miércoles, 1 de julio de 2020


The best of Asia Society.
June 30, 2020

First up: Last week, Asia Society held the 2020 Global Talent, Diversity, & Inclusion Virtual Symposium, a two-day event that brought together global thought leaders to address how companies and institutions can stand against racism as well as manage the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ll have complete coverage of the program soon. But for now, watch Asia Society President and CEO Josette Sheeran’s conversation with Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League.

This week: An icon for press freedom in the Philippines faces her biggest challenge yet; how the “romance went bad” between the U.S. and China; and an essential reading list about racial justice.


CURRENT AFFAIRS

Maria Ressa on Press Freedom in the Philippines: 'Death By a Thousand Cuts'

The Philippine journalist Maria Ressa has long been accustomed to working under difficult — if not impossible — conditions. As the CEO of Rappler, an independent website frequently critical of President Rodrigo Duterte, Ressa has resisted intense pressure — and even threats to her physical safety — to halt reporting on (among other subjects) the Philippines’ brutal crackdown on drug crimes. Her work has made Ressa a widely admired icon of press freedom at a time when such freedoms seem to be under severe threat in her country.

But the embattled journalist may be facing her greatest challenge yet. Earlier this month, a Philippine court found Ressa and another journalist guilty of “cyber-libel” for a 2012 Rappler article alleging that a prominent Filipino businessman had links to illegal drugs and human trafficking. Never mind that the law Ressa was accused of having violated did not exist at the time of publication: Prosecutors alleged that the correction of a typo in the piece two years later gave them jurisdiction. Ressa, who was released on bail pending appeal, could face up to six years in prison and an $8,000 fine.

In late May, Ressa spoke with NPR London correspondent Frank Langfitt about her situation — and the state of press freedom in the Philippines more generally — for a program produced by Asia Society Northern California. “Every day, I feel like Alice in Wonderland and the Mad Hatter are in charge,” she said, in reference to her case. She described how the constant flow of misinformation published on Facebook, a platform practically synonymous with the internet in the Philippines, has proved especially damaging. “Information is power,” she said. “But what happens if it’s manipulated?”

Ressa said that the erosion of press freedom in the Philippines hasn’t happened overnight, likening it to “death by a thousand cuts.”

“A free press is the foundation of every other right that we have,” she said. “If we lose that, then we’re no longer a democracy.”

More: You can listen to Ressa’s conversation in the latest episode of Asia In-Depth.

Image: Ezra Acayan/Getty Images



POLICY

A 'Romance Gone Bad': The Battle Between Donald Trump and Xi Jinping

In their new book Superpower Showdown, Wall Street Journal reporters Bob Davis and Lingling Wei trace the U.S.-China relationship from the early 1990s to the present day, a period that encompasses China’s accession to the World Trade Organization as well as the trade war launched by the Trump administration.

In this conversation with Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Wendy Cutler, and Clete Willems, former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, Davis and Wei describe the U.S.-China relationship as a “romance gone bad” — and assess what the present tensions might portend for the two countries going forward.

More: The Spring 2020 update from The China Dashboard, a quarterly look at China’s progress in implementing economic reforms, is live. Asia Society Policy Institute President Kevin Rudd and Daniel Rosen, founding partner of Rhodium Group, assess China’s economic trajectory in a piece for Project Syndicate. And Rudd, Rosen, and Bloomberg Chief Economist Tom Orlik shed light on this subject in a recent ASPI conversation — you can watch the complete video here.

Image: Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images



ASIASTORE

A Racial Justice Reading List

As we continue to mourn the many lives lost to and threatened by racism and violence, we also must continue to do the work of educating ourselves about racism. Titles to read about racial justice, diversity, equality, and inclusion include Ibram X. Kendi's How to be an Antiracist, Ijeoma Oluo's So You Want to Talk About Race, Erika Lee's America for Americans, and many more. See featured titles at AsiaStore.



ETC.

The North Korean Cyber Threat, Zoom’s Capitulation to China, Democracy vs. Authoritarianism

  • Asia Society Policy Institute Vice President Daniel Russel provided in-depth analysis of North Korea’s cyber capabilities in a Q&A with Business Insider.
  • The latest ChinaFile conversation reacted to the news that Zoom, the ubiquitous video chat software, acceded to China’s request that it block accounts belonging to prominent survivors of the Tiananmen Square attack. 
  • Three experts on China — Kevin Rudd, Asia Society’s Orville Schell, and UC San Diego’s Susan Shirk — discussed the implications of China’s recent high-level political gathering in Beijing.
  • Asia Society and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology convened a two-day panel discussion examining the impact of COVID-19 on, respectively, the scientific and business communities. 
  • An episode of the Asia In-Depth podcast featured a conversation between author and journalist Fareed Zakaria and Rudd assessing whether democracies or authoritarian countries have more skillfully managed COVID-19.
  • Two prominent voices of the food community — John Wang and Timothy Hsu — joined Asia Society's Kelly Ma to discuss how food acts as a unifying force in times of crisis.
  • Asia Society Policy Institute Senior Fellow Richard Maude and former Deputy Governor of Jakarta Sandiaga Uno explored the impact of COVID-19 on Indonesia’s economy and society.
  • Renowned Bangladeshi photographer and activist Shahidul Alam shared his work and discussed the power of the image to tell a story in a conversation with photographer, artist, curator, and activist Ram Rahman.

    Image: Getty Images


UPCOMING EVENTS

With the suspension and cancellation of in-person programming due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Asia Society is holding virtual programs on the virus as well as other subjects — please follow us on Facebook and Twitter for updates, and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
  • Jul. 9: Asia Society Australia will convene a private briefing with Andrew Goledzinowski, Australian High Commissioner to Malaysia, about the Southeast Asian country’s handling of the social, economic, and political effects of COVID-19.
  • Jul. 14: Asia Society Switzerland will present a conversation about the future of supply chains in the aftermath of COVID-19 with Rhodium Group Associate Director Agatha Kratz and journalist and author Mark Dittli
  • Jul. 14: Daniel Markey, senior research professor at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies and the author of China’s Western Horizon, will participate in an executive roundtable conversation on Chinese foreign policy organized by Asia Society Northern California.

    Image: Wikimedia Commons


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