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The Asia-Pacific in 2017: What to Expect
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The Asia-Pacific in 2017: What to Expect

The Diplomat looks at the trends to watch across the region in the coming year.

By Ankit Panda, Shannon Tiezzi, Yuki Tatsumi, Aidan Foster-Carter, Rohan Joshi, Umair Jamal, Franz-Stefan Gady, Catherine Putz, Prashanth Parameswaran, Luke Hunt, Helen Clark, Carl Thayer and Anthony Fensom

If 2016 taught us anything, it’s that the world is an unpredictable place. Few analysts a year ago would have foreseen both the Philippines and the United States electing populist, iconoclastic, and at times gleefully offensive presidents; North Korea conducting not one but two nuclear tests; the Philippines winning a massive legal victory over China in the South China Sea yet moving quickly to embrace Beijing; or South Korea’s legislature voting to impeach the president after massive protests.

At the same time, behind these unexpected happenings were developments that were very much to be expected: continued militarization in the South China Sea, insecurity and violence in Afghanistan, flaring tensions in India and Pakistan over Kashmir, and strained cross-strait relations.

Each January, we ask The Diplomat’s authors to lay out what to watch for in the next 12 months. Predicting concrete happenings is an exercise in futility, but the underlying trends driving events are more easily recognizable. Below, our authors provide an overview of what to watch for in the Asia-Pacific in 2017 and how international and domestic factors will shape the future of the world’s most dynamic region.

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The Authors

Ankit Panda is a Senior Editor at The Diplomat.
Shannon Tiezzi is Editor of The Diplomat.

Yuki Tatsumi writes for The Diplomat’s Tokyo Report section.

Aidan Foster-Carter is Honorary Senior Research Fellow in Sociology and Modern Korea at Leeds University in England. Since 1997 he has been a full-time analyst and consultant on Korea: writing, lecturing and broadcasting for academic, business and policy audiences in the UK and worldwide.

Rohan Joshi is a fellow at the Takshashila Institution, focusing on Indian strategic affairs and foreign policy towards Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Middle East.

Umair Jamal writes for The Diplomat’s South Asia section.

Franz-Stefan Gady is an Associate Editor at The Diplomat.
Catherine Putz is Special Projects Editor at The Diplomat.

Prashanth Parameswaran is an Associate Editor at The Diplomat.

Luke Hunt is a South-east Asia correspondent for The Diplomat.

Helen Clark writes for The Diplomat’s Oceania section.

Carl Thayer is Emeritus Professor at The University of New South Wales and Director of Thayer Consultancy.

Anthony Fensom writes on Asian economies for The Diplomat.
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