Asian Peace Programme

The 21^st Century will be the Asian Century. In Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, three of the four largest economies are already Asian: China, USA, India and Japan. Yet, success is not guaranteed. Pitfalls remain. Asia could well stumble again.

The biggest threat is the resurgence of war and conflicts. Asia still has many geopolitical hotspots. Any one of them could flare up. The recent flare-ups at the China-India border and on the Korean Peninsula demonstrate this. There is therefore a crying need in Asia to develop programmes that will help to preserve peace in Asia.

The Asian Peace Programme (APP) which will be housed in the Asia Research Institute (ARI) at the National University of Singapore, will try to promote peace in Asia. The APP will begin modestly. It will launch a monthly series of short, policy-relevant research papers that will throw new light on some of the difficult and unsettled conflicts in Asia. The papers will come from globally renowned scholars in the field of peace studies, conflict resolution and international relations. However, just as a tiny acupuncture needle inserted at the right point can have healing powers, APP will strive to make pragmatic concrete suggestions to improve the prospects of peace in Asia. Each month, a new essay will be posted on this website. Please feel free to share it far and wide to help prospects for peace in Asia. Read the full introduction