DNA research suggests that Māori originated from Taiwan. This week Te Kāea reporter Talisa Kupenga embarks on an Asia New Zealand Foundation-sponsored cultural exchange to the Island nation some 180-kilometres East of China. The exchange aims to explore the indigenous links and the potential for greater economic ties between Taiwan and Aotearoa.

The 21st century, however, belongs to Football 3.0 (the Asian era). Over the last decade, football has been in the midst of a shift eastwards. Countries including Qatar and states of the United Arab Emirates have built extensive sponsorship portfolios in the West, acquired overseas clubs, and successfully bid to host international tournaments. More recently, China has increased the pace of world football’s ‘Asianisation’.

On 7 October, President Obama signed an executive order lifting nearly all of the remaining economic sanctions on Myanmar’s government [...]  Despite China’s enduring influence over its neighbour, the United States enjoys several unrecognised advantages over the Asian giant, flowing from its substantial soft power, an asset China has failed to cultivate.

In many isolated communities around the world, basic cellphones serve as medics and smartphones as diagnostic clinics. Mobile devices, particularly inexpensive basic cellphones, expand the reach and effectiveness of health care in the developing world as health workers send text-based medical advice, keep patients’ records, monitor for epidemic outbreaks and keep account of medical supplies. 

Filipinos are the second largest Asian Pacific Islander group in Washington state. This year, the Filipino American National Historical Society (FANHS) established “1946: A Turning Point” as its theme, marking the 70th anniversary of the 1946 laws that brought us the Filipino American community that we know today.

The gig economy is alive and well, and disruptive innovation has empowered many to earn money driving for Uber or by monetizing their home as an AirBnB rental. But there is a deeper value and sustainable role in the start-up and entrepreneurship culture that is impacting the global landscape more than you may have considered.

The measure has already generated a dramatically increased number of tourists not only from Thailand but from across Southeast Asia. They have now become a major source of Taiwan's foreign-currency earnings, economic growth and development. Most importantly, it has expanded people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and a region previously little seen by outsiders. 

The conversation between Australia and our Asian neighbours is often one-sided [...] But the arts sector is developing a two way insight that has much more than just economic benefits. Delegates from across the Asia Pacific will gather in Adelaide this week to exchange information and ideas beneficial to the whole sector.