Asia

Japan’s firm support for Ukraine in its war against Russia is expected to be tested after Kyiv expressed interest in working with Tokyo to produce Patriot interceptor missiles. Such a move is unlikely because it would require Japan to cross a sensitive line on exports of lethal weapons and complicate its regional relations, according to analysts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv was keen to work with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture Patriot...

A sudden crowd surge at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India’s Odisha state on Thursday left at least one person dead and many sent to hospital, a news agency reported. The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people gathered in the coastal town of Puri for the annual Rath Yatra chariot festival, according to the Press Trust of India. The festival is considered one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions. The centuries-old festival involves the idols of Hindu deities...

In a ruling that could expose carmakers to greater liability over India’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, an Indian consumer court has ‌ordered Maruti Suzuki to provide a new car to a customer who alleged mandatory E20 fuel damaged his car. The first-of-its-kind ruling is likely to be closely watched as legal experts said it could embolden other vehicle owners who believe the fuel has caused problems with their cars to seek compensation. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and carmakers –...

Senior Philippine officers from the armed forces have emphasised continuity among the military leadership, with the expected retirement of chief of staff General Romeo Brawner Jnr coming at a sensitive moment for President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The transition comes as Manila continues to face pressure from Beijing in the South China Sea and calls from several retired officers for the military to reconsider its support for Marcos. Whoever Marcos appoints to replace Brawner has to ensure that the...

Malaysia’s largest Islamist party was wiped out in Johor’s state election last weekend, but PAS is now trying to turn that defeat into bargaining power. Its argument is that supporters who had no PAS candidate to vote for helped deliver a landslide victory to Barisan Nasional (BN), the coalition led by Umno, its long-time rival for Malay-Muslim voters. The two parties have spent years competing for influence among Malaysia’s Malay majority, but they have also explored cooperation when it serves...

Ousted former prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s vow to return to Bangladesh despite facing a death sentence has raised the prospect of a dramatic comeback for her and the Awami League. Her potential return could revive the rivalry between the banned party and the ruling Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), while curbing further gains for Islamist political forces, according to analysts. Hasina, who has been living in India since her government was toppled by a student-led protest movement nearly two...

Lured by promises of good money working aboard a foreign fishing vessel, Akhmad left Indonesia and headed out to sea, enduring months of abuse and exploitation while being cut off from the world. Indonesia is one of the top contributors of labour for the global fishing industry with several hundred thousand migrant workers, according to government figures. Many are recruited online and assigned to foreign-flagged ships without being properly informed about their rights, leaving them vulnerable...

Singapore consumers are expected to spend an additional S$1.05 billion (US$815 million) annually in Malaysia’s Johor state once a cross-border rail link connecting the two sides in minutes opens, according to a new study. The study, released on Thursday by the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), the Restaurant Association of Singapore (RAS) and the Singapore Retailers Association (SRA), comes amid concerns from local businesses about cash flowing out to the city state’s northern neighbour,...

Jensen Huang, chief executive of US artificial intelligence chipmaker Nvidia, held a “yakitori summit” with Japanese executives from semiconductor materials and components companies while visiting Tokyo – a move appeared aimed at strengthening cooperation with local businesses. According to the Nikkei, Huang headed to a yakitori restaurant near Kanda Station in Tokyo, an izakaya specialising in grilled pork skewers and sake, on Wednesday. Located near Tokyo Station, the area is a popular...

The Retirement Fund Incorporated’s (KWAP) US$47.7 million investment in Indonesian agritech start-up eFishery was the victim of an orchestrated fraud, Malaysia’s finance ministry has confirmed. In a parliamentary written reply dated July 15, the ministry explained that KWAP’s July 2023 investment followed a robust evaluation and governance process. This included internal assessments, independent due diligence and the verification of financial statements by certified international auditors. KWAP...

The UN warned on Thursday that more than 500 people were feared dead following reports of two large shipwrecks off Myanmar since late June. The UN’s International Organization for Migration and its refugee agency UNHCR voiced alarm in a joint statement at reports “that two boats carrying more than 500 people may have capsized off the coast of Myanmar in recent days”. Preliminary information indicated that the two vessels in question departed from war-torn Myanmar’s Rakhine state in late June,...

For generations, jeepneys – brightly painted minibuses that are among the Philippines’ cheapest and most widely used forms of public transport – have run on diesel, but recent fuel shocks are forcing thousands of small operators and drivers to weigh volatile prices against the debt needed to go electric. Diesel prices spiked by nearly 5 pesos this week as renewed tensions in the Gulf threatened to strain the country’s public transport sector, adding fresh urgency to the uneven shift towards...

Japan has voiced concern about the United States’ campaign against the International Criminal Court (ICC), exposing a diplomatic bind for Tokyo as it seeks to defend a tribunal it has long championed without provoking its most important security ally. Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara told a press conference in Tokyo on Tuesday that Japan “places great importance on the eradication and prevention of serious crimes, as well as the upholding of the rule of law”. He added that Japan, the...

On July 12, a coalition of 14 nations – the United States, Philippines, Australia, Canada, Britain, Japan, New Zealand, and seven European states including Germany, Italy and the Baltic nations – issued a statement marking the 10th anniversary of the South China Sea ruling at The Hague in 2016. The document recycled familiar arguments, urging compliance with the ruling and framing it as a cornerstone of the rules-based international order. But beneath it lies a fundamental disconnect from...

Police in Vietnam said on Wednesday they had arrested three executives of a publishing house that released a book on Ho Chi Minh, the revered founder of the country’s Communist Party. The author of Stories with Thanh - A New Account of Light, former telecoms executive Nguyen Thanh Nam, was arrested on anti-state charges in early July, along with an influencer who promoted the book on his social media channels. The book, which has been recalled by its publisher under pressure from authorities,...

Thai police said on Wednesday they had arrested the manager of a boxing camp for trafficking underage boys for sex, and were searching for a Norwegian also believed to have been involved. Police raided the day camp in Rayong province, southeast of Bangkok, on Tuesday and took 12 children into protection, the Central Investigation Bureau said in a statement. The 28-year-old manager has admitted charges of trafficking minors under the age of 18 for sexual exploitation and soliciting sexual...

South Korea’s failed bid for Canada’s next-generation submarine fleet has exposed a growing problem for one of Asia’s fastest-rising defence exporters: price, speed and technology may no longer be enough. Analysts said the loss of the Canadian Patrol Submarine Project (CPSP) to Germany’s ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems showed how Nato security ties and pressure on member states to favour allied industrial bases were increasingly outweighing commercial competitiveness in decisions over major...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has threatened to deport any Israelis found at a self-styled “start-up society” in Johor, after online claims about the tech commune triggered a national security investigation. “We will not allow it,” Anwar told reporters on Wednesday. “If there are Israeli nationals, since we do not recognise Israel, they will be deported immediately.” The Network School, a co-living compound founded by former Coinbase executive Balaji Srinivasan in Forest City, came...

Two tankers carrying Iranian oil are signalling Pakistan as their destination – an unusual move that may be an indication they are seeking a safe place to wait as the US blockade takes effect. The Rani and the Amil, which are carrying a combined 1 million barrels of crude, switched their destination signals to Karachi on Tuesday, ship-tracking data show. The two vessels were already outside the Persian Gulf when Washington reimposed its naval blockade of Iranian shipping. It is unlikely the...

Malaysia’s unity government is holding firm in Putrajaya, but its uneasy alliance is fraying at the state level after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) moved into opposition in Melaka, even as it reels from a rout by federal partner Barisan Nasional (BN) in Johor. The split followed a constitutional amendment allowing Melaka’s government to appoint up to seven unelected assembly members with voting rights. PH’s five lawmakers opposed the bill, which passed 23-5 on Tuesday. Four...

The Philippines has begun holding active school shooter drills after a rare act of violence in Tacloban City last month during which two teenage students opened fire, killing three schoolmates and injuring 20 others. On Wednesday, at one educational campus in Manila, hundreds of students and teachers practised barricading classrooms with desks and chairs and staying silent as an armed actor wearing a black hoodie scoured the halls and rooms. “We acknowledge the increasing number of violent...

The feud between Samsung Electronics’ device-making and chipmaking divisions is deepening, as employees in the smartphone and home appliance businesses are expressing anger over a nearly 100-fold compensation gap between them and employees in the chipmaking division. Samsung Electronics Company Union (SECU), which is mostly made up of employees in the appliance-making Device Experience (DX) division, will hold a rally under a “same company, same rights” slogan at the company’s plant in Suwon,...

New Zealand’s interest in joining a newly signed defence pact between Australia and Fiji may mark the start of a broader hard security alliance covering the South Pacific, but analysts warn smaller states’ concerns are likely to go unaddressed. The Ocean of Peace Alliance, signed by Australia and Fiji on July 6, binds Canberra and Suva to come to each other’s defence if attacked. Days later, New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon welcomed the pact and signalled Wellington’s interest in...

A plan to cut the cost of domestic flights for foreign visitors to Nepal could end up making them more expensive for citizens, according to airline operators that warn against scrapping one of the country’s most contentious tourism pricing policies. Under Nepal’s two-tier airfare system, foreign passengers must pay in US dollars for domestic flights, with prices usually two to three times higher than for Nepalis and sometimes even more, depending on the route and season. In April, Minister for...

Phu Nhuan Jewellery, Vietnam’s largest listed jeweller, is facing a crisis of confidence after police detained the former head of its gem certification subsidiary over his alleged links to a transnational diamond-smuggling ring. Shares in PNJ, as the company is known, have plummeted more than 25 per cent since news of the investigation broke in early July. Police accuse Dang Ngoc Thao, the former director of wholly owned unit PNJ Laboratory, of involvement in a criminal network that allegedly...

A pilot of the major Japanese airline All Nippon Airways was sentenced to 20 months in prison on Tuesday for abusing his power to grope a female flight attendant after work. The Tokyo District Court ruled that Ryota Mise, 44, acted in a “mean and persistent manner” towards the victim when he took advantage of his position as a captain and touched her genitals at various locations in Takamatsu, Kagawa prefecture, in October 2023. The defendant had pleaded not guilty, with the defence arguing that...

Malaysia’s navy is preparing to take delivery of a warship fully equipped for anti-submarine, anti-air and electronic warfare – everything, that is, except a way to sink an enemy ship. After nearly a decade of delays, financial scandal and shipyard mismanagement the Royal Malaysian Navy’s first littoral combat ship is finally due in December. But it will arrive missing any anti-ship missiles. Norway’s decision to revoke the export licence for the planned Naval Strike Missile system has left...

Connectivity can be an ambiguous term. Different states use it in different ways at different times. In Southeast Asia, as in other regions where regional diplomacy exists in the backdrop of ever-stronger great power disputes, connectivity lies in the conflux of economics, trade necessities and the unyielding pressure of geopolitics. In few countries is this more evident than in Cambodia, where investment in transport logistics has been a political and diplomatic fixture for at least two...

Singapore’s Home Affairs and Law Minister K. Shanmugam and Manpower Minister Tan See Leng said on Tuesday they would donate to charity the damages awarded to them in their defamation suit against Bloomberg. In separate social media posts published on Tuesday night, hours after the High Court delivered its judgment, the ministers reiterated that the lawsuit was about protecting their integrity and reputations, as well as the standing of their ministerial offices. Earlier on Tuesday, the High...

Thousands of Indonesian free meals kitchens complained on Tuesday they had ⁠been left in the lurch ⁠by the government’s move to scale ⁠down President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme to save money. Jakarta is considering a potential budget cut of more than US$2 billion with reductions in the number of beneficiaries and kitchen operators. There are currently nearly 28,000 kitchens ‌and the National Nutrition Agency (NNA) plans to temporarily halt the addition of 13,000 new...