Clara Fong covers Asia and climate change for CFR.org. She previously conducted research on American democracy issues at the Brennan Center for Justice. Clara holds a bachelor’s degree in public policy and psychology and a master’s degree in international relations from the University of Chicago.
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The Taliban’s outright denial of women’s rights in Afghanistan has spurred a global push to combat gender-based oppression.
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Organized crime groups in Southeast Asia have seized on Myanmar’s instability amid civil war to establish a string of scam centers engaged in global online fraud operations.
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Disputes over overlapping exclusive economic zones in the South China Sea have intensified in recent decades, while the territorial row over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands in the East China Sea dates back to the nineteenth century.
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China is North Korea’s biggest trade partner and arguably has the most leverage over Kim Jong Un’s regime. Analysts say Beijing’s policies are focused on stability, though it signals ambivalence about its neighbor’s nuclear arms advances.
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Pakistan’s military is set to again play kingmaker in elections that will determine how the nuclear-armed country grapples with an economic crisis, political upheaval aggravated by the arrest of Imran Khan, and escalating terrorism.
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Scientists say governments need to act with more urgency to keep global warming in check. How much progress is possible at COP28?
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The United Nation’s ambitious development agenda aims to protect people and the planet via seventeen goals. But experts say governments aren’t doing enough to implement them.
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Countries will collectively need to spend trillions of dollars to reach their decarbonization goals and protect the most vulnerable nations from climate disasters, but experts say current funding levels fall far short of what’s required to stave off the worst effects of climate change.
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Negotiations between the United States and North Korea have proceeded in fits and starts for decades. But they have failed to halt the advance of North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs.
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Since 1992, when the United Nations recognized climate change as a serious issue, negotiations among countries have produced notable accords, such as the Paris Agreement. But leaders have struggled to maintain momentum and failed to slow global temperature rise.
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China and Russia have expanded trade and defense ties over the past decade, but they’re not formal allies. Experts say Russia’s war in Ukraine could be a turning point in the relationship.
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Beijing has tightened its grip on Hong Kong in recent years, dimming hopes that the financial center will ever become a full democracy.