A survey that interviews just 159 or 160 compatriots is probably not the ideal way of judging how an entire country thinks, but so few opinion polls emanate from Laos and so few international pollsters are interested in it that the latest State of Southeast Asia survey, from Singapore’s ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, is arguably the … Read more
Laos took over the presidency of ASEAN in January and already faces its first major test. How will it approach the issues — tensions in the South China Sea, escalating problems in Myanmar, and the growing rivalry in the Pacific between the United States and China — that its predecessor, Indonesia, was unable to fully … Read more
The Mekong was once a river teeming with fish, providing food security for millions of poor farmers as well urban centers. These days, that river of abundance has disappeared, replaced by forlorn fishers who say they’re lucky if they can secure a catch at all, as more and more hydropower dams are being installed. A … Read more
Myanmar’s military junta has sent a senior official to a major meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) for the first time since late 2021. According to reporters, Marlar Than Htaik, the permanent secretary of Myanmar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is attending this week’s ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Laos. The two-day informal … Read more
China’s increasingly assertive posture in the South China Sea and escalating violence in Myanmar topped the agenda for Southeast Asian diplomats at their meeting in Laos on Monday, with the Laotian foreign minister expressing guarded optimism that progress could be made this year on both acrimonious issues. Lao Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith told reporters that … Read more
Laos, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has appointed a veteran diplomat as its special envoy to Myanmar ahead of the bloc’s foreign ministerial retreat in Luang Prabang later this month. Citing an “informed diplomatic source,” Thai PBS reported on Sunday that Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith had appointed Alounkeo Kittikhoun, … Read more
Most mornings your columnist must scroll through feeds of the latest Southeast Asian news headlines. The feed on Laos is, to put it mildly, beginning to get tiresome. For how many months can you read the same headline, “Lao PM Introduces New Measures to Tackle Inflation” or “Lao PM Highlights Key Measures to Address Economic … Read more
The United States, United Kingdom, and Canada have imposed coordinated sanctions against 14 individuals and entities for their involvement in Southeast Asia’s monstrous online scamming industry. According to a statement from the U.K. government on Friday, the sanctions target nine individuals and five entities for their involvement in human trafficking connected to online “scam farms” … Read more
There was a palpable sense of apprehension among onlookers as Indonesia passed the gavel of the ASEAN chairmanship to Laos at its summit in September. Diplomats and observers alike worry that Laos, a diminutive communist state currently facing debilitating macroeconomic instability, may not be able to smoothly navigate the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) … Read more
Authorities in Laos have deported 462 Chinese nationals suspected of committing crimes including human trafficking, the latest sign of a sweeping regional crackdown on cyber-scam operations. Yesterday, Radio Free Asia (RFA)’s Lao-language service reported that the Chinese citizens were arrested on November 28 during a raid in the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ) in … Read more