Advertisement
Advertisement
-
This Week in Asia /

Opinion

Related Topics:
China Briefing
The View
The Bhumjaithai Party’‘s “Gang of Four” poster features Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, Foreign Minister Sihasak Phuangketkeow, Commerce Minister Suphajee Suthumpun and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas. Photo: Instagram.com/bhumjaithai_th
Thailand

Asian Angle | How to win an election in Thailand: stage a rebrand, rely on rural votes

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul put Bhumjaithai’s technocrats centre stage, while letting provincial barons run the real campaign.

Australia

Opinion | Australia needs to make its stance on the Iran attacks known

videocam
Artificial intelligence

Asian Angle | Southeast Asia needs AI sovereignty – the Grok scandal proved it

US-ally trade wars

Opinion | Southeast Asia, do not mistake Trump’s tariff defeat for a reprieve

One court loss won’t end the trade wars. But if ‘Peak Trump’ has arrived, the region’s negotiating hand may have just got stronger.

Vietnamese workers stitch apparel at a garment factory in Thai Nguyen province on July 2, 2025. Photo: AFP
Vietnamese workers stitch apparel at a garment factory in Thai Nguyen province on July 2, 2025. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Who will save the world from a US-China AI arms race?

Unrestrained military AI could doom us all. The window for a global middle-power alliance to rein in the superpowers is closing fast.

videocam
Cambodia

Opinion | Cambodia’s scam factory survivors find no escape in freedom

A government crackdown freed thousands, but with no passports or support, survivors have simply traded captivity for destitution.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Asean

Asian Angle | How Asean can resolve its Myanmar dilemma post-election

Asean should not discard the Five-Point Consensus, but translate it into a politically astute strategy of conditional engagement.

videocam
4
Vote counting takes place on January 25 in Yangon for Myanmar’s general election. Photo: Kyodo
Vote counting takes place on January 25 in Yangon for Myanmar’s general election. Photo: Kyodo
Vietnam

Opinion | Vietnam’s renewed nuclear power push faces formidable hurdles

Money, corruption, a lack of skilled staff and other factors may derail Hanoi’s goal of building its first nuclear power plant by 2031.

Thailand

Asian Angle | Thailand’s election will pass verdict on the architecture of elite control

After court rulings removed successive PMs, this election tests whether a popular mandate can finally survive the state’s veto traps.

Japan

Opinion | Honking for votes: inside Japan’s tradition of election sound trucks

During election season, sound trucks drive around Japan’s cities blaring out candidates’ names and the parties they are standing for.

Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance co-leader Yoshihiko Noda and local candidates attend an election campaign event for the February 8 snap election, in Yokohama on January 28. Photo: Reuters
China-Philippines relations

Asian Angle | South China Sea: 6 risks facing Philippines, China as conflict threshold lowers

From violent incidents to US missiles in Luzon, a ‘perilous new normal’ and vanishing red lines threaten to derail the Code of Conduct.

videocam
A China Coast Guard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippines’ BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pagasa island, in the disputed the South China Sea on October 12, 2025. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP
A China Coast Guard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippines’ BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pagasa island, in the disputed the South China Sea on October 12, 2025. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP
Asean

Asian Angle | ‘Old order is not coming back’: Trump’s US, not China, threatens status quo

American unpredictability is pushing countries to hedge more proactively – and, ironically, soften existing tensions with China.

The Philippines

Opinion | Marcos health problems call to mind past Philippine leaders’ woes

Marcos has admitted he suffers from diverticulitis, as he battles problems including impeachment complaints and public anger over corruption.

Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia’s PM term limits could backfire unless election cycles are set

To secure his legacy, Anwar Ibrahim must ensure his reform doesn’t accidentally encourage the very political instability he seeks to prevent.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during an event in October 2025. Photo: AFP
Asean

Asian Angle | What a US-China ‘grand bargain’ would mean for Southeast Asia

Washington’s Venezuela raid has resurrected old fears about ‘spheres of influence’, sounding alarm bells for Southeast Asian autonomy.

US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan on October 30, 2025. Photo: TNS
US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan on October 30, 2025. Photo: TNS
Diplomacy

Asian Angle | China has a worthy blueprint to improve the UN. Why is the West ignoring it?

China’s Global Governance Initiative seeks to end ‘might is right’, but the West insists on viewing it through a dusty Cold War lens.

videocam
8
Asean

Asian Angle | To win the future, Southeast Asia must rewrite its industrial rule book

Success relies on five key pillars, including deeper regional coordination and targeted industrial upgrading.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Indonesia

Asian Angle | Indonesia’s digital 2045 ambition rests on a fragile seabed spine

With few domestic repair ships and convoluted laws, Indonesia struggles to safeguard the 115,000km of cables powering its digital future.

An illustration of a submarine cable. The main threats to Indonesia’s undersea infrastructure are fishing and anchor damage. Photo: Shutterstock
An illustration of a submarine cable. The main threats to Indonesia’s undersea infrastructure are fishing and anchor damage. Photo: Shutterstock
Protests around the world

Opinion | From memes to the streets: Gen Z’s fight back against corruption

Youth-led movements are too often treated as fleeting emotional outbursts, even though they express structured political demands.

Myanmar

Asian Angle | How uneven borders fuel Myanmar’s vast and resilient scam economy

Fieldwork along the borders of China and Thailand reveals how uneven controls allow fraud networks to thrive despite crackdowns.

videocam
Bangladesh

Asian Angle | Bangladesh needs ‘structural’ change, but how will it get there?

As Bangladesh heads into elections next year, it must tread the challenge of political transition with more care and thoughtfulness.

A man holds a Bangladeshi national flag during celebrations to mark Victory Day at the old airport in Sher-e-Bangal Nagar in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on December 16, 2025. Photo: EPA
Malaysia

Asian Angle | Sabah’s election proves Malaysians want results, not slogans

Local parties crying ‘Sabah First’ largely flopped as voters rejected empty identity rhetoric for proven service records.

Officials from the Sabah People’s Coalition, or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), hold a launch event on October 20 in preparation for the 17th Sabah state election. Photo: Facebook/grs.sabah
Officials from the Sabah People’s Coalition, or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), hold a launch event on October 20 in preparation for the 17th Sabah state election. Photo: Facebook/grs.sabah
The Philippines

Asian Angle | Greed and pork barrel politics fuel the Philippines’ fatal floods

Filipinos are paying the ultimate price for a system that favours corrupt lawmakers’ pet projects over scientifically sound flood control.

videocam
The Philippines

Asian Angle | Is the new Philippines-Germany defence pact built to last?

Rising anxieties over Beijing and Moscow have united Berlin and Manila in an axis that must now be institutionalised to ensure it endures.

4
Japan

Opinion | From Singapore to Taiwan, Japan must face its past for Asia’s future

Lasting peace in Asia demands that Tokyo abandons its historical revisionism and refusal to acknowledge past crimes.

29
A man displays a Rising Sun Flag, the Japanese naval ensign, at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Photo: Reuters
Help preserve 120 years of quality journalism.
SUPPORT NOW