Hello, 2016

A look at projections for the coming year


Akit Panda at The Diplomat: Seven events that will make 2016 start with a bang  Elections in Taiwan, uneasy courtships between Japan and South Korea, India and Pakistan, and between the Taliban and everyone else. That and the AIIB and ASEAN Community finally get rolling

Shotaro Tani at Nikkei China's economy continues to plateau, Indochina takes up the slack. South China Sea will start a churn over maritime security throughout the region

Korea Herald: The "Hot Peace" of 2016 Security and sovereignty issues will result in lots of barking, but little biting

Teo Chee Hean interviewed by ChannelNewsAsia: Terrorism, Cybersecurity, Haze, and the economy will be major foci, says Singapore's Deputy PM

SCMP Hong Kong braces for impacts of elections both at home and in Taiwan, as well as a hobbled economy

Kyodo News Service Optimism over Abenomics' incremental success may hit a wall over the coming Consumption Tax hike

Malcolm Farr: The Australian election will be a referendum on Liberal's fiscal stance; Malcolm Turnbull will have to stave off an increasingly appealing Bill Shorten with cautious economic policy while waiting on America's lead with foreign policy, and perhaps some minor drama from Tony Abbott

Tracy Watkins in the Dominion Post asks Kiwi leaders what their top concerns will be, including terror, TPP, and housing

Wild Card: Mongolia With Rio Tinto's Oyu Tolgoi mining project coming on line right in time for a rebound for copper, and the nation hosting the 2016 Asia Europe Meeting right after what will likely be a hotly contested parliamentary election, expect affairs in Ulan Bataar to gain a high profile in the coming year.