Asia

At the remote, mountainous frontier where the mighty Mekong carves the border between Myanmar and Laos, planners have sketched the outline of a mega dam. It would be the largest hydropower project ever built on the river’s mainstream outside China, but analysts suspect the study into it may matter more than the dam itself. A 34-month joint feasibility study for the 2,790-megawatt project was agreed on July 4 during Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing’s state visit to Vientiane. Officials from both...

The owner of a South Korean Michelin-starred restaurant is facing one year in jail for garnishing a palate-cleansing sorbet with black ants “to add a sour taste”, local media said. Seoul prosecutors requested the prison term for the anonymous owner of the unnamed eatery at a Monday court hearing for violating food safety regulations, the reports said. Under South Korean law, only 10 insect species are approved for human consumption, including grasshoppers and brown mealworm larvae. But the...

When global index provider MSCI warned in January that Indonesia risked being demoted from emerging to frontier market status, it unleashed a wave of volatility, sell-offs and wild trading swings. Six months on, Jakarta’s investment chief argues the real story is not about whether the country can earn investors’ trust. “For Indonesia, this is not about short-term market status,” Investment Minister Rosan Roeslani told This Week in Asia in written replies to questions. “It is about building a...

The chief of the Indonesian agency overseeing President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free meals programme said on Wednesday she had resigned, citing health reasons, the second leadership change at the beleaguered government body in just over a month. The ‌resignation of Nanik Sudaryati Deyang, who took over the National Nutrition Agency in June, comes after budget cuts and a criminal investigation into the free meals scheme, which has been dogged by logistical challenges, concerns about quality...

Indonesia’s long-stalled gas project in the North Natuna Sea is stirring back to life, with its new operator confirming that activities have resumed at a strategically sensitive field after years of commercial uncertainty and pressure from China. Prime Group, the Indonesian company that took over operatorship from Britain’s Harbour Energy, told This Week in Asia that “activities associated with the Tuna PSC have resumed in accordance with applicable regulatory requirements”. The PSC –...

An Australian woman has given birth to identical quadruplet girls after a pregnancy doctors described as incredibly rare. Jenitar Sau Na’amoana, who is 34 years old and already had four children, delivered the babies last week at Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital in Queensland state. “We are very excited to be able to care for this amazing little family, a big family now,” Dr Alexa Bendall, a maternal fetal medicine specialist who cared for Na’amoana, said in an interview released by the...

Pacific island nations are facing a security challenge in responding to China’s recent missile launch near Tuvalu and keeping their vision of a region as an “ocean of peace”, as analysts say the diverse nature of their ties with Beijing is complicating efforts towards a united response. On July 6, China said one of its navy’s nuclear submarines launched a “strategic missile” carrying a dummy warhead towards “relevant high seas of the Pacific Ocean”, describing the test as routine annual military...

Japan is turning to five lesser-used straits in Southeast Asia as insurance against the next maritime shock, with plans to create detailed nautical charts for ships to navigate through these waters and bring vital goods to its economy. Tokyo would work with Indonesia and the Philippines to chart their respective straits, the foreign ministry told the Yomiuri newspaper, as it stepped up efforts to mitigate disruption to global trade arising from the ongoing crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. The...

The Solomon Islands, widely considered China’s closest security partner in the South Pacific, will soon sign a deal allowing the US Coast Guard to patrol its waters with local police aboard, Prime Minister Matthew Wale announced on a trip to Washington to strengthen bilateral ties. While the South Pacific nation has deepened its ties with China over the past few years, particularly following the signing of a secret security pact in 2022, Wale’s visit underscored efforts to strengthen maritime...

Asia’s oil buyers are facing the risk of a second maritime chokepoint being disrupted after Iran-aligned Houthi militants threatened to impose a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia, even as shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain severely disrupted by the US-Iran conflict. Analysts said any serious disruption in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait could leave Asia with fewer alternatives for Middle Eastern crude, threatening Saudi shipments and increasing the risk of oil prices rising above US$100 per...

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has appointed army chief Lieutenant General Antonio G. Nafarrete as the next head of the armed forces, placing a veteran of the country’s internal conflicts in charge before a sensitive election in the Muslim south and amid continued maritime tensions with China. The choice points to continuity in security policy and puts the Armed Forces of the Philippines under an officer whose career has been closely tied to Mindanao, which is preparing for its first...

Indonesia ⁠has further reduced its ⁠budget for President Prabowo Subianto’s ⁠signature free school meals programme to 229 trillion rupiah (US$12.81 billion) from 268 trillion rupiah and more cuts are possible, senior officials running the project said on Tuesday. The programme is Prabowo’s most important ‌and expensive election campaign pledge and has been central to wider concerns about Indonesia’s fiscal health. Originally, it was allotted 335 trillion rupiah in 2026 with a target by the end...

Indonesia’s decision to join a new China-led artificial intelligence body has raised questions about how far Jakarta can push its digital ambitions without complicating its ties with Washington. For Indonesia, membership in the World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (Waico) offers a route to training, infrastructure and a bigger role in global AI governance as it seeks to boost technological development. But analysts said the move could also be seen as a political manoeuvre that...

A suspected gas explosion on Monday triggered a collapse inside a tunnel that was under construction at a hydropower project in India’s northeastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, leaving at least 11 people dead and 14 missing, officials said on Tuesday. State Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang, who visited the disaster site near the Chinese border, said the explosion was triggered by a build-up of methane gas. At least 27 people were trapped, including some who entered the tunnel to help with rescue...

Malaysia is close to overhauling its nearly 30-year-old cybercrime law and giving authorities long-sought tools to pursue online fraud, digital impersonation and AI-generated abuse, but experts say the bill’s impact will depend on whether investigators can enforce it effectively and prevent misuse of its powers. The Cybercrimes Bill 2026 was first tabled in parliament on June 22 and passed by the Dewan Rakyat, Malaysia’s lower house, on July 1. The Dewan Negara, the upper house, approved it on...

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has threatened to remove ministers and federal appointees who use public office to attack their own government partners, drawing a new red line as the ruling coalition’s rival camps collide again ahead of the Negeri Sembilan state election on August 1. Anwar said senior officials were free to campaign for their parties but must step down to avoid weaponising their official positions against allies in his unity government. “If they wish to do so, they...

New findings on Chinese financing in the Philippines are challenging the assumption that Beijing reduced its funding under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr because of worsening tensions in the South China Sea. Instead, Chinese capital had continued to support Filipino businesses in recent years, including a US$3.9 billion syndicated loan to telecommunications company Dito Telecommunity in 2023, the largest ever China-backed private-sector loan to the Philippines, AidData, a US-based research...

An attempted robbery outside a bank in Malaysia ended without any cash stolen after a security guard’s swift action secured 82,000 ringgit (US$20,000) inside an armoured van. Selangor police chief Commissioner Shazeli Kahar said the incident occurred at about 5.30pm on Monday while security personnel were transferring cash into the van in Bandar Bukit Tinggi, Klang. He said a man wearing a dark jacket and a motorcycle helmet approached one of the guards and threatened him with an object...

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. Malaysia’s US$500 million warship set for delivery, minus the missiles 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. 2. Did fear of...

Victims of transnational online scams in East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and New Zealand lost up to US$114.1 billion last year, a UN report said on Tuesday, with estimated losses at least tripling from 2023. Southeast Asia, especially Cambodia and Myanmar, has emerged as a regional hub for crime syndicates running fake romance and cryptocurrency investment schemes in which scammers – some willing, others trafficked – defraud internet users around the world, often from fortified...

India’s first privately developed orbital rocket has given the country’s fledgling commercial space industry a long-sought proof point, but analysts say Skyroot Aerospace must now show it can launch regularly, cheaply and reliably enough to win customers in a crowded global market. Skyroot’s Vikram-1 rocket lifted off on Saturday from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota in the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, carrying several customer payloads and in-orbit experiments on its...

Questions surrounding South Korean Defence Minister Ahn Gyu-back’s military service have resurfaced, with the government and his accuser offering conflicting accounts of what happened more than four decades ago. At the centre of the dispute is a gap in Ahn’s military record. His record shows he began mandatory service on November 5, 1983, and was discharged on August 31, 1985, amounting to roughly 22 months. Territorial defence soldiers at the time normally served for 14 months. His accuser...

Two hours from the tourist beaches of Bali, slavery is alive and well on the Indonesian island of Sumba, where people are still born into bondage. They work from dawn to dusk without pay, are passed on in marriage, and are sometimes beaten and raped by their masters. Yet most are resigned to their fate because their status “cannot be wiped away”, as one young slave – or ata – Kanisius Kanyali Hambarita said. Slavery has been illegal in what is now Indonesia for more than 160 years, but it...

Sri Lanka’s ⁠public health services and hospitals are battling the worst outbreak of mosquito-borne dengue in nearly a decade, and turning to the island nation’s armed forces to help curb the spread of the disease. The efforts range from air force drones tracking stagnating rooftop pools of water after monsoon rains to military and police officers helping to inspect homes, building sites and schools in a campaign to stamp out mosquito-breeding sites. With 53 deaths and 76,044 infections since it...

A top lawmaker from Australia’s far-right One Nation party has grabbed headlines after exploding at a misbehaving dog as he was grilled on live TV. Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce was being interviewed on national broadcaster ABC on Monday night when he interrupted the one-on-one to shriek: “Sit down!” “Sorry, it’s the dog,” he told the journalist. The errant pooch then interrupted the proceedings again, with Joyce saying: “I do apologise for this dog, it’s just started to bail...

Chinese tourists are being unfairly blamed for Kyoto’s overtourism crisis, according to a new report, even as data shows mainland visitor numbers have fallen sharply amid worsening ties between China and Japan. The report released earlier this month by the Kyoto City Tourism Association’s destination management organisation said many local residents assumed crowded public transport, congestion at popular sights and rising hotel prices were being driven by mainland Chinese tour groups. But...

Singapore’s acting minister-in-charge of Muslim affairs Muhammad Faishal Ibrahim resigned about a month after the prime minister learned of his improper interactions with a woman, a move observers say shows Lawrence Wong’s swift handling of the first scandal under his watch to contain any political fallout. They told This Week in Asia that while there was no affair in Faishal’s case, it made sense for the party to deal with the consequences quickly in case of leaks as the woman was a member of...

Malaysia is stepping up surveillance on its eastern flank, pushing ahead with plans for a long-range radar at a frontline South China Sea outpost and launching newly operational drones. The upgrades reflect Kuala Lumpur’s bid to improve its ability to detect threats as the Philippines revives its claim over Sabah state in Malaysian Borneo and Chinese patrols persist near its offshore energy fields. Defence Minister Mohamed Khaled Nordin said on Sunday that the radar would be installed on Swallow...

India’s riot police baton-charged protesters in New Delhi as they tried to march to parliament on Monday, escalating a protest over irregularities in major examinations. Protesters ran for cover as police in blue riot gear charged at them near the Jantar Mantar protest site. The protesters are demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan over the irregularities, including question paper leaks and technical glitches. “We want the government to hear us, not silence us,” said...

North Korea’s top diplomat was in Moscow this weekend for talks analysts say likely focused on fresh ammunition and missile shipments to feed Russia’s war in Ukraine, while also laying the groundwork for a possible visit by Kim Jong-un. Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met Vladimir Putin on Sunday, more than two years after Russia’s president had invited Kim to Moscow during their landmark summit in Pyongyang in June 2024. On Sunday, Putin expressed fresh gratitude for North Korea’s assistance in...