Asia Watch Archive

A July 23 leaders' summit between Japan and the European Union will feature talks on jointly developing “an extensive communications satellite network,” according to Nikkei, in part to reduce reliance on the U.S.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s monthslong trade war — and his polarizing push for tariff and trade deals — has strained relations with Washington’s Asia Pacific partners, with a new August 1 deadline to reach deals fast approaching.

Beijing is looking to exploit these divisions, reeling in aggrieved American allies and pitching itself as a relatively reliable trading and investment partner. In recent weeks, China has doubled down on bilateral and multilateral diplomacy, wining and dining leaders and diplomats across the Indo-Pacific.

Malaysia was a hive of regional diplomacy this week. As this year’s chair of ASEAN, Kuala Lumpur hosted meetings of the bloc’s foreign ministers and dialogue partners — including Canada, China, and the U.S. — as well as the East Asia Summit, and the ASEAN Regional Forum.

Canada’s new foreign affairs minister, Anita Anand, is set to attend these events. She will also hold bilateral meetings with her ASEAN counterparts, with the exception of Myanmar, and with Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China, another ASEAN dialogue partner.  

This week, letters from Washington to nine Asian trading partners delivered a mix of good, bad, and ugly. The White House granted a three-week ‘extension’ to avoid steep tariffs, for now, and reach trade terms acceptable to U.S. President Donald Trump. But the letters also threatened these same trading partners, stating that if they didn’t accept Trump’s demands, Washington would apply punishingly high tariff rates on them come August 1.

Ottawa has ordered Hikvision, a Chinese manufacturer of surveillance equipment, to immediately and permanently halt its operations in Canada. In a June 27 statement posted on X, Mélanie Joly, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada, said the decision was the result of a “National Security Review under the Investment Canada Act.”

The first shipment of Canadian liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Port of Kitimat in western B.C. to Asian markets notches a major milestone for Canada – in both its longstanding desire to diversify trade beyond the U.S. and its commitment to strengthen relations with Asian economies, many of which are eager to boost their energy security and wean themselves off coal.

Salt Typhoon, a Chinese government-linked hacking group, is “almost certainly” responsible for “malicious cyber activities” currently targeting Canadian telecommunications companies, according to a bulletin posted by the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security last Friday.

NATO’s Hague summit wrapped up Wednesday with leaders adopting a brief declaration that reaffirms “iron clad commitment to collective defence as enshrined in Article 5” and sets a new defence spending target of 5 per cent by 2035. The gathering was notable for who was not in the room.

Despite being on the G7 summit guest list, Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto is in Russia this week, delivering the keynote speech to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Confronted with a mercurial U.S.

On Monday in Toronto, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney pledged to hit the NATO benchmark of spending two per cent of GDP on defence by March 2026, an ambitious commitment meant to reduce reliance on the U.S., counter “an emboldened Russia and an assertive China” and draw closer to “stable democracies” in Asia and elsewhere around the world.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will get his first dose of summit-hosting next week as leaders from G7 countries and the Asia Pacific flock to Kananaskis, Alberta, for a historic and potentially thorny three-day meeting.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s doubling of tariffs on steel and aluminum this week spells economic trouble for Canada and Asia, as companies looking to export to the U.S. find themselves nearly priced out of the market.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth soothed some Indo-Pacific allies, chided others, and swiped at China in a speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore last weekend, warning attendees that an invasion of Taiwan “could be imminent,” and acknowledging that the U.S. is “engaging with, enabling, and empowering our allies — sometimes with tough love.”

Now a month into governing, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s foreign policy is coming into focus, sharpened by the priorities laid out in a recent ministerial mandate letter and this week’s Throne Speech, and moves by his new foreign affairs minister.

South Korea’s long, volatile, national “nightmare” is nearly over. Voters will select the country’s new president on June 3, exactly six months after former president Yoon Suk Yeol’s short-lived martial law declaration sparked a tumultuous stretch of protests, political jockeying, and, ultimately, Yoon’s impeachment.

Pakistan’s foreign minister and deputy prime minister, Ishaq Dar, is visiting China this week to further strengthen economic, security, and defence ties between the two countries.

Leaders from the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, next week for a two-day meeting focused on trade between ASEAN members, U.S. tariffs and wider trade uncertainty, the Myanmar civil war, and tensions in the South China Sea.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.’s grip on political power loosened following a disappointing result in the country’s midterm elections this week, in a vote pitting the president against his one-time ally (and current bête noire), Vice President Sara Duterte.

The two largest economies in the world have reached a temporary tariff truce, much to the relief of investors and trading partners across the Indo-Pacific.

The U.S. and China wrapped their first round of trade talks in Geneva over the weekend, agreeing to roll back tariffs for 90 days while negotiations continue. The U.S. will cut its baseline rate on Chinese goods from 145 per cent to 30 per cent, while China will reduce its rate on American goods from 125 per cent to 10 per cent.