Asia

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. Anger in Malaysia as Liow pays fine, has money-laundering charges dropped The revelation that an alleged Malaysian scam kingpin was released after paying 10 million ringgit (US$2.4 million) fine has sparked public outrage over claims of preferential treatment for a man...

Pentagon policy chief Elbridge Colby has pressed Southeast Asian nations to join a “flexible realism” strategy in the Indo-Pacific, as the United States prioritises practical defence cooperation and deterrence over ideology. Speaking at a forum in Manila on Monday, Colby said he would travel to Jakarta, Bangkok and Phnom Penh as part of his first official trip to Asia, delivering a message he called “realistic and perhaps bracing, but also reassuring”: that America’s interests were “more engaged...

Yoon Jin-woo had never gone to Seoul World Cup Stadium to watch FC Seoul, the city’s team and the club that calls South Korean football’s symbolic home its own. But on Sunday night, he made the pilgrimage from the suburbs of Gimpo to see Manchester City and Atletico Madrid, two European clubs whose pull in South Korea rivals, and often overwhelms, interest in the domestic game. The 21-year-old and his friends were among 50,000 fans who filled the stadium with City’s light blue and Atletico’s...

When S* enrolled at Newcastle University Medicine Malaysia (NUMed Malaysia) in the Southeast Asian nation, the British-born Pakistani student believed the five-year medical degree would give him a realistic route into Britain’s National Health Service (NHS). The pathway was never formally guaranteed, but S said NUMed had highlighted a decade-long record in which students who applied for the UK Foundation Programme (UKFP) – the supervised training route for medical graduates – had secured...

South Korea may have been steadfast in its support for Ukraine against Russian and North Korean forces, but Kyiv’s request for air defence systems could prove to be a step too far for Seoul to accept. In addition to South Korea’s legal and policy limits on arms transfers to countries at war and its own defence needs, providing such weapons to Ukraine could further strain its ties with Russia, according to analysts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged South Korea to provide air...

As drone strikes on Wildberries warehouses across Russia continue, the company moves to increase its presence in Kazakhstan

Six months ago, it was unclear whether trilateral discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye would produce a formal agreement. They now have. 

In Vienna, judges have now rejected four names from Dushanbe's 18-person extradition dossier.

Taiwan and other Indo-Pacific targets could be next.

When Singaporeans tuned in to watch the annual National Day Parade on Sunday, an AI-generated short film depicting a zombie apocalypse version of the event has generated buzz in the city state. The four-minute-long Bersama Majulah, a spin-off from the human-written, artificial intelligence-generated Spore Fall video series, shows a spore pathogenic outbreak spreading across the fictional city of Lionara, which bears resemblance to Singapore’s skyline complete with the Marina Bay Sands,...

The region's maritime borders are hotly contested, but on land there's the real risk of conflict, too.

South Korean chipmakers are evaluating Chinese equipment as a hedge against shifting export rules from Washington.

The Philippines and the United States are marking the 75th anniversary of their defence alliance with a renewed pledge to step up joint drills as geopolitical tensions in the region continue to simmer. While the allies are moving towards more frequent planning for maritime security cooperation and deterrence, there are still questions about Washington’s long-term commitment to the security of the Philippines and the broader region, according to analysts. At an annual meeting to strengthen...

A string of deadly motorcycle accidents around Malaysia’s biggest Yamaha RX-Z gathering has intensified calls for the annual event to be scrapped, but enthusiasts say the backlash unfairly conflates a vast owners’ community with illegal street racers. More than 200,000 devotees of the discontinued motorcycle converged on Terengganu, on Malaysia’s east coast, earlier this month for RXZ Members 8.0, reflecting how the modest two-stroke bike has become a vivid badge of identity for a culture with...

The ⁠United States is ⁠not disengaging from Asia and ⁠is instead “digging in” to maintain a favourable balance of power in the Indo-Pacific, but wants its partners to shoulder more responsibility for their defence, a senior Pentagon official said on ‌Monday. Seeking to counter concerns about Washington’s reliability, Elbridge Colby, Undersecretary of Defence for Policy, reiterated the US interest in the region as he called for greater burden-sharing and “partnership, not dependency”. “America is...

Landslides and floods caused by non-stop monsoon rains have killed at least 12 people in the Philippines, while eight more were missing and thirteen injured, authorities said. More than half a million people in 33 provinces have been affected by the southwest monsoon that has been enhanced by two tropical cyclones, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council. The agency also reported hundreds of damaged homes and infrastructure, with about 98,000 displaced from their...

A Malaysian lawmaker is offering a 5,000 ringgit (US$1,200) bounty for the person responsible for an arson attack which left an elderly woman in critical condition in Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur. The 62-year-old counter staff suffered 50 per cent burns to her body after an unidentified individual doused her in what police believe was petrol and set her on fire at a lottery shop in Kepong, a suburb some 14km (nine miles) from the city. Kepong MP Lim Lip Eng said the attack was an “act of...

Indonesia’s top Islamic clerical body has warned men not to wear “women’s clothing” for Independence Day festivities despite a long-standing tradition of men in dresses playing football as part of the annual fun. Amid a rising tide of anti-LGBTQ sentiment in the Muslim-majority Southeast Asian nation, the influential Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) said in a statement such behaviour was “haram” or forbidden. The MUI said its intervention was “an effort to prevent the covert campaign of the...

An Indonesian minister has called for better protection of students after nearly 1,000 weapons were found at a private school in South Jakarta. Police seized 995 airsoft guns and one live firearm from a school run by the Harapan Ibu Islamic School Foundation on Friday, Antara news agency reported. The foundation’s former chair, identified only by the initials IWD, has been called in for questioning. IWD had been dismissed amid allegations of misuse of foundation funds, according to the Jakarta...

A former Thai MP on Monday shot dead a local government official in broad daylight over a financial dispute before being arrested and confessing to journalists at the police station. The shooting came less than a week after a teenager’s deadly rampage at a school in the same province reignited debate over gun control. Chalong Riewrang shot at a senior provincial official and his driver, said Major General Dejrapee Kongdee, the police commander of Nonthaburi, which borders Bangkok. I followed him...

By giving the deposed Bangladeshi PM a platform to lash out at the present regime from Indian soil, India has signaled that it still stands with its old friend.

If the early rounds of talks focused on terror threats to U.S. security, the last two rounds included discussion of the BLA and TTP – threats to Pakistan’s security.

Bangladesh says that joining the Saudi-led defense coalition does not pose a threat to its relations with Iran.

Malaysia is seeking to elevate its economic partnership with South Korea beyond traditional manufacturing and trade by positioning itself as a long-term strategic partner in high-value industries, ranging from semiconductors and AI to electric vehicles, renewable energy and the fast-growing global halal economy. Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA) director Redzuan Abd Rahman and Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE) trade commissioner Mohamad Termizi HJ Piee...

The haze is back in Malaysia – with at least two states registering unhealthy air readings on Monday as raging forest fires in neighbouring Indonesia send clouds of smoke northwards. Transboundary haze is a long-standing problem in Southeast Asia, particularly affecting Malaysia and Singapore due to their proximity to Indonesia, where vast tracts of forests and agricultural land become fire hotspots during the dry season. A wildfire scorched 550 hectares (1,360 acres) of land in the Bromo...

The ruling follows a Supreme Court decision in June that limited courts' ability to challenge TPS designations.

A fire in Indonesia’s ⁠Mount Bromo National Park ⁠in East Java ⁠that burnt 550 hectares (1,360 acres) has been extinguished, according to an official on Monday, but there are new hotspots near the caldera. Gatot Soebroto, head of the local disaster mitigation agency, said authorities had found new fires in ⁠areas around the caldera covering some 20 hectares. Mount Bromo is ‌an active volcano, and is a popular tourist destination and best known for its “sand sea” ‌caldera. The national park...

Pakistan’s foreign minister said a new defence agreement his country signed with Saudi Arabia and Turkey was not directed against any country and remained open to other nations in the region. The landmark Mecca Joint Defence Agreement was signed on Friday by the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif as the three countries seek to deepen security cooperation amid heightened tensions between the United States and...

Landlocked Laos needs counterweights to its massive neighbor, China, if is to avoid being paralyzed by debt. The most obvious choice is Vietnam.

The military-backed government is pushing for full readmission to ASEAN, while rejecting outright the bloc’s Five-Point Consensus initiative.