domestic policy

Cancellation on August 5 this year of the fundamental provisions of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution became one of the most important recent political events in the Indo-Pacific Region. It de facto means the elimination of the special status of the State of Jammu and Kashmir with mainly Muslim population (about 70%). From now on, the state is divided into two allied territories under the full control of the central government.

As we continue to follow the latest developments in the trade war between South Korea and Japan, we have noticed that both sides have been using an interesting tactic, i.e. playing the North Korea card. On the one hand, this suggests that Pyongyang is the biggest beneficiary of the animosity between Tokyo and Seoul, as they try to accuse each other of clandestine trading with the DPRK.

The Japanese-South Korean conflict that we recently discussed is developing, involving other countries and turning into one of the important factors impacting the overall picture of the political situation in Northeast Asia.

Currently in Kuwait, a small state surrounded by emerald-green waters of the Persian Gulf, there are ongoing active preparations for celebrating the 90th birthday of its Emir, Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The current energetic ruler of Kuwait, or the pearl of the Persian Gulf as the nation is sometimes called, will really turn 90 on 16 June 2019.

The visit by the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahathir Bin Mohamad, to the Philippines in March of this year once again raised the issue of ownership over Malaysia’s state of Sabah.
Although during the visit itself this problem was not discussed, afterwards Mahathir Bin Mohamad told journalists during an interview that there were no outstanding claims from either side, but an official statement from Manila said President Duterte’s view was that there were remaining grievances.

On 24 of March the first general election in 7 years was held in Thailand. It was meant to put an end to the 5-year rule by the military, who came to power in 2014 as a result of a coup d’etat.
It is worth highlighting straight away that the election did not shed any light on the future of politics in the nation, and instead generated an even more uncertain situation, which the ruling elite are now trying to rectify.

In the second half of May, in the region of the Indian and Pacific Ocean, two noteworthy events occurred. And they included the Australian federal election (on 18 May) and the end to the one-and-a-half month general election in India (on 23 May).

On 30 April 2019, the former Emperor of Japan, Akihito, abdicated, and the next day his 59-year-old son, Naruhito, took over the Chrysanthemum Throne. This signaled the end of the 30-year period in Japan’s modern history, known as “peace everywhere” (or Heisei), and the start of the new epoch, denoted by two Kanji characters, which, on transcription into the Latin alphabet, can be depicted by the letters Reiwa.