The Asia-Pacific in 2020: What to Expect?
The Diplomat looks at the trends to watch across the region in the coming year.
A new year – and a new decade – is upon us. To make sense of what 2020 will mean for the broader Asia-Pacific region, The Diplomat presents our annual outline of what to expect for a number of key countries and regions. We offer three “things to watch” in 2020 for each section.
2020 will be a year of elections (in South Korea, Taiwan, and Tajikistan among others) and long-term political transitions unfolding in slower motion in Singapore and Vietnam. We’ll see negotiations continue over perennial hot-button issues like North Korea’s nuclear program, the war in Afghanistan, and a Code of Conduct in the South China Sea. And all these developments will occur under the shadow of overarching global problems like climate change, slowing economies, and rising nationalism and populism.
Mark your calendars and get ready for another unpredictable year.
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SubscribeThe Authors
Ankit Panda is a senior editor at The Diplomat and the director of research at Diplomat Risk Intelligence.
Yuki Tatsumi is co-director of the East Asia Program and director of the Japan Program at the Stimson Center.
Jenna Gibson is a doctoral candidate in political science at the University of Chicago.
Prashanth Parameswaran is a Senior Editor at The Diplomat.
David Hutt is Southeast Asia columnist at The Diplomat’s based in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Grant Wyeth is a Melbourne-based political analyst specializing in Australia and the Pacific, India and Canada.
Aman Thakker is a research associate at the Wadhwani Chair in U.S.-India Policy Studies at Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Umair Jamal is a freelance journalist and a correspondent for The Diplomat’s, based in Lahore, Pakistan.