China and the World".

China’s relations with the historically more remote, maritime and Muslim-majority countries Indonesia and Malaysia are complex and historically intertwined. For both Indonesia and Malaysia, China is a vital economic partner, but tensions in the South China Sea and anti-China sentiments remain prevalent. The Indo-Pacific being home to significant global trading routes is not only of strategic importance to China. Once again it has become the focus of a global contest for power.Your host:  Nico Luchsinger, Co-Executive Director, Asia Society SwitzerlandModerator: Richard Maude, Executive Director, Policy, Asia Society AustraliaSpeaker: Ben Bland, Director of the Southeast Asia Program, the Lowy Institute Production: Denise Staubli, Program Officer, Asia Society SwitzerlandSources: Asia Society Switzerland Mini-Conference The Giant Next Door – China In Southeast Asia, The Case of Indonesia and Malaysia, November 10, 2020: Asia Society Switzerland Mini-Conference The Giant Next Door – China In Southeast Asia, keynote presentation by Sebastian Strangio, November 10, 2020: Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia, by Ben Bland, 2020In the Dragon's Shadow: Southeast Asia in the Chinese Century, by Sebastian Strangio, 2020