Asia Watch Archive

U.S. President Joe Biden, in the waning days of his administration, announced new export controls on a slew of high-tech materials with the goal of boxing China out of the global artificial intelligence supply chain, prompting protests from Beijing, some American tech companies, and U.S. allies abroad.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy this week proposed a prisoner swap to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, following the reported capture of two North Korean soldiers by Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.

Zelenskyy said on social media that Ukraine is “ready to hand over [the] soldiers” if Kim can organize an exchange for Ukrainians held by Russia.

The BRICS+ grouping of countries added its 10th member this week as Indonesia acceded to the expanding bloc, which now counts Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates among its members, in addition to the ‘core five’ of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Indonesia’s foreign ministry said Tuesday that “BRICS is an important platform for Indonesia to strengthen South-South cooperation, ensuring that the voices and aspirations of Global South countries are heard and represented in global decision-making processes.”

The promise of a new year brought no end to the turmoil that has upended South Korea since early December, with recent efforts by anti-corruption officials to detain impeached president Yoon Suk Yeol stymied by Yoon’s supporters and his Presidential Security Service.

Read our year-end Asia Watch: 5 Things We Learned About Canada and Asia in 2024

Canadian trade minister Mary Ng concluded a ‘Team Canada’ trade mission to Indonesia and the Philippines last Friday, leading 300 representatives from more than 190 Canadian organizations including Blackberry Cybersecurity, Sun Life, and Parkland Corporation.

Last Friday, Ottawa unveiled its Arctic Foreign Policy, a diplomatic strategy that looks to “assert Canada’s sovereignty” in the region, partner with untraditional non-Arctic allies such as Japan and South Korea, and monitor “potential threats,” including those posed by China and Russia in some parts of the Arctic.

Last week in Vancouver, Canada hosted the eighth commission meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), an 11-member trade bloc responsible for roughly 15 per cent of global GDP.

In a stunning move late Tuesday night, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol declared martial law, sparking “confusion and disbelief” across South Korea, a furious burst of protests, and an abrupt annulment of the move by the opposition-led National Assembly, cutting short a constitutional

Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy (IPS) — a “whole-of-society" effort to guide action and ambition in a region responsible for a third of global economic activity — turned two years old yesterday.

One of the world’s richest men, Indian billionaire Gautam Adani, was charged by U.S. prosecutors last Wednesday with fraud in connection with a renewable energy project in India.

A typically staid pair of international summits seemed a little antsier this past week, as delegates to the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation and G20 leaders’ summits mulled the plans and policies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and their ripple effects on global trade, governance, and security.

On Saturday in Lima, U.S. President Joe Biden met with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the APEC summit, in what’s likely the last meeting between the two leaders.

On Friday, on the margins of the APEC summit, the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and the U.S. established a wide-ranging Trilateral Secretariat responsible for “co-ordinating and implementing [the countries’] shared commitments,” in a partnership Washington says is “built to last.”

Last Friday, the Philippines passed laws seeking to strengthen its claims and set up dedicated shipping lanes in the South China Sea, opening a new front in the ongoing maritime spat between Manila and Beijing.

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Indonesia’s new leader, Prabowo Subianto, is making a splash a mere two weeks into his presidency. On Monday, Indonesia and Russia conducted joint naval drills for the first time, underlining Prabowo’s desire to strengthen ties with Moscow while maintaining a ‘non-aligned’ foreign policy.

Canadian foreign affairs minister Mélanie Joly and defence minister Bill Blair hosted their South Korean counterparts in Ottawa last Friday for the countries’ first-ever ‘2+2’ meeting, which saw Ottawa and Seoul scale up security, military, and diplomatic exchanges, promote a “common vision” for the Indo-Pacific, and denounce the recent deployment of up to 12,000 North Korean troops to Russia.

The U.S. presidential election next Tuesday will send ripples across parliaments, markets, and moods in the Indo-Pacific, with the two candidates locked in a dead heat going into Election Day.

Voters rebuked Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in Sunday’s lower house election, peeling back its majority and dealing a heavy blow to its fledgling leader, Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru.

Ishiba’s LDP won 191 seats — down from 247 before the election — while Komeito, the LDP’s coalition partner, secured 24 seats. The parties’ combined 215 seats is short of the 233 needed for a majority in the House of Representatives.

The dust appears to be settling on the initial stage of the diplomatic dispute between Canada and India, as both sides regroup and mull next steps after a week of charged statements, reactions, and media coverage