Letter From the Editors

Dear Readers,

Welcome to the July 2017 issue of The Diplomat Magazine.

What difference does 20 years make? In three of the four top-billed pieces in this month’s issue we contemplate that question. From the handover of Hong Kong and the Asian financial crisis to the coup in Cambodia, 1997 was a pivotal year. If what’s past is truly prologue, reflecting on these events 20 years later illuminates what’s consistent (or not) in contemporary regional economics and politics. The remaining piece is a check-in on the South China Sea a year after an arbitral tribunal ruled in the Philippines’ favor, a topic we can perhaps expect to be doing the same reflective exercise on 19 years hence.

In our cover story, Brian C. H. Fong, associate director at the Academy of Hong Kong Studies at the Education University of Hong Kong, examines the current balance of relations between Hong Kong and mainland China. Twenty years after the territory transitioned from British colony to Chinese special administrative region, Hong Kong remains politically ill at ease. As mainland China’s policy shifted from non-intervention to active engagement, Fong writes, Beijing has provoked further tensions, which have pushed the “one country, two systems” model to the brink.

Next, we turn to another major concern for China: the South China Sea. A year after an arbitral tribunal at the Permanent Court of Arbitration sided with Manila in its maritime dispute with Beijing, the ruling is dead in the water. Carl Thayer, emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales and a longtime Diplomat contributor, catalogues the year since, in which neither party has taken steps to comply with the ruling.

Then, Stephan Haggard, author of a 2000 book on the political economy of the Asian financial crisis, revisits the 1997 crisis, which saw the region’s economies stumble. Haggard recounts the financial disaster, which hit in waves as several Asian countries were economically pressed into floating formerly pegged currencies, and reflects on the lessons learned. Twenty years later, the crisis’ lessons are perhaps most crucial for China to heed.

Last, our Cambodia-based correspondent David Hutt explains how present-day politics in the country are rooted in the 1997 coup led by still-Prime Minister Hun Sen. Not only did the coup set the stage for 20 years (and counting) of Hun Sen’s rule, but the threat of government violence stills echoes each time Cambodia’s opposition threatens to make a strong showing at the polls.

We hope you enjoy these stories and the many others awaiting you in the following pages.

Sincerely,

Shannon Tiezzi, Editor-in-Chief
Catherine Putz, Managing Editor