Asia

A former Indonesian minister has dismissed claims of giving preferential treatment to Chinese firms and wooing investors with policies undermining the country’s sovereignty, amid furore over an airport inside a major industrial cluster that risks becoming a “state within a state”. Luhut Pandjaitan, a key architect of ex-president Joko Widodo’s mineral downstreaming strategy, said China’s technological prowess and deep pockets made it an ideal partner for propelling the local economy as others...

China’s role in any future reunification of the Korean peninsula should not be assumed, a South Korean analyst has warned at a peace forum in Hong Kong after being asked if Bejing is a reliable partner to help advance the goal. Sung Ki-young, chief research fellow at the Institute for National Security Strategy, told the Korean Peninsula Peace Forum on Wednesday that both China and the United States were reluctant to rapidly or radically alter peace and stability on the peninsula, meaning major...

Yoon Suk-yeol’s botched attempt to impose martial law last year plunged South Korea into its worst political crisis in decades, providing fertile ground for disinformation to grow. A common refrain, posted on right-wing forums, amplified by YouTubers and echoed by lawmakers: China was to blame. Yoon supporters claimed Beijing had infiltrated protests, funded his impeachment campaign and manipulated online opinion ahead of the June snap election that brought opposition leader Lee Jae-myung to...

The Philippines’ first family has signalled its readiness to open its finances to scrutiny after allegations that President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s son received a disproportionate share of public works funding, deepening a political crisis that has already forced several senior officials from office. Such financial inspections – known locally as lifestyle checks and used to detect unexplained wealth among public officials – have taken on new urgency as the government confronts the widening...

More than 1,400 people have been killed across South and Southeast Asia in a week of catastrophic floods, exposing how rising global temperatures are amplifying extreme weather, even as international negotiations to phase out fossil fuels stall. Successive storms, cyclones and relentless rains have triggered catastrophic flash floods and landslides in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, overwhelming local authorities already operating at the limits of their capacity. While...

HSBC Holdings, the biggest lender in Hong Kong and Europe, has appointed veteran accountant Brendan Nelson as group chairman, according to its filing to the Hong Kong stock exchange on Wednesday. Nelson, 75, has been serving as interim chairman since October 1, replacing Mark Tucker, who stepped down to become non-executive chairman of insurer AIA. The appointment surprised the market after HSBC CEO Georges Elhedery said a day earlier at a global banking summit in London that Nelson was not...

Thailand and Cambodia took their renewed border dispute to a United Nations forum on landmine prohibition in Geneva this week, each vying for international support as their ties continued to unravel. Both governments used the meeting of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, also known as the Ottawa Convention, to appeal to the international community. Cambodian Senior Minister Ly Thuch met International Committee of the Red Cross vice-president Gilles Carbonnier on the sidelines of the...

Police in New Zealand are waiting for nature to take its course after a man allegedly tried to smuggle a NZ$33,000 ($19,000) pendant out of a jewellery store by swallowing it. The 32-year-old man, who has not been publicly named, is accused of eating an ornate Faberge octopus pendant at Partridge Jewelers in Auckland on Friday. Evidence of the alleged theft had yet to emerge, police said on Wednesday. “At the time of his arrest he underwent a medical assessment, and an officer is assigned to...

Thailand on Wednesday relaxed decades-old alcohol sales restrictions, allowing consumers to buy wine, beer and spirits during previously prohibited during certain afternoon hours in a six-month trial. The predominantly Buddhist country still maintains strict alcohol laws, limiting sales to specific hours and banning them on religious holidays. Liquor stores, bars and other purveyors were banned from selling alcohol from 2pm to 5pm, but the eased rules permit sales from 11am to midnight during...

Indonesia is facing renewed calls to curb deforestation and tighten oversight of forest concessions after a rare tropical cyclone tore across Sumatra, unleashing floods and landslides that have killed more than 700 people and left hundreds missing. The disaster has prompted a nationwide debate over whether the tragedy was driven primarily by climate change-fuelled extreme weather or by decades of ecological destruction in a region that has been transformed by plantations, mining and large-scale...

Opium poppy cultivation in war-torn Myanmar has surged to its highest level in a decade, rising 17 per cent in the past year as conflict and economic hardship push more farmers into the illicit trade, the United Nations said on Wednesday. Poppy cultivation climbed to 53,100 hectares (131,000 acres) this year from 45,200 hectares in 2024, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report, underlining Myanmar’s position as the world’s main known source of illicit opium amid declining...

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung on Wednesday praised the citizens who confronted martial law troops a year ago, saying their collective defence of democracy made them worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize. Speaking at a ceremony marking the first anniversary of the attempt by impeached president Yoon Suk-yeol to impose military rule, Lee described the incident as an unprecedented test of South Korea’s democracy that the public overcame peacefully. “I am convinced that we, the people of the...

The search for missing Malaysia Airlines flight 370 will resume on December 30, Malaysia’s transport ministry said on Wednesday, more than a decade after the China-bound flight disappeared in one of the world’s greatest aviation mysteries. Flight MH370, a Boeing 777, was carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew when it vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing in 2014. Multiple search operations for the plane have been conducted since then but all proved fruitless. The most recent search in the...

Thousands of Filipinos returned to the streets over the weekend to protest against the country’s flood control corruption scandal, but the smaller turnouts compared with earlier demonstrations have stirred concern that the movement may be losing steam. Political analysts said Sunday’s modest crowds reflected a combination of fatigue and disillusionment among activists in the Philippines. They warned that dwindling public mobilisation could ease pressure on President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s...

India revoked its order to smartphone makers on Wednesday to require the installation of a state-run cybersecurity app days after the plan triggered a major backlash from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s opponents and privacy activists over surveillance fears. The Indian government had confidentially ordered companies including Apple, Samsung and Xiaomi to install new phones with an app called Sanchar Saathi, or Communication Partner, within 90 days, Reuters was first to report on...

Masato Watabe made no effort to hide the killing. A little over an hour after he held his hand over his victim’s mouth until she was no longer breathing, he called the emergency services. Taken into custody, 79-year-old Watabe admitted to police that he alone was to blame for her death. Instead of blanket condemnation, however, Watabe has attracted sympathy in Japan, which is struggling to come up with solutions to a rapidly ageing population and growing pressure on families to take care of the...

Google’s YouTube said it would obey Australia’s world-leading ban on social media accounts for children under 16, a capitulation which means all the most popular platforms with young users have agreed to comply after campaigning against the law. Google initially received an exemption on grounds its main purpose was video viewing and education, not social networking. Canberra later broadened the scope of the ban to include it following complaints by other platforms. “We will comply with the law...

A year after former president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law, South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK) is pushing ahead with a bill to create a separate court dedicated to handling cases linked to the decree, in response to widespread public distrust of what critics describe as a “biased” judiciary. President Lee Jae-myung warned on social media ahead of the December 3 anniversary of the decree: “If we leave hidden acts of insurrection as they are, insurrection will certainly...

With domestic profits narrowing and production capacity expanding, China’s firms are continuing to widen their overseas footprints in search of new, more lucrative markets. In this series, we examine China Inc.’s next phase of “going global” and the complex, challenging international environment its companies have chosen to enter. China, known as the “world’s factory” after decades spent manufacturing and shipping much of the world’s consumer goods, is now going a step further: as a number of...

The ADB’s new program fits right into the Philippine government’s plans for transition mining – to the detriment of Indigenous communities.

In one of the attacks, a drone was reportedly used to drop grenades on Chinese workers.

The plan’s primary goal seems to be attracting international data center investment – even at the cost of abandoning regulation.

Chinese officials detained an Indian national for 18 hours at Shanghai airport, claiming that her Indian passport was not valid as she is from Arunachal Pradesh.

The long-suppressed Tiwari Commission report on the 1983 Nellie massacre has finally been released, but early responses suggest it may ignite debate on demographic change rather than accountability for one of India’s deadliest episodes of mass violence.

The recent M5.5 earthquake occurred outside the better known seismic hazard zones and is a wake-up call to boost preparedness.

A merchant selling “gel blasters” is the latest person to face serious criminal charges for possession of seemingly harmless guns. 

India’s aviation regulator said on Tuesday it was investigating Air India after the airline operated an aircraft eight times without a valid airworthiness review certificate, a document issued annually that ensures compliance with safety standards. The regulator did not name the aircraft type but its news release’s title referenced the registration code of an Airbus A320, and a person with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed the case in fact concerned the single-aisle jet. Airbus did not...

A year after the illegitimate declaration of martial law, the conservative People Power Party is still justifying Yoon’s decision.

What, exactly, is “Central Asia” today?

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s sweeping effort to modernise Saudi Arabia’s economy draws direct inspiration from the Singapore model pioneered by Lee Kuan Yew, a senior Saudi political adviser has said. Mohammed Khalid Alyahya, an adviser to Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, described the late Singaporean leader’s pragmatic and results-driven governance as a template for Riyadh’s ambitions. “We have studied [Singapore] for 50 years – the way the country has invested in...