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Past issues of Asia Digest

© Asia New Zealand Foundation 2024

Common Ground: A Century of Cricket Connections Between India and New Zealand

The game of cricket is an international sport that has become one of the strongest connections between India and New Zealand.

Ten Years On: Inside the Legal Strategy of the South China Sea Arbitration

Carla Teng-Westergaard

Cricket as a Career in India

Two Countries, One Mountain: Peter Hillary on his father's bond with India

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Indian Film Festival Aims to Boost NZ–India Screen Ties

From the timeless classic Pakeezah to contemporary independent films, New Zealand's first Indian Film Festival celebrates the many faces of Indian cinema. Festival director Petrina D'Rozario hopes it will introduce Kiwi audiences to stories beyond Bollywood and open doors for greater collaboration. Farheen Hussain writes.

Opinion: How China wins the hearts and minds of Pakistan

Divya Malhotra

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the People’s Republic of China make for an unlikely alliance. One places faith at the heart of its constitution, while the other is governed by an officially atheist Communist Party. Yet nine in ten Pakistanis view China favourably, the highest rating of any country in the most recent Pew survey. In the following article, Dr Divya Malhotra offers an Indian lens on how Beijing won the hearts and minds of the Pakistani awaam (Urdu for "common people") through a careful calibration of strategic support and selective silence on sensitive issues.

Southeast Asia's Haze Crisis: Why the Fires Keep Returning

As thick smoke from Indonesia's forest fires spreads across Southeast Asia, schools have closed, air pollution has reached dangerous levels and millions are struggling with the effects. But behind the recurring haze lies a bigger question about Indonesia's peatlands, plantation industries and why the region has struggled to find a lasting solution.

Features

RNZ Investigative Reporter Anusha Bradley Named 2026 Jefferson Fellow

The Asia New Zealand Foundation's Asia Media Centre has selected Radio New Zealand (RNZ) investigative reporter Anusha Bradley as this year's Jefferson Fellow, one of the most prestigious international journalism fellowships available to Asia-Pacific reporters.

South Korea journalism internship adds invaluable skills to career toolkit

Foundation media intern Fergus Goodall-Smith says the three months he spent at Korea JoongAng Daily in Seoul gave him invaluable newsroom experience, while providing a closer look at South Korea and what New Zealand could learn from the country. Fergus, who completed a Bachelor of Communication at Victoria University of Wellington in 2025, says the experience has provided him with a toolkit of skills to advance his journalism career.

Frank Wilson: The Long View from Saigon

Carla Teng-Westergaard

A rocket at breakfast. A Vietnamese man smuggled out in a coffin. A city falling apart around him. In an exclusive interview with the Asia Media Centre, former New Zealand diplomat Frank Wilson recalls his first posting to Saigon in the dying days of the Vietnam War, and why, long before anyone else was looking, he knew Asia was New Zealand’s future.

Opinion & Analysis

Why New Zealand and ASEAN must build middle power momentum

To address global challenges and mounting uncertainties, New Zealand and Southeast Asian states must turn their “middle power moment” into momentum, writes professor of international relations at the Institute of Malaysian and International Studies, Cheng-Chwee Kuik.

Disaster Preparedness: Lessons from NZ and Cambodia

How does your community and the country you live play a role in the way you prepare for disasters? This is one of the many research questions engaging Cambodian researcher and University of Auckland honorary academic, Dr Chanrith Ngin. Dr Anita Perkins talked to Chanrith about what he has learned about disaster preparedness and the different ways New Zealand and Cambodia respond to disasters.

On the Road to Antalya, the World Is Mobilizing Everything Except the Money

Rizwan Basir

World leaders gather at climate summits, set ambitious targets and promise billions to fight climate change. Yet, the money rarely reaches those who need it most. With COP31 approaching, Rizwan Basir writes about how vulnerable countries are being forced to take on more debt to recover from disasters they did little to cause.

More opinion & analysis

Podcasts

Asia Insight: Common Ground - Melie Kerr

Asia Insight : Common Ground is a special series of interviews looking at the enduring sporting connections between New Zealand and India. In this episode sports journalist Stephen Hewson speaks with White Ferns captain Melie Kerr, arguably the greatest female cricketer New Zealand has produced. She's also been instrumental in the rise of the Indian Women's Premier League, playing for the Mumbai Indians.

Asia Insight : Common Ground - John Wright

Asia Insight : Common Ground is a special series of interviews looking at the enduring sporting connections between New Zealand and India, recorded as part of new research being released by the Asia New Zealand Foundation. In this episode sports journalist Stephen Hewson speaks with former New Zealand cricket captain John Wright, who was also the first foreigner to coach the Indian Men's side.

Asia Insight : Common Ground - Ajaz Patel

Asia Insight : Common Ground is a special series of interviews looking at the enduring sporting connections between New Zealand and India. In this episode sports journalist Stephen Hewson speaks with Black Caps spinner Ajaz Patel, who was born in Mumbai but raised in New Zealand. In 2021 Ajaz shocked the cricket world by taking all ten wickets in an innings - one of the games rarest feats. Ajaz spoke to Stephen from Leicester in the UK, where he has been playing county cricket.

Key issues

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