Asia-Pacific will continue to be one of the most vibrant regions on the planet in 2021. Social protests will mark the political agenda in South Asia, while East Asia will face the umpteenth change in strategy to denuclearize North Korea. For its part, the waters of the Indo-Pacific will continue to unrest with the creation of an increasingly defined front against China. In addition, the year will be marked by the regional effort to distribute a vaccine against the coronavirus, not without political calculations.


If Asia was the first region where covid-19 was detected and spread in 2020, in 2021 it will be in the spotlight due to the logistical effort to vaccinate its population against the virus. But there will be more concerns in the Asia-Pacific countries. Inequality in the south of the region, the increasingly evident clashes between China, the United States and their allies, and a Northeast Asia marked by the nuclear threat and quarrels between neighbors will continue to mark the agenda as before the pandemic.


South Asia, standing up for civil rights


It doesn't happen too often, but when civil society in Asian countries gets organized, it often puts their rulers on the ropes. Hong Kong's spirit of protest, which in 2019 and 2020 tried unsuccessfully to preserve its civil liberties vis-à-vis China, has permeated Thailand. Thais have been protesting since June against the abuses of power of the Government, heir to the military junta that led the country between 2014 and 2019 after a coup. During that time, the military reinforced its presence in the institutions by imposing a Constitution that reduced the power of the political parties.