Asia Watch Archive

On Monday, Hong Kong’s High Court found 78-year-old Jimmy Lai — a business and media tycoon, pro-democracy torchbearer, and critic of Beijing — guilty of two counts of “conspiracy to collude with foreign forces” and one count of sedition.

A decades-long border feud between Cambodia and Thailand escalated last week, scuttling an uneasy truce signed in October and reigniting serious fighting along the countries’ shared 817-kilometre border.

Just 31.9 per cent of voters cast ballots in Hong Kong’s Legislative Council election on Sunday, the second-lowest turnout rate ever. This year’s election was the second in which exclusively Beijing-vetted “patriots” were allowed to appear on the ballot. Amnesty International called it a “sham” vote.

In a wide-ranging speech over the weekend, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth singled out select allies, softened his tone on China, and criticized previous administrations for striving to make Washington “the policeman, the protector, the arbiter of the whole world.”

Wednesday marked one year since South Korea’s short-lived declaration of martial law, a harrowing six-hour saga that upended domestic politics, shocked South Koreans, and led to the impeachment of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol.

Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te unveiled a US$40-billion supplementary defence budget last week, for the first time explicitly linking increased spending to growing military threats from Beijing.

Tense talks at COP30 last week saw negotiators squabble into Friday night (and then into Saturday morning) with a compromise — and final agreement — coming only as sunrise broke.

Last weekend's G20 summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, produced a joint statement focusing on global inequality, inclusive growth, and easing debt pressures on developing countries, with the host labelling the conference a “victory for multilateralism,” despite watered-down language on global trade and the U.S.’s absence.

What began as an aside by Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae during a House of Representatives Budget Committee session has spiralled into a full-blown bilateral spat, with Beijing launching daily broadsides over what it calls Takaichi’s “blatantly provocative” conduct.

Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh’s former long-time leader, was sentenced to death on Monday over her role in a government crackdown last year that killed an estimated 1,400 people and saw thousands more injured and imprisoned.

Taiwan’s vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, embarked on a landmark visit to Europe last week, addressing a European Parliament group and pitching deeper ties across several fronts.

Hsiao addressed an annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) inside the European Parliament building in Brussels last Friday, where she urged Europe and Taiwan to “stand together in defending democracy,” and deepen co-operation on supply chains, cybersecurity, and countering disinformation.

The 30th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP30) formally kicked off in Belém, Brazil, on Monday, mere days after one of the year’s most destructive storms wreaked havoc and killed hundreds across Southeast Asia.

In March, upon becoming Liberal Party leader, Mark Carney said, “I know how the world works... and that knowledge is especially useful now, [as] we must build a new economy and create new trading relationships.”

Carney put that knowledge to the test last week at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit in South Korea, courting leaders from around the region to bolster Ottawa’s trade, defence, and energy relationships.

Gyeongju, South Korea, was the setting for a whirlwind Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Leaders’ Summit last weekend, which featured a flurry of bilateral deals and down-to-the-wire negotiations over a joint statement.

North Korea’s top diplomat met with Russian President Vladimir Putin this week, hailing the “spiritual closeness” of the two countries and committing to deepen bilateral ties.

Kuala Lumpur was briefly the centre of the diplomatic universe this week, playing host to leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and across the world for three days of dealmaking and talks.

The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) expelled nine top-ranking generals from its ranks and the military for alleged financial crimes over the weekend, the most dramatic purge since CCP general secretary Xi Jinping took office in 2012.

Good things come to those who are made to wait, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese discovered this week, as he triumphed in a long-delayed meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House.

Twelve rare-earth elements constitute the most recent flashpoint in an evolving U.S.–China trade spat, following a punishing proposal by Beijing to restrict the export of materials crucial for the production of smartphones, electric vehicles, wind turbines, missile-guidance systems, and more.

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand’s trip to India from October 12–14 nudged the bilateral relationship from a cautious ‘reset’ to a comprehensive ‘renewal,’ marking an end to two years of strained ties.