Asia Watch Archive

Since January 26, Indonesia’s stock market has lost up to US$120 billion in value, its worst rout in decades, due to concerns over transparency, market governance, and the policies of Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto.

Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae made history on Sunday, securing a rare ‘super-majority' win in the country’s lower-house elections. Her Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won 316 of the 465 seats up for grabs, the first time in Japan’s postwar history that one party has won more than two-thirds of the seats.

Sunday marked five years since the military coup in Myanmar that sparked a devastating, ongoing civil war. Five years on, 70,000 people have been killed, 3.6 million have been displaced, and 16 million require humanitarian assistance.

On Sunday, India released its 2026 budget, offering the clearest articulation yet of how Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi plans to navigate a world shaped by U.S. protectionism and intensifying great-power competition.

By Ted Fraser, Senior Editor

By Ted Fraser, Senior Editor

The 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) kicked off Tuesday, revealing the ambitions and anxieties of the party’s top brass and the country’s economic priorities for the next five years.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Chinese President Xi Jinping inaugurated “a new chapter” of Canada–China relations last week, establishing a new “strategic partnership” and economic and trade co-operation roadmap, and wo

Just days after a trip to Beijing and Shanghai, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung was in Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday, discussing trade and investment, regional security, and cultural ties with Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will aim to untangle the Gordian knot of Canada–China relations this week, enticed by the prospect of more trade (and less dependence on the U.S.), but alert to concerns over economic coercion, security, and

The U.S.’s extraordinary capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro on January 3 prompted official reactions in Asia ranging from seeming indifference to outright indignation.

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung travelled to Beijing and Shanghai this week, meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping and heralding the “full-scale restoration” of bilateral ties after years of strained relations.

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.