Thailand’s latest social welfare program is a few cards short of a full deck, Wannaphong Durongkaveroj writes.

The recent dam collapse in Laos highlights major flaws in government accountability and oversight, Benjamin Clarke writes.

The Monsoon Project has released its first edition of The 2018 Annual print magazine. You can read a fascinating array of articles on topics that are most important to young people who study Asia and the Pacific. Click here to take a look, or use following link https://issuu.com/monsoonproject/docs/online_version-monsoon_2018_annual_

Photo taken by Kai Clark 

With the ASEAN region developing at a rapid rate, Australia needs to do more to build economic partnerships in Southeast Asia, Bradley Wood writes.

China’s Railway Belt is likely to be far more influential than its maritime silk road in the near future thanks to an easier transition to renewable energy, Daniel Leditschke writes.

At 8:15pm on the 8th of November 2016, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared on live television to announce that the two highest banknote denominations of the Indian Rupee had become worthless. Citizens had until the New Year’s Eve of 2016 to either bank deposit their 500 and 1000 Indian Rupee (Rs) banknotes (~AUD$10/$20 respectively) or swap them for lower banknotes at registered banks.

When I first talked to Xiao Zhang he was packing his bag in a tiny, shabby room near a construction site where he worked. He has lived there with his wife and other fellow workers since he came to this city.

“I fled from a remote village in Guangxi province to Shenzhen to change my life three years ago.” He said. “But now I realise it is much harder than I expected. I could never actually become part of this city, so I am planning to leave.”

Australian aid is a heavily debated topic. How much should we give? Who decides? How do we decide?

In his most recent book, The Foreign Dilemma of Aid, Jack Corbett explores the history of foreign aid given by Australia, and looks at reasons why it’s changed.

It is not too late to steer Mongolia away from the disastrous consequences of the resource curse and begin the feat of curing the economic disease, Toby Warden writes.

Announced in 2013, China’s ‘One Belt, One Road’ (OBOR) economic blueprint has been heralded by some as ‘the number one project under heaven’. The mega-plan sees the construction of an infrastructure project at sea, connecting both South East Asia and East Africa to China, and a revival of the ancient Silk Road- a trade route that lead the way for Chinese geoeconomic and geopolitical expansion. The ambitious initiative stretches across Central and Western Asia, East Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Although described as having ‘trade relations, financial cooperation and coordinated development policies’ in his sights, Xi Jinping has faced considerable regional headwinds, begging for the question: is OBOR becoming the new realm for regional contestation, despite being framed as a way to transcend popular geopolitical issues?