US–Vietnam military relations have improved remarkably in recent years but talk of an enhanced alliance between Washington and Hanoi overlooks important geopolitical and historic nuances. Defence relations between the two countries turned a page in the early 2000s, when both countries moved beyond the legacy of the Vietnam War. Both countries began to actively explore new ways to work together.
Two months before the Sri Lankan presidential elections, few thought that President Mahinda Rajapaksa would lose. There was no formidable opponent from the opposition to challenge him, and, since his re-election after the war victory in 2009 for a second term in 2010, his party had won all the Provincial Council elections held on a staggered basis.
Since the release of the Shanghai Free Trade Zone blueprint in September 2013, plans for similar reforms in the rest of China have emerged — and are to be implemented within the next three years.
For some time now, Australia’s economy has been underperforming its peers.
The island nation of Japan is all set for better economic times as cheap oil and zero interest rates empower the economy for a year of growth! This, coupled with the nation’s weak yen, has set the stage for a long-term economic boost. This fiscal year the Japanese government is expecting some real economic growth, the target being around 1.5%. This is, of course, based on the premise that consumer spending will increase and capital investment will expand.
In late 2013 the Chinese authorities put together a reform agenda for the financial sector, focusing on reducing entry barriers, liberalising market mechanisms and improving financial regulation. This could be the final frontier of China’s financial reform, which — according to the plan — should make critical progress by 2020.
So why did the leaders decide to accelerate reform efforts in this area?
After an eventful few sessions, EM assets this week will be wedged between a US holiday on Monday and expectations ahead of the ECB meeting on Thursday. Bar any unexpected developments, we doubt there will be a lot of conviction for trades in the near term.
The recent demand for Singapore-based bonds within an already bloated private banking industry has revealed some major risk factors. Analysts have discovered that up to three out of every 10 notes sold in 2014 had yields upwards of 6 percent. The Halcyon Agri Corporation, a major player in the global rubber industry, recently approached its debt holders requesting for a waiver of interest coverage requirements in an attempt to smoothly slide out of its slump.
Vietnam’s diplomacy saw many successes in 2014, but also faced many challenges.
In 2014, Malaysia’s currency dropped to its lowest level against major currencies in over five years. Lower crude oil prices are to blame, resulting in a rapid depletion of its current account surplus. In addition, government data revealed that the value of oil reserves in Southeast Asia’s third-largest economy shriveled to an estimated 121 billion US dollars, low compared to other South East Asian oil exporting countries.
