Asia is expected to lead the way in a post-COVID global economic recovery, but a new upsurge in COVID-19 cases highlights how the region is not out of the woods yet.

In the RCEP trade agreement, governments across Asia have charted an economic future for themselves – one that excludes the United States.

A President Biden would be unlikely to hit the ‘reset’ button in US-China relations, which suggests progress in Washington’s partnership with Hanoi.

A desire to diversify export markets has pushed Indonesia and Qatar closer together in recent years, but there’s still a lot of work to do before the bilateral relationship can truly flourish.

Vietnam is one of few nations expecting positive GDP growth in 2020. Given its apt handling of COVID-19 and ongoing US-China tensions, the country is now well placed to lead Southeast Asia’s economic recovery.

It was hoped the defeat of Abu Sayyaf and their Maute allies in Marawi in October 2017 would extinguish the threat of Islamist militancy in the Philippines. Three years later, ISIS-affiliated groups remain active.

Already heavily indebted to Beijing over Belt and Road infrastructure projects, the economic hit from COVID-19 has pushed Laos further into China’s sphere of influence.

Singapore has always followed the middle path in its US and China relations, but with the advent of a new Cold War-esque bipolarity, that path is rapidly narrowing.

The personal experience of activist Luon Sovath reflects a rapidly shrinking space for political dissent in Cambodia.

With the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party dissolved, Prime Minister Hun Sen’s eldest son Hun Manet is quickly rising through the ranks of the ruling Cambodian People’s Party.