Amnesty International's recent estimates of world executions pegged China as responsible for over 1700, or 72% of the world's executions for 2008. Eva Pils, a REVIEW contributor and assistant professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong, met with REVIEW Multimedia Producer Saul Sugarman and discussed these numbers and the criminal process within China. According to Ms. Pils, while the criminal process has improved in China, she does not see the rate of executions dramatically decreasing any time soon.
Posted June 25, 2009

Haseenah Koyakutty, a freelance Southeast Asia correspondent, spoke recently with the Prime Minister of Thailand Abhisit Vejajjiva. The exclusive interview dealt largely with how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) should handle the junta in Burma in the wake of the recent trial of Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Mr. Abhisit is the current chairman of Asean, which advocates engagement with the regime in Burma, which calls the country Myanmar. Below are excerpts of the interview.
Posted June 16, 2009

HO CHI MINH CITY – U.S. President Barack Obama and his team are “moving smartly” to set policy toward Asia, said former U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte in an exclusive interview with the Far Eastern Economic Review.
Posted May 2, 2009

Joe Stiglitz is a rock star in China. Last Friday, the Nobel laureate in economics and Columbia University professor elicited gasps of admiration from throngs of admirers when he addressed students and faculty at Renmin University.
Posted March 24, 2009

Published online in early December 2008, "Charter 08" is a blistering indictment of Chinese Communist Party rule. It lays out a bold, detailed vision of a new China: one with the rule of law, multiparty elections, and the separation of powers. I talked to Zhang Zuhua, one of the drafters of Charter 08, in Beijing last Dec. 26. In that interview, he made clear that Charter 08 was intended only as a political blueprint, and that reform could take decades, even generations. "We don't expect this change overnight," he said.
Posted February 6, 2009

REVIEW Deputy Editor Colum Murphy recently sat down with Thailand's new Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who told Mr. Murphy that he will not "return power to the people" until calm returns to Thailand's political scene and the economy is fixed.
Posted January 23, 2009

There are no paparazzi visible on the hillside above Lee Teng-huis home in the Shihlin suburb of Taipei, but his aide points out where they stake out the house with their long lenses. While the former president is officially retired"two golf bags stand ready by the carport"he remains a political force to be reckoned with. Expelled from the Kuomintang party he once led, Mr. Lee is now the "spiritual leader" of a small party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union, and he is still jockeying to expand its influence.

Less than 12 hours before Thailands smooth as silk military coup of Sept. 19 2006, REVIEW deputy editor Colum Murphy met with the kings closest advisor, General Prem Tinsulanonda, at the chambers of Thailands Privy Council.

Striding into the Chinese restaurant of Singapore’s historic Fullerton Hotel, Chee Soon Juan hardly looks like a dangerous revolutionary. Casually dressed in a blue shirt with a gold pen clipped to the pocket, he could pass as just another mild-mannered, apolitical Singaporean. Smiling, he courteously apologizes for being late—even though it is only two minutes after the appointed time.

As the Association of South East Asian Nations meets in Singapore, it is under pressure from outside governments and from some of its own citizens to put more pressure on Burma (also known as Myanmar), one of its newest member states, to stop the crackdown on the recent democracy protests. While the confabs atmosphere will be peaceful " protests are not tolerated in Singapore itself " the contentious question of how to push the junta toward political reform is sure to be raised behind closed doors. Will this involve ASEAN participation in sanctions against the Burmese junta?