ISDP Voices

Beijing marked a seminal event in the Chinese political calendar last week: the “Lianghui” or “Two Sessions.” The Two Sessions refers to the annual plenary sessions of both the National People’s Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Committee (CPPCC), which coincide at the beginning of each year. On paper these events are given seminal importance, though how much of a role do they really have in terms of affecting Chinese political decision making?   Explaining the Two Sessions […]

The break-down of talks between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean Chairman Kim Jong-Un at their second summit in Hanoi – whether a surprise or not – has been met with mixed reactions. The no deal-summit does not bode well for those hoping Kim Jong-Un will accede to denuclearization or maintain a moratorium on […]

The much anticipated second summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un has come to an abrupt end with absolutely no agreement made. What does this outcome mean? How does it affect future negotiations regarding the Korean Peninsula? Sangsoo Lee and Alec Forss of ISDP’s Korea Center answer some of the key questions that have arisen post Hanoi. […]

Over the past decade China has demonstrated an ever-increasing interest in both the countries and regional dynamics of Eastern Europe. As a part of their ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing has sought to infuse its foreign relations with infrastructure projects that imbue countries in need of economic transformation to pivot towards their development aims. […]

Taking place in Hanoi, Vietnam, on February 27-28, the second summit between President Donald Trump and Chairman Kim Jong Un is fast approaching. What can we expect from this next meeting? What have negotiations led to so far? Alec Forss, of ISDP’s Korea Center, answers some of the key questions surrounding the expectations and realities of the […]

The first summit between President Trump and Chairman Kim last June in Singapore was a success in terms of being the first ever meeting between the serving leaders of the U.S. and North Korea. However, the resulting joint statement lacked substance and was more a vague rehashing of previous commitments rather than something concrete that […]

Seen as the main source of social mobility, education is a highly charged issue in South Korea. As an advocate for educational reform, Hyunjung Kang argues the need to tackle inequality and stress, as students compete to get to the best colleges. Perhaps in most other countries the leakage of exam test papers at Seoul’s […]

On December 15, a Ukrainian church council will meet to establish an independent Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC), according to President Petro Poroshenko. This comes after, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople granted a “tomos on autocephaly” to the UOC – in essence de-jure religious independence from the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC). Ukraine has for most […]

Long-strained Sino-Japanese relations might have entered a “new historic phase”, as Japan’s Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and China’s President Xi Jinping expressed their shared willingness to transform the dynamics of bilateral relations “from competition to collaboration” during the official meeting in Beijing on October 26, 2018. On the same day, Abe Shinzo and Chinese Prime […]

Over the past weeks, Sri Lanka has been swept by political turmoil. On October 26, the incumbent Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe, was sacked by President Maithripala Sirisena in a surprise decision that has been described as a constitutional coup. Wickremesinghe, who is largely viewed as India-friendly, was replaced by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, a politician […]