The increasing tempo of the debate and discussion of plans to erect ballistic missile defences (BMD) in Europe in recent weeks stands in stark contrast with the current lower-key treatment of comparable plans in Asia following similar debates there in the previous decade.

 The never-ending twists and turns of the debate over the lifting of the EU symbolic embargo on arms sales to China for all intents and purposes endured an ultimate spasm when all the top French Presidential candidates indicated their opposition.

The forthcoming December 11 parliamentary elections in Taiwan loom as a potentially decisive event in the tense and turbulent Cross-Straits relationship.

Within a few days of the confirmation of Susilo Bambang Yodhoyono as the first democratically-elected President of Indonesia, a high-level private group of prominent leaders of civil society visited several European capitals to press the need to help “nurture “ the process of reform and reconstruction of the largest Southeast Asian country after years of transition and crisis.