Asia Rising
Asia Rising, the podcast of La Trobe Asia which takes a critical look at the key issues facing Asia's states and societies.
Episodes
Over the past decade, China has moved from maintaining a relatively modest nuclear deterrent of around 300 warheads to constructing hundreds of new missile silos and expanding toward a projected 1,000 warheads by the 2030s. This is happening alongside breakthroughs in nuclear energy and technology, positioning China as both a nuclear power and nuclear supplier on a global scale.
Guest: Dr Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan (Resident Sen...
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Rohingya refugees in Malaysia faced a surge of hostility. Online campaigns portrayed them as disease carriers, social burdens, and even threats to national security. This backlash didn’t just stop at refugees themselves—it expanded to target the organisations, institutions, and humanitarian norms that supported them.
Guest:
Ruji Auethavornpipat (Politics and International Relations, La Trobe Universit...
South Korea has unique security challenges when compared to many of its neighbours. Like many it lives in the shadow of giants like China and Russia, but the ever-present threat of North Korea is less than 50km from its capital, Seoul.
While its alliance with the United States remains important to Korea’s security and foreign policy outlook, there are many possibilities for stronger ties to allies and partners. This could present...
Taiwan sits at the heart of the Indo-Pacific, a vibrant democracy and global technology hub whose future has major implications for regional stability. Its position is complicated by the “one China” policy and growing strategic competition, making Taiwan’s international relationships more important than ever.
Guest: Dr Chen Ming-chi (Deputy Minister in Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs)
Recorded on 28th August, 2025.
When Hu Yaobang died in April 1989, throngs of mourners converged on the Martyrs' Monument in Tiananmen Square to pay their respects. Following Hu's 1987 ouster by party elders, Chinese propaganda officials had sought to tarnish his reputation and dim his memory, yet his death galvanized the nascent pro-democracy student movement, setting off the dramatic demonstrations that culminated in the Tiananmen massacre.
Guest: Robert L....
2025 has been a challenging year for international development. The abrupt dismantling of USAID by the United States’ Trump Administration, sucking $40 billion out of the aid system, as well as significant cuts in development budgets by the United Kingdom and European donors has massively reduced aid funding available.
This is having implications for multilateral organisations like the United Nations and World Health Organisation...
The United States has undergone profound changes in President Donald Trump’s second term, and these are affecting the world. America appears to be rejecting the very international system it helped create, with destabilising tariffs ushering in a new era of economic nationalism that threatens to reshape the Asian security landscape.
With multiple crises demanding attention in the Middle East and an ongoing war in Ukraine, we still ...
The past year has been eventful for South Korea. They've faced security dilemmas, tensions with with North Korea, an impeachment, and an important election - all events and issues that have made headlines around the world. But if this is the view from outside of the country, what does it look like on the streets of Seoul?
Guest: Sangmi Jeong (Research Professor, Korea National Diplomatic Academy).
Recorded 2nd May, 2025.
The 18 countries and territories across the Pacific are some of the most vulnerable to growing risks emerging from climate changes, especially the small island states.
Despite contributing less than 0.03% to global greenhouse gas emissions, the islands face devastating consequences, from sea level rise and loss of territory to unpredictable weather patterns to growing food and water insecurity.
India-Australia’s bilateral ties ar...
Many happy returns to the Dalai Lama who has just turned 90, but the reality that many are facing is that there may soon be a dispute over succession. The Dalai Lama’s supporters will choose their own reincarnated leader, but the Chinese government has long made it clear that the successor will come from China.
Guest: Assoc. Professor Ruth Gamble (Deputy Director, La Trobe Asia)
Recorded on 8th July, 2025.
South Korea faces a number of security challenges, living in the shadow of states such as China and Russia, and with its capital Seoul around 50km from the border it shares with North Korea. In times of contestation and with a new government in place it has the chance to reexamine its priorities and contribution to security in the Asia Pacific.
Guest: Dongkeun Lee (Policy Fellow, Asia-Pacific Leadership Network)
Recorded on 27th...
The Australian government has released a new roadmap aiming to bolster critical minerals co-operation between Australia and India. Crucial to the economy and productivity, the mineral trade, the plan aims to drive research and trade in both countries, but can the plan also address resource security and climate concerns?
Guests:
Ambika Vishwanath (DFAT Maitri Principal Research Fellow, La Trobe Asia)
Titiksha Vashist (Co-founder a...
High in the Himalayas the waters of Asia’s eight largest rivers intersect. The rivers of the Asian Highlands are central to the world’s weather systems and activities in their water catchments have shaped the human past and will shape the future. These rivers support more than three billion people and provide water for 85% of Asia’s populations, and what happens to Asian highland rivers is of global significance.
Today human acti...
The Asia-Pacific is an area of great power contestation, of an intense rivalry between major powers, particularly the United States and China. How influence and dominance intersect in the Asia Pacific has major implications for the politics, economies and militaries of the countries in the region.
Guest: Mike Bosack (Special Adviser for Government Relations,Yokosuka Council on Asia-Pacific Studies)
Recorded 29th April, 2025.
Australia's federal election has produced a significant majority for PM Anthony Albanese. While most of the campaign was dominated by domestic issues, the shadow cast by the Trump administration's highly destabilising policies was long.
The re-elected government faces the most complex international environment in decades with the ongoing wars in Ukraine and Gaza, an America led by a mercurial President who appears intent on wreck...
The past six months in South Korea have been eventful - a declaration of martial law, the impeachment of President Yoon Suk Yeol, but the country continues and now there is an election on the 3rd June. The election is heated, and there are still protests on the streets of Seoul.
How the votes could go, what is on the agenda, and how this will affect the world are all topics of debate.
Guest:
Dr Duyeon Kim (Adjunct Senior Fellow,...
It is two weeks until an Australian federal election in which the presiding Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, will meet the challenger Peter Dutton in a campaign that has been dominated by domestic issues, but overshadowed by Trump.
Guests:
Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Asia)
Professor Andrea Carson (Journalism, La Trobe University)
Recorded on 16th April, 2025.
Late last year the Chinese government announced it had approved the world’s largest and most expensive, hydropower project on the Yarlung Tsangpo River in the Eastern Himalaya, near its disputed border with India. The project would generate around 60 gigawatts annually, nearly three times the capacity of the Three Gorges Dam, and help them meet their energy transition goals.
What they actually intend to build and the impact it cou...
As President Donald Trump leads his second term, relationships between the US and Asian countries continue to evolve under his administration’s policies.
While there has been much focus on Europe's reactions to a more transactional leadership style in the US, less has been discussed about how it will affect trade negotiations, military alliances, and geopolitical tensions in Asia.
The United States, once a reliable ally to many,...
Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte was arrested on March 11, 2025, by the Philippine National Police and Interpol, acting on a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The warrant charges Duterte with crimes against humanity related to his administration's controversial "war on drugs," which resulted in thousands of deaths.
Guest: Associate Professor Kerstin Steiner (La Trobe Law School, La Trobe Universi...
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