Indo-Asia-Pacific

Illuminating the Peripheral

Western mainstream media outlets largely frame Asia in terms of its economic, ideological, political, or military significance to the West. Thus, they highlight issues such as tariff wars, free trade agreements, and the development of nuclear weapons, as well as focus predominantly on powers like China, India, and North Korea, often neglecting peripheral countries like Mongolia, Sri Lanka, and much of Oceania. Such coverage also tends to portray the people of Asia as poor, provincial, parochial, and deprived of all agency. While parts of Asia have struggled with government oppression, economic inequality, and considerable social conservatism, this remains an incomplete and monolithic picture of what is one of the largest, most diverse, and most dynamic regions of the world.

The Caravel’s Indo-Asia-Pacific section aims to dispel such narrow depictions of Asia and Oceania and provide readers with a more comprehensive, nuanced understanding of the region. Drawing on local and non-Western sources, writers bring attention to important yet under-reported regional issues, including efforts to combat waste in Southeast Asia, legislative debates over gun control and voluntary euthanasia in New Zealand, and how climate change is playing a role in China and Taiwan’s diplomatic tug-of-war over the Pacific Islands.