East Asia Forum

The East Asia Forum (EAF) serves as a platform for policy discussions, led by Emeritus Professor Peter Drysdale from the Crawford School of Public Policy at the Australian National University (ANU). Established in 2006 by Australia's former Treasurer, the Hon. Peter Costello, the EAF aims to facilitate dialogue on important regional issues.

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Can Nextrade help cut the ‘Korea discount’?

1 week ago | eastasiaforum.org | Tom Ramage

South Korea’s Nextrade exchange — the country’s first alternative trading system to the long-dominant Korea Exchange (KRX) — debuted in March 2025. Nextrade extends trading hours, introduces lower transaction fees and increases product variation within capital markets. The persistent undervaluation of South Korean stocks compared to their Asia-Pacific counterparts is a phenomenon known as the ‘Korea discount’.
US-Australia alliance wanes under Washington’s whims

2 weeks ago | eastasiaforum.org | John Quiggin

The May 2025 federal election campaign was characterised by a studious avoidance of the main issues facing Australia, most notably the country’s future relationships with the United States and China. Canberra should confront the quandaries redefining the US relationship, initiated by President Donald Trump’s second term. Washington’s radical reorientation shows no sign of reversing even after 2028, when Trump is due to leave office.
RCEP can be a tool for East Asian organising against protectionism

3 weeks ago | eastasiaforum.org | Shiro Armstrong

Forged in a period of global economic and geopolitical uncertainty, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) might now be the asset the region needs at a time of genuine crisis for defending the vision of open trade and cooperation that it embodies.
Beijing’s global vision takes shape in Africa

3 weeks ago | eastasiaforum.org | Samir Bhattacharya

Mao Zedong once famously declared that ‘political power grows out of the barrel of a gun’. But almost a century later, China realises that triumphing in an increasingly multipolar world also requires shaping public opinion. Accordingly, Beijing is rearranging its foreign policy outlook — especially in Africa. Whether countering human rights criticism or isolating Taiwan, China’s goal is to wage a new form of warfare — the strategic contest for hearts and minds.
Avoiding a world trade war

1 month ago | eastasiaforum.org | Shiro Armstrong

The 28 per cent average tariff rate in the United States today, even with the 90 day pause, is significantly higher than the average rate of 19.8 per cent imposed during the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. The highest Smoot-Hawley tariff rate was 59.1 per cent, well below the 145 per cent US President Donald Trump has slapped on all Chinese imports. Today’s tariffs return the United States to its 1821 to 1900 average 29.7 per cent tariff rate.
Can a Labor majority government fix Australia’s major problems?

1 month ago | eastasiaforum.org | Adam Triggs

What a difference an election campaign can make. At the start of Australia’s six-week election campaign, opposition leader Peter Dutton led the opinion polls. By the 3 May election, the polls had reversed. Election night was a landslide — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese did not just win, his Labor Party increased its parliamentary majority substantially. Dutton’s Liberal Party did not just lose, he lost his own seat too.
US foreign policy’s familiar follies show lessons not easily learnt

1 month ago | eastasiaforum.org | James Borton

30 April 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon — a moment etched into history not only as the end of the Vietnam War but also as a stark symbol of abandoned allies and the collapse of US ambitions in Southeast Asia. In August 2021, eerily similar scenes unfolded in Kabul as the United States completed its withdrawal from Afghanistan, again leaving behind a fragile government and uncertain future.
Convergence and divergence in Australia and Southeast Asia’s economic security approaches

1 month ago | eastasiaforum.org | Hanh Nguyen

Southeast Asia has attracted attention in Canberra as a key element in Australia’s plans to secure its future prosperity and security through strengthened economic integration with the Asia Pacific. Australia’s recent official medium-term economic strategy for Southeast Asia cites strong growth prospects, economic complementarity and the need for trade diversification as key drivers of closer economic ties with the region.
Indonesia’s carbon credits must not come at the cost of customary forests | East Asia Forum

1 month ago | eastasiaforum.org | Muhammad Arief Virgy

Strengthened Indigenous land rights can protect customary forests and improve confidence in carbon markets.
Australia balances between realism and liberalism

2 months ago | eastasiaforum.org | James Laurenceson

‘Not … a friendly act’. ‘A very bad day for our relationship with the United States’. ‘Not how allies should treat one another’. Such were the descriptors that Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his ministers used to announce that the United States had hit local steel and aluminium producers with 25 per cent tariffs on 12 March 2025. On the explanation that Washington had provided — that Australian steel and aluminium was a threat to US national security — the replies were just as blunt.