Asia

Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks in Moscow ⁠on Tuesday with ⁠Myanmar’s junta chief-turned-president, Min Aung ⁠Hlaing, discussing a wide range of issues including prospective energy deals. Russia is the first non-neighbouring country Min Aung Hlaing has visited since becoming Myanmar’s president in April, a sign of the two countries’ ‌deepening ties in the face of pressure from the West. In remarks after the meeting, Putin described Min Aung Hlaing as a friend of Russia and said the...

A proposed partnership between Indian industrial giant Reliance Industries and British aerospace engine maker Rolls-Royce could mark a breakthrough in India’s decades-long quest to develop a fighter jet engine, analysts have said. But they caution that money and manufacturing capabilities alone would not be enough to overcome the technical challenges of manufacturing such an engine. On Friday, the two companies announced their “strategic intent” to form a partnership, saying they would explore...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has put his anti-corruption drive at the centre of his presidency, but questions over his late father’s estate taxes and the family’s past ill-gotten wealth have prompted critics to question his commitment. Last month, Marcos pledged in his address to Congress to continue fighting alleged irregularities in flood-control projects, stressing that the campaign would be a test of whether his administration could hold even powerful allies to account. The...

Pakistan’s Supreme Court ordered on Tuesday that jailed former prime minister Imran Khan be moved to hospital for medical checks, after a petition by his lawyers over claims of poor health. Justice Shahid Waheed said 73-year-old Khan, who had been in jail since 2023 on corruption charges, would be shifted in the next two days to Shifa International Hospital in the capital Islamabad. Khan and his wife, spiritual guide Bushra Bibi, were both sentenced late last year to 17 years behind bars. There...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing on Tuesday, as the Southeast Asian leader seeks an economic reboot for his war-ravaged country and fresh supplies of fertiliser, oil and weapons. A pariah to much of the West over his 2021 coup and role as army chief during the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya Muslim minority, Min Aung Hlaing has nonetheless found friends in Beijing, New Delhi and Bangkok over recent months. That followed a heavily criticised election won...

After years of concern over students using artificial intelligence to cut corners, Singapore’s universities are embracing the technology, driven not just by changes in the classroom but by pressure to prepare graduates for an economy that increasingly prizes AI literacy. But analysts say educators still face the challenge of ensuring students use AI to sharpen their critical thinking rather than relying on it for quick answers and guidance. On August 11, the National University of Singapore...

Men in military fatigues identical to those worn by Japan’s Ground Self-Defence Forces (SDF) are reportedly prowling evacuated communities in Kumamoto prefecture to loot abandoned homes and businesses in the aftermath of last month’s earthquake. An official at the prefectural government confirmed media reports of “fake SDF personnel” attempting to enter properties in affected areas, although she said the authority’s immediate priority was still to find shelter and provide food and medical care...

Thailand’s justice minister pledged on Tuesday to review pardon criteria following backlash over the release of an 85-year-old drug trafficker who served less than a decade of a life prison sentence. Laota Saenlee, a former anti-communist guerrilla turned drug runner linked to powerful Myanmar drug kingpins, was arrested by undercover officers in 2016 for selling crystal meth in the Golden Triangle drug-producing region. The rugged Golden Triangle zone – where Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet –...

Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown’s securing of another term, despite a dispute with New Zealand over his government’s deals with China, suggests voters are more focused on the cost of living than geopolitical concerns, analysts have said. Brown’s Cook Islands Party is on track to win a fifth consecutive term in government after securing 18 seats – up from its previous 12 – in last week’s election, according to preliminary results. That gives the party a three-quarter supermajority in the...

A decision has yet to be made on whether Malaysian authorities will file an extradition request for a local pilot arrested in Indonesia, according to Home Minister Saifuddin Nasution Ismail. Saifuddin said on Tuesday that investigations should be concluded first. “Let the Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) complete their investigations first and decide the next step forward, including the matter of extradition. He was arrested there and is subject to the laws of that country,” he...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. How Southeast Asia’s monarchies stay relevant in a volatile region The kings in Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia and Brunei have to be attuned to societal or economic changes to survive, analysts say. 2. ‘Islamic Nato’? Why Pakistan’s new defence pact has India on edge A...

A preacher and prominent conservative commentator has drawn backlash in Malaysia after questioning why a banner for a traditional Chinese festival was not written in Malay, the country’s national language. Ridhuan Tee Abdullah, an ethnic Chinese Muslim convert known for provocative commentary on race and religion, was criticised by social media users and a Selangor politician for casting a routine notice about the Hungry Ghost Festival as an issue of language and national identity. In a post on...

Southeast Asian exporters may soon face a heavier burden of proof to show they are not helping Chinese goods dodge US tariffs after the White House named nine countries in the region as part of what it called a global “Shadow Transshipment Network”. The warning came in a White House report titled “The Great Transshipment Scam”, which alleged that Chinese-origin goods were being routed through lower-tariff jurisdictions and re-entering the US market under new national identities. Analysts said...

An increasing number of hotels in Japan are offering “sleep tourism” experiences – stays designed to promote high-quality and restful sleep. The trend, which started gaining popularity overseas several years ago, provides hotels with an opportunity to attract new health-conscious guests. A sleep retreat plan called totono-ne, featuring the relaxing effects of tea, is proving a popular offering for Hotel 1899 Tokyo in the capital’s Shimbashi business district. The guests answer a set of simple...

A high school student carrying two pistols shot dead a fellow student before killing himself on Tuesday in an attack in a southern Philippine campus that he live-streamed using a body-worn camera, police and other officials said. It was the second fatal school shooting in the country in just two months. Hundreds of students were evacuated after shots rang out in the high school building of the Ateneo de Zamboanga University campus in the southern port city of Zamboanga. Two other people were...

Loaves of sourdough bread now fill the display window of Suchart and Friends Gun, a firearms shop-turned-bakery in Bangkok’s old quarter where pistols and rifles once lined the glass case. Like all the gun shops in Thailand, it ‌has been banned from importing firearms since a 2023 shooting at a Bangkok mall – one of several mass shootings, including at a school and a childcare centre, that have periodically prompted tighter regulations in a country with the second highest private gun ownership...

President Donald Trump’s decision to scale back joint military exercises with South Korea does not just slight a long-time ally but raises broader concerns about the security interests of the United States in Asia and elsewhere. Trump explained his decision by citing South Korea’s refusal to join his war against Iran and pointing to what he said was his good relationship with North Korea’s reclusive dictator Kim Jong-un, a transactional and personal approach to foreign policy that has defined...

Indonesia’s next electric-vehicle push will test whether President Prabowo Subianto can turn rising demand, nickel wealth and consumer subsidies into an integrated domestic industry that captures more value at home, or merely make imported and locally assembled EVs cheaper to buy. Analysts warn that without stricter local-content rules and stronger links between nickel processing, battery production and vehicle assembly, the incentives risk reinforcing Indonesia’s role as a large EV market...

Moscow said on Monday it had summoned the Japanese ambassador after Tokyo condemned President Vladimir Putin’s recent visit to Russia’s far-eastern Kuril Islands, which are also claimed by Japan. Russian-Japanese relations have long been dogged by the contested islands, known in Japan as the Northern Territories and seized by the Soviet Union in 1945. Putin, 73, travelled to the islands after visiting the nearby Russian island of Sakhalin, prompting Japan to summon Russia’s ambassador in...

Since Chinese container ships began plying the Northern Sea Route three years ago, the Arctic shipping lane has gained global importance. Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea later that year disrupted traffic through the Suez Canal – the fastest route between Europe and Asia – in what was the most serious conflict-driven disruption since the Arab-Israeli war nearly six decades earlier. The 5,600km (3,480-mile) Northern Sea Route spans Russia’s Arctic coast, from the Barents Sea to...

Russia is looking into a solution for a problem that has become hard for India to ignore: how to keep oil and other strategic goods moving when sanctions, war and maritime chokepoints threaten the world’s busiest energy routes. Moscow’s proposal for a direct rail link to India through Central and South Asia remains exploratory, but analysts say it points to a wider scramble by major powers to build trade corridors beyond the reach of the Strait of Hormuz, the Bosphorus and Western pressure. The...

US President Donald Trump’s call to “substantially” reduce US-South Korea military drills has revived speculation that he is trying to persuade North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un to attend another summit between them even though Kim has expressed no such interest. Trump’s comments in a social media post on Sunday came as South Korea and the US began their annual Ulchi Freedom Shield exercise on Monday, putting Seoul in an awkward position of defending the alliance while not undercutting his latest...

Malaysia may finally scrap the university law that generations of students have blamed for stifling campus dissent, but activists and academics say the harder fight will be over what comes next. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised to abolish the Universities and University Colleges Act 1971, better known by its Malay acronym AUKU, a law that has long sat at the centre of arguments over how much freedom Malaysian students should have to protest, organise and challenge university...

Global commercial real estate investment markets are roaring back to life. In the first half of this year, direct investment in commercial property rose 27 per cent in annualised terms. The sharpest increase was in the Asia-Pacific, where transaction volumes were up 38 per cent to US$92.5 billion, the strongest half-yearly performance on record, according to data from JLL. While there have been many positive surprises in Asian real estate since the eruption of the Covid-19 pandemic, the...

Thousands of people have rallied in Singapore against plans to build homes on two forested sites in a large public display of concern over how the land-scarce city state should balance housing demand with conservation. The projects have brought renewed urgency to a long-running debate over land use: activists say remaining mature forests should be protected, while the government says conserving more greenery would mean fewer homes for Singaporeans. Residents, nature lovers and conservation...

All pilots working for flag carrier Malaysia Airlines tested negative for drugs, owner Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) said on Monday, adding that its cabin crew would be tested next. The mandatory screening process was ⁠ordered after a Malaysian Airlines pilot was arrested in Indonesia on drug trafficking charges on July 28. Authorities found 26kg (57lbs) of the mind-altering drug MDMA in his luggage upon his arrival in Jakarta from Kuala Lumpur. Urine tests also showed the pilot had been under...

A simple pat on a child’s head has sparked debate in Singapore after an elderly man was shoved to the ground by a girl’s father. Police said on Sunday they had identified a 40-year-old man in connection with the incident at a food court on Saturday afternoon, CNA reported. “Members of the public are advised not to speculate on the incident or its circumstances, and to allow the police to conduct investigations and establish the facts of the case,” they told the broadcaster. The incident on...

A deadly stampede broke out at a Hindu temple in eastern India’s Bihar state on Monday after a snapped electric wire reportedly triggered panic among worshippers, officials said, killing seven people and injuring more than a dozen. The incident occurred near Ashok Dham Temple in Lakhisarai district, as thousands of devotees gathered to offer prayers on the third Monday of Shravan, one of the holiest months in the Hindu calendar. The period, which usually falls between July and August, is...

The Philippines is looking to India as a model of defence self-reliance as it continues building its capabilities to manage maritime disputes following the purchase of its first BrahMos missiles from Delhi. While India’s experience is useful, it is more practical for Manila to cooperate with Delhi in stages than push quickly to manufacture its own weapons, according to analysts. Speaking at a forum organised by Indian think tank Observer Research Foundation on August 12, the Philippine...

Australia is slowing the issuance of new “working holiday” visas popular with backpackers as the government looks at policies to cut migration to the country. “They are still being processed, but they are being processed more slowly than they were previously,” Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke said on Sunday. The visas allow people to come to Australia to work and travel for a set period of time, and are popular with European and Japanese citizens. Applications for people from 24 nations with an...