Letter From the Editors
In Asia, as around the world, the best laid plans often go awry when met with real-world complexity.
Welcome to the September issue of The Diplomat Magazine.
In Asia, as around the world, the best laid plans often go awry when met with real-world complexity. Behind the grandiose headlines, China’s Belt and Road to Europe has hit unexpected snags of late; Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s ability to unilaterally transform the country’s foreign policy does, in fact, have limits; Pakistan’s development is making its cities increasingly smoggy; and while Timor-Leste is often heralded as a bright spot for Southeast Asia’s LGBTI community, it’s not so simple on the ground.
In our cover story this month, Nadège Rolland, Senior Fellow for Political and Security Affairs at NBR, explores the progress China’s Belt and Road Initiative has made in Europe in the five years since the concept was first announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Europe is the putative destination for the modern day “Silk Road,” but reactions to the project from European countries range from eagerness to caution to outright skepticism. The BRI’s reception in Europe is neither uniform nor static, Rolland writes, and how China responds to the concerns being raised will be telling.
Then, Richard Heydarian, an academic and author of, among others, Rise of Duterte: A Populist Revolt Against Elite Democracy, takes stock of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s foreign policy shifts in the past two years. How far can Duterte’s rebalance away from the United States and toward China progress in the face of a domestic backlash? Duterte’s human rights record aside, Manila’s turn toward Beijing hasn’t yielded the promises dividends yet – and the clock is ticking.
Speaking of ticking clocks, Pakistan’s air pollution is getting worse, and so is its deadly impact on Pakistanis. Sonya Rehman, a Lahore-based journalist, examines the cause of the toxic smog that is more and more common in Pakistan’s largest cities. Perhaps most pressingly, she talks with experts and activists about what the new central government, headed by Imran Khan, can do to help mitigate the problem – if the authorities can be induced to devote previous resources to cleaning the country’s skies. As one expert puts it, that’s a tall order.
Finally, Bardia Rahmani, an international advisor on security sector issues currently based in Dili, follows the course of Timor-Leste’s second ever Pride parade and the lives of the activists who made it possible. Timor-Leste is often viewed as a bright spot for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Intersex (LGBTI) individuals in conservative Southeast Asia, but there is long ways to go before LGBTI individuals are accepted completely in society. Activists whom Rahmani spoke to cast their struggle as a continuation of the spirit of revolution that led to the country's independence: “As long as some sections of the nation are left behind, the fight isn’t over.”
We hope you enjoy these stories, and the many others in the following pages.