Letter from the Editors

Welcome to the January 2021 issue of The Diplomat Magazine and welcome (finally) to 2021!

The pandemic changed much about how the world worked in 2020, but more, still, remains the same and so we’re starting this issue out in traditional style. We’ve gathered Diplomat authors from across Asia to help calibrate our expectations about the year ahead. In our cover story you’ll find our authors, organized by region, highlighting three events or trends to watch in the next year. We hope to focus attention on critical areas and topics we’ll all need to keep an eye on as 2021 marches ahead.

Then, Justin Sherman, a fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Cyber Statecraft Initiative, takes a deeper look at what’s ahead for the incoming Biden administration when it comes to India, specifically in the digital sphere. Despite the bonhomie between U.S. President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, there has been considerable tension in the U.S.-India technology relationship, from matters of data localization, to the question of Huawei, to internet freedom. In these areas, Sherman argues, the Biden administration will have the opportunity to break new ground but will need to strategically approach different issues from a new direction.

Vietnam will be undergoing it’s own leadership transition in 2021, at “arguably the most important Communist Party of Vietnam conclave” since 1986. Huong Le Thu, a senior analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, outlines what’s at stake for Vietnam (spoiler: a lot, amid COVID-19 and the resulting economic crisis as well as mounting geopolitical frictions) before previewing the different directions the all-important National Party Congress could take. Vietnam is at a crossroads, and its next leadership team will give us the first hint of which path it is taking.

Finally, Joost Oliemans, a specialist focused on DPRK military capabilities and co-author of the book “North Korea’s Armed Forces: On the path of Songun,” outlines North Korea’s military strength beyond and beside nukes. While Pyongyang’s nuclear program takes most of the spotlight, Oliemans crafts a picture of a hypothetical conventional war, involving everything from artillery fire to special forces to submarines. “Conventional” is used in the strict non-nuclear sense, though, as North Korea is known for its asymmetric weaponry and decidedly unorthodox tactics. While the North is “notoriously secretive about any and all matters related to its military,” there’s enough to know that nuclear weapons aren’t the only threat to the South.