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Asia Unbound

CFR experts give their take on the cutting-edge issues emerging in Asia today.

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Thailand’s Education System Continues to Decline

by Joshua Kurlantzick
Anti-government protesters clash with police near the Government house in Bangkok November 24, 2012. Anti-government protesters clash with police near the Government house in Bangkok November 24, 2012 (Damir Sagolj/Courtesy Reuters).

Amidst all the chaos in Bangkok over the Pitak Siam rally —a group of monarchists opposed to the Yingluck government who were supposed to bring hundreds of thousands of supporters into the streets— another, similarly important piece of news about Thailand’s decline emerged. As it turns out, the Pitak Siam rally was mostly a bust. Only about 20,000 supporters actually turned out to rally sites in Bangkok, a far cry from the hundreds of thousands of people who came out in 2006 for anti-Thaksin rallies that ultimately helped precipitate the 2006 coup. Read more »

America’s Global Future on the Chopping Block

by Sheila A. Smith
Students from Harvard Kennedy School cheer as they receive their degrees during the 360th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts May 26, 2011.

Students from Harvard Kennedy School cheer as they receive their degrees during the 360th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts May 26, 2011. (Brian Snyder/Courtesy Reuters)

Japan’s disasters, and our efforts to sustain our support, were the focal point of discussions at the U.S.-Japan Conference on Cultural and Education Interchange (CULCON) meeting I attended two weeks ago. Gathered there were the leading administrators for university, foundation, and people-to-people programs that sustain the U.S.-Japan relationship.

The news on Japan, of course, is difficult given the tragedy of this spring, and all of those who attended had stories to tell of the dampening impact the disasters, especially the nuclear disaster, has had on travel to and study in Japan.

The harder nut to crack, however, will be the impact of fiscal constraints on our ability to invest in the next generation of educators on Japan. Across the board, funding is disappearing in the United States to sustain education, exchanges, and research on Japan.

Read more »