Tag - asia

 
 

ASIA

People wait to vote as election officials (foreground) work at a polling station during midterm elections in Manila on Monday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 12, 2025
Philippines midterm vote begins as Marcos-Duterte feud and China row flare
The spotlight is on the Senate race, where the 12 winners will be jurors in Duterte’s impeachment trial, set for July when the new Congress convenes.
A man bikes past a wall of campaign posters on the first day of the campaign period for the May 12 midterm elections, in Manila on Feb. 11.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2025
China takes center stage in Philippines' feisty midterm election
The outcome could shape the country's strategic positioning over the remaining half of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr's six-year term.
Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing leaves Red Square after the Victory Day military parade in central Moscow on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 11, 2025
Myanmar junta chief meets China's Xi for first time
Beijing has long been eyeing Myanmar's resource-rich northern Shan state — now under rebel control — for infrastructure investment under its Belt and Road initiative.
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba meets with Vietnamese President Luong Cuong in Hanoi on April 28. Ishiba’s visit to Vietnam and the Philippines highlighted Japan’s enduring Indo-Pacific strategy amid rising regional uncertainty.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 8, 2025
Japan’s durable 'Free and Open Indo-Pacific' strategy brings stability
So while Ishiba’s visit to Southeast Asia may have just seemed like another round of trips during a holiday week, they were emblematic of something much more than that.
Workers operate sewing machines at a Thai Son S.P.  garment factory in Binh Thuan province, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, on April 10. For more than 70 years, many emerging nations, especially in Asia, have become the low-cost manufacturer to the U.S., the world’s biggest consumer.
BUSINESS / Economy
May 5, 2025
Global factories struggle to overcome Trump tariffs and uncertainty
Purchasing manager indexes across Asia, along with revised numbers in Europe, showed new or persisting contractions in factory activity in April.
A solar panel on display at a home improvement center in Bangkok
ENVIRONMENT / Energy
May 4, 2025
U.S. solar tariffs could drive Asia transition boom
China makes eight out of every 10 solar panels globally, and controls 80% of every stage of the manufacturing process.
Soldiers march during a parade marking the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War in Ho Chi Minh City on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 30, 2025
Vietnam’s Lam hails ‘profound’ lessons 50 years after end of war
Behind the flag-waving, the government is engaged in intense trade diplomacy with Washington, seeking to stave off a threatened 46% tariff that could hollow out its export model.
Trade minister Yoji Muto
BUSINESS
Apr 30, 2025
Japan keen to team up with ASEAN for free trade system
ASEAN said it will continue constructive dialogue with Washington while maintaining the rules-based multilateral trade system.
Podcast hosts Terence Chia (left) and Haresh Tilani discuss their show "Yah Lah But" in their studio in Singapore.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
Apr 30, 2025
Mic check: Singapore's podcast boom amplifies opposition voices
Mainstream election coverage of Singapore's opposition parties has improved over the past decade, with its news podcasts showing a willingness to feature alternative voices.
Japan's proposed "one-theater" defense strategy, linking the East China Sea, South China Sea and Korean Peninsula has raised concerns, particularly in South Korea, about its implications for regional security.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 30, 2025
Japan’s ‘one-theater’ defense concept rattles South Korea
Continuing expansion of SDF roles and missions is consistent with adoption of the "Free and Open Indo-Pacific" construct that guides Japanese security policy.
An investigation by World Rugby found that JRFU Chairman Kensuke Iwabuchi did not breach Asia Rugby's code of conduct.
MORE SPORTS / Rugby
Apr 25, 2025
Furious Japan seeks apology after 'no basis' found for chairman's Asia Rugby ban
World Rugby was called in to investigate in February when Asia Rugby banned Iwabuchi from its executive committee for a potential code of conduct breach.
Keen to end its reliance on rice imports, Indonesia wants to plant vast tracts of the crop, along with sugar cane for biofuel, in the restive eastern region of Papua. But environmentalists warn it could become the world's largest deforestation project, threatening endangered species and Jakarta's climate commitments.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability
Apr 22, 2025
Indonesia food plan risks 'world's largest' deforestation
Deforestation linked to the plan is already underway.
Multinational victims of scam centers, who were tricked or trafficked into working in Myanmar, stand on a vessel floating towards the Thai side of border via Moei River in Phop Phra District, Tak province, Thailand, on Feb. 12.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
Apr 21, 2025
'Cancer' of billion-dollar cyberscam industry spreading globally: U.N.
Even as Southeast Asian governments have intensified a crackdown, syndicates have moved within and beyond the region.
Cranes and containers are pictured at the Yantian port in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, China, on Thursday.
BUSINESS / Economy
Apr 21, 2025
China warns countries against striking trade deals with U.S.
Beijing will firmly oppose any party striking a deal at China's expense and "will take countermeasures in a resolute and reciprocal manner," its Commerce Ministry said.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (third from left) flanked by several members of his Cabinet in Magelang, Central Java, on Oct. 25, 2024. Prabowo's first six months in power have triggered alarm bells for activists worried about a return to the country's authoritarian roots.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 21, 2025
'Pandora's box': Alarm bells ring in Indonesia over rising military role
The developments have critics anxious that the country could hark back to the days of dictator Suharto, who ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for decades.
Kerwin Espinosa, son of the late mayor Rolando Espinosa, taking an oath during the Senate drug hearing in Manila. The country's elections commission, Comelec, recorded 46 acts of political violence between Jan. 12 and April 11, including the shooting of Espinosa.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 20, 2025
Money, power, violence in high-stakes Philippine elections
Analysts warned that violence will likely remain a fixture of the Philippines' political landscape.
Chinese President Xi Jinping meets with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 18, 2025
Xi meets Cambodian leader on final stop of regional diplomatic blitz
Xi wrapped up his Southeast Asia tour in Cambodia, where he signed new trade deals and pushed back against U.S. tariffs imposed under Trump’s latest “Liberation Day” policy.
Chinese President Xi Jinping waves upon his departure to Cambodia at the Bunga Raya VIP complex of the Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 17, 2025
Xi urges ‘Asian family’ unity as Trump seeks to confine China
The Chinese president seeks to keep countries from cutting deals with the U.S. at the expense of his nation.
Chinese President Xi Jinping during his visit to Hanoi on Tuesday. Xi is also visiting Malaysia and Cambodia as part of a charm offensive related to recent U.S. tariffs.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 17, 2025
Cambodia seeking China's financial support as Xi visits amid U.S. tariffs
Phnom Penh is a close partner of China, which has invested billions of dollars in projects including roads and airports and is the country's largest creditor.
A police car enters Insein prison before the release of prisoners to commemorate the Buddhist New Year in Yangon on Thursday.
ASIA PACIFIC
Apr 17, 2025
Myanmar junta to free nearly 5,000 prisoners in amnesty
The junta said 13 foreign nationals would also be pardoned and deported, without giving details of their identities or crimes.

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