Asia

Singapore will push for connectivity in Asean in its role as bloc chair next year amid a challenging global environment, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong has said, as he warned about the United States and China navigating a new dynamic. At the Singapore Press Club Eminent Speaker Series on Monday, Wong noted that keeping communication lines open between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his American counterpart Donald Trump was important to reduce the risk of misunderstanding and miscalculation, but...

Malaysia ordered a crackdown on Monday against illegal businesses run by foreigners, joining a growing list of Southeast Asian nations rocked by similar operations amid simmering local resentment. In recent years, Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia introduced visa-free entry for foreign visitors following the Covid-19 pandemic in a bid to revive their flagging tourism, property and investment sectors. But last month, Thailand removed the 60-day visa-free entry for 93 countries and...

A powerful magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck southern Mindanao on Monday morning served as a stark reminder of the Philippines’ vulnerability to a major quake in Metro Manila, disaster experts said. The tremor, which triggered tsunami warnings along the southern coast, left collapsed buildings, damaged homes and debris-strewn streets in its wake. At least 32 people were killed and more than 130 injured, with scores still missing, local disaster authorities said. For disaster planners, the...

Chinese President Xi Jinping started his first visit to North Korea since 2019 pledging “unwavering” friendship and deeper ties with a country that boasts a growing nuclear arsenal and increasing ties with Russia. “No matter how times change or how the international situation evolves, the friendship between China and North Korea remains invincible,” Xi said in an article published on Monday by Rodong Sinmun, a state-run North Korean newspaper. The two countries should “strengthen exchanges at...

A 13-year-old Thai girl has confessed to killing her seven-year-old sister while arguing over a toy and a mobile phone, in a case that has attracted attention online because of the young ages of the suspects. Police were called to a village in Sangkhla Buri district, Kanchanaburi province, on May 30 after seven-year-old Nong Agnoon went missing. Her body was found in a rubber plantation about 600 metres from her home three days later, according to ThaiPBS. There were no signs of a struggle or...

A six-year-old boy in Thailand’s Nakhon Si Thammarat province died after he was attacked by his grandfather’s pet monkey, sparking concern in a country where exotic animals are often kept as companions. Nathan Ekkarat Srichan was walking alone to his grandfather’s grocery shop on Saturday morning when the fatal attack happened, the Thairath newspaper reported. Unaware of the danger, he came near the monkey, which was tied to two trees between the store and the house. The animal suddenly grabbed...

A bear roaming the streets of a Japanese city for three days forced the closure of nearly 100 schools on Monday, as dozens of hunters and officials searched for the animal. The city government of Utsunomiya, north of Tokyo, closed all 94 public primary and junior high schools in the area after receiving more than 10 reports of bear sightings since Saturday – including in a shopping arcade. “We have vehicles out to areas where a bear was seen to make people aware and to urge people to stay...

Foreign governments, international banks and multinational companies are increasingly tapping China’s domestic bond market, as panda bond issuance hit a record high in the first five months of the year. A total of 11 entities sold 14 panda bonds – yuan-denominated debt instruments issued by foreign entities in mainland China’s onshore market – worth 26.64 billion yuan (US$3.7 billion) in May, up 246 per cent from a year earlier and the highest level on record for the month, according to data...

A South Korean protest calling for a redo of last Wednesday’s local election over ballot shortages at polling stations has taken an unexpected turn, with some protesters demanding that actress and singer IU send coffee to the rally. The demand appears to stem from IU’s decision in 2024 to provide prepaid food and drinks for demonstrators calling for the impeachment of former president Yoon Suk-yeol over his failed martial law bid. The protesters calling for a new election, who are widely seen as...

The head of a Japanese IT firm has said that he created videos criticising rivals of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi in last year’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential race, after being asked by one of her aides to help her win the election. Ken Matsui, 33, said in a recent online interview that he was consulted by a secretary of Takaichi on how to “reverse” the lead of Shinjiro Koizumi, then a strong contender to win the LDP presidential election in October. “I proposed that...

Malaysia’s human rights groups have warned of rising hostility towards Rohingya refugees after a petition shared widely on social media calling for the community to be “removed” from the country amassed nearly half a million signatures. The petition, launched on Change.org late last month by an account using the name “Aku Anak Malaysia”, urges the Malaysian government to consider resettling the Rohingya in another country or providing “enhanced support in their home regions” in Myanmar. It...

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday migration levels were reducing, responding to an opinion poll showing a right-wing populist party ahead of governing Labor. Support for the One Nation party was 31 per cent, ahead of Labor on 30 per cent, a Newspoll aurvey published in The Australian newspaper on Monday showed. Albanese’s net approval rating has sunk to its lowest level since the 2022 election at minus 24, with 36 per cent of Australians satisfied with his performance,...

Cambodia has failed to dismantle much of its online scam industry despite a year-long crackdown that authorities said would eliminate it, according to an Amnesty International report that challenges official claims of success. The London-based rights group said it identified 86 scam compounds operating across Cambodia as of April, up from 53 a year earlier, and found evidence of state intervention at only 24 sites during the government’s campaign. That contrasts with official statements that...

A museum in Japan is facing accusations of “rewriting history” for replacing the Nanking massacre with the word “incident”, drawing criticism and reviving anger over the country’s wartime aggression. The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which previously resisted revisionist attempts, appears to have capitulated to a civic group’s pressure campaign following Thursday’s release of proposed exhibit changes by its operations council. Other amendments announced by the museum, which opened in 1996,...

At least 32 people were killed and more than 200 injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, toppling buildings, setting off landslides and sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets. One survivor told This Week in Asia the shaking was so violent “you couldn’t stand”. The casualty count remained fluid as rescue teams fanned out across Mindanao, with disaster-response officials reporting deaths from landslides, collapsed buildings, falling debris...

Japan appears to be edging ever closer to a referendum on its pacifist constitution, after a realignment of parliamentary forces delivered the supermajority needed to put the change to a public vote. For nearly eight decades, Article 9 of the 1947 constitution – drafted under Allied occupation and long treated as untouchable – has prevented Tokyo from formally maintaining a military with “war potential”. That article has outlasted every previous attempt to change it. But Japanese conservatives...

When foreign ministers of countries that are part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) gathered in New Delhi last week, the agenda looked familiar: supply chain resilience, telecommunications security and maritime domain awareness. The talking points have evolved, the initiatives have multiplied and the meetings have become routine. Asia is entering a new strategic era. However, its geopolitical debate remains stuck in the previous one. Across the region, governments are investing in...

The ⁠White House is considering ⁠a plan to buy the Chagos ⁠Islands from Mauritius, the Telegraph reported on Sunday. US officials have drawn up a proposal to bypass the UK and make their own deal to take control of Diego Garcia, the report said. The plan is among several options being ‌drafted by the White House, in a paper aimed at providing alternatives to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ceding sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, the report said. “President Trump has...

Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday in a fresh bid to restart negotiations between Iran and the US, as the American military said it shot down two more Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz that threatened international maritime traffic. The latest action came as the Washington presses for Iran to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries. The heaviest...

Indonesia has always been a favourite travel destination for Malaysians and visitor numbers are expected to increase with the neighbouring country’s currency hitting a record low. Melaka Tourism Association president Madelina Quah said the low rupiah presents an advantage for Malaysians travelling and shopping in Indonesia. “This will translate to cheaper holidays, shopping for weddings and buying of raw materials for imports against exports’ competitiveness,” she said. “Younger Malaysians...

For nine days, Nurul Nisa was crammed onto one of four fishing boats with 130 others, fleeing her village in Myanmar in search of safety. She was a child then, but she still remembers the crying, the sleepless nights and the hunger. “We had to drink seawater,” she said, recalling the journey she made with her mother and two sisters in 2010, after their village had been burnt down. To secure the four wooden fishing boats needed for the voyage, the villagers pooled their resources and sold...

Tey Yong How remembers running along the shores of eastern Singapore as a child, the sea breeze mingling with the smell of sizzling seafood. Birthday dinners here meant three or four tables pushed together, with cousins chasing each other between the chairs as the adults pulled apart succulent chilli crab. “My childhood memories will linger there,” the 47-year-old said on a recent Wednesday evening of the seafood restaurants at East Coast Park. “Whatever may become of it in the...

In Jakarta last month, many May Day demonstrations took place, but two stood out as reflections of the divisions among Indonesia’s trade unions. At the National Monument (Monas), tens of thousands of workers gathered at a rally with President Prabowo Subianto as the guest of honour. Several kilometres away at the People’s Representative Council complex, around 10,000 people assembled under a different banner: “May Day with the People”. Their stated position was an explicit refusal to be co-opted...

Jaslinda Saludin, the Malaysian hiker who went missing after descending Gunung Batu Putih mountain in Perak state’s Tapah two weeks ago, has been found and is now undergoing treatment. “Thank you to everyone involved, especially the police, Fire and Rescue Department personnel, NGOs, the Orang Asli (indigenous people) and all those who participated in the search operation,” said her husband, Haszman Othman, 61, who was full of gratitude over the successful rescue. He was met by the media at the...

Six years after the Ladakh crisis erupted in May 2020, triggering the worst military confrontation between India and China in decades, the two countries are attempting something that once seemed improbable: a diplomatic reset. The latest indication came late last month when officials met in Beijing for the 35th meeting of the Working Mechanism for Consultation and Coordination on India-China Border Affairs. The message emerging from the talks was positive. The two sides reaffirmed their...

Malaysia has staked its economic future on becoming Southeast Asia’s data-centre capital. It has also promised to slash fossil fuel use by 2050. Right now, those two ambitions are pulling in opposite directions – and gas is winning. There were 54 operational data centres across Malaysia by the end of 2024, with that number expected to rise to 81 by 2035, government minister Akmal Nasrullah Mohd Nasir told parliament last year. In the handful of years from 2021 and mid-2025, some 144.4 billion...

An ⁠American student ⁠who disappeared while on ⁠a family holiday in Japan was found dead outside Kyoto, his mother wrote in a social media post on Saturday. The body of James ‌Higginbotham, 20, was discovered in a mountainous area by a volunteer search-and-rescue group, Nancy Higginbotham wrote. A cause of death and further details were not immediately available. “Our family is heartbroken,” she said. “The grief we feel is ⁠impossible to put into words.” Higginbotham, an Alabama resident ‌and an...

Protesters outside a ballot-counting site in ⁠South Korea on ⁠Saturday rallied for a second ⁠day, demanding a re-run of local elections held earlier this week. Around 10,000 citizens were estimated to have gathered at the SK Olympic Handball Stadium as of 5.30pm local time, where votes were counted from Wednesday’s elections to pick mayors and local government officials and assembly members, Yonhap News Agency reported, citing an unofficial police estimate. Representatives at Seoul Metropolitan...

What is in effect Japan’s version of the Belt and Road Initiative is being rolled out at an accelerating pace. But unlike China’s global infrastructure initiative, which mainly takes the form of highways, railways and sea lanes, Japan’s project is all about energy networks and supply chains. It poses a further challenge to America’s waning economic and strategic influence in Asia, the world’s most populous, resource-rich and potentially powerful region. What is more, it is a cooperative venture...

Three social media platforms have been ordered to block access to 14 posts which “target the Indian community and undermine Singapore’s model of multiculturalism”, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said on Saturday. The police have issued disabling directions under the Online Criminal Harms Act to block access to the posts on YouTube, Facebook and X, MHA said in a statement. The direction required the platforms to “take all reasonable steps to disable access by Singapore users to these posts”,...