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September 07, 2025
 

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SOUTHEAST ASIA

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh (second from left), the businessman Dang Thanh Tam, (third from left), and Eric and Lara Trump (center) attend a groundbreaking ceremony for a new Trump hotel and golf course in the Hung Yen Province of Vietnam on May 21.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
May 26, 2025
Why Vietnam ignored its own laws to fast-track a Trump family golf complex
Hanoi faces intense pressure to strike a trade deal that would head off Trump’s threat of steep tariffs, which would hit about 30% of Vietnam’s exports.
At a calligraphy class in Hanoi, Hoang Thi Thanh Huyen slides her brush across the page to form the letters and tonal marks of Vietnam's unique modern script, in part a legacy of French colonial rule.
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 26, 2025
'It's in our blood': How Vietnam adopted the Latin alphabet
The history of romanized Vietnamese links the arrival of the first Christian missionaries, colonization by the French and the rise to power of the Communist Party.
People walk past a cannabis dispensary in Bangkok on Friday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Crime & Legal
May 26, 2025
Surge in cannabis smuggling prompts Thailand to tighten rules
Dispensaries will be allowed to sell cannabis only to those with licenses or with prescriptions from medical professionals when proposed changes to existing rules take effect.
The ASEAN logo is displayed with Kuala Lumpur's skyline in the background on Friday ahead of an ASEAN summit in the city.
BUSINESS / Economy / FOCUS
May 24, 2025
U.S. tariff tensions test Southeast Asian leaders at regional summit
ASEAN leaders will express deep concern over U.S. President Donald Trump's tariff blitz when they meet at a summit Monday, according to a draft statement.
A worker handles photovoltaic cells at Irex Energy JSC's manufacturing facility in Vung Tau, Vietnam, on July 15, 2019. The U.S. International Trade Commission has concluded that solar cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam injure the domestic industry.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2025
U.S. clears way for tariffs on $13 billion of solar imports
The U.S. International Trade Commission has concluded that solar cells and modules imported from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam injure the domestic industry.
It was reported that Malaysia would deploy 3,000 units of Huawei’s primary AI offering by 2026.
BUSINESS / Tech
May 21, 2025
Malaysia downplays Huawei deal as U.S. checks China’s AI reach
The move underscores the Asian nation’s delicate position in the U.S.-Chinese AI race.
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.
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.
‘Confugenics’ and East Asia's demographic crisis
East Asia’s fertility plunge is driven not just by financial costs but by perfectionist cultural expectations that burden parents with intense educational and social demands.
Japan prince comes of age as succession crisis looms
Prince Hisahito concludes his his elaborate "kakan no gi" coming-of-age ceremony at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Saturday.
Bangladesh is a South Asian time bomb
Many Bangladeshis hoped that the overthrow of long-time leader Sheikh Hasina last year would revitalize the country’s democracy after an authoritarian lurch under the “iron lady.” Instead it has led to proliferating human-rights abuses, intensifying repression and widespread Islamist violence.
Japan to experience blood moon lunar eclipse on Monday
A blood moon is seen during a partial eclipse in the sky over Lake George near Canberra on March 14.
Japan's $550 billion investment pledge outlined in MOU
U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Ryosei Akazawa, Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, sign trade agreements on Thursday in Washington.
London’s calling and sumo’s top division — along with Hello Kitty — are ready to answer
Yokozuna Hoshoryu and Hello Kitty, an ambassador for sumo's upcoming tour to London, at Tokyo's Kokugikan on Tuesday
Resonac creates 27-member consortium to pursue advanced chip developments
Representatives from member companies of JOINT3, a consortium working together on semiconductor-related developments announced by Resonac, pose for a photo in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Haru Nemuri’s radical new album refuses easy listening
Musician Haruna Kimishima, better known as Haru Nemuri, confronts Japan’s politics, nationalism and censorship on her recent output.
Overseas sluggers step up to bat in small-town Hokkaido
The Betsukai Pilot Spirits welcomed new players (left to right) Yuta Yamanaka, Roman Guthrie, Scott Bellina and Leo Jiminian this year, pictured here with Yassir Lachkar of the Ishikari Red Phoenix.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.
We are pleased to announce the winners of the 6th annual Sustainable Japan Award.

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