Asia Watch Archive

Asian countries largely stuck to their guns on Monday, with most voting in favour of a Ukraine-led resolution at the UN General Assembly even as the U.S. reportedly urged allies to vote against it.

A surprise live-fire drill conducted by China’s navy in international waters between Australia and New Zealand forced dozens of commercial flights to reroute on Friday and raised fresh questions about Beijing’s desire to stabilize relations with both countries.

HMCS Ottawa, a Canadian frigate with a crew of around 240, sailed through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday, eliciting praise from Taipei and criticism from Beijing, in what was the sixth transit of the strait by a Canadian vessel since the launch of Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy in 2022.

 Asia was spared from the scolding of U.S. Vice President JD Vance this past weekend at the Munich Security Conference, where a fiery speech by the vice president “stunned” some European delegates and stirred debate about Washington’s foreign policy priorities.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi co-chaired the AI Action Summit in Paris, France, earlier this week alongside French President Emmanuel Macron, with Modi declaring that India would be “happy” to host the next major AI summit.

Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru travelled to Washington, D.C., for a "hectic” but otherwise frictionless one-day stay last week, in a visit with U.S. President Donald Trump that reaffirmed the two allies’ robust defence, trade, and investment ties.

Indian Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced her coalition government’s budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year on Sunday, a C$836-billion package designed to accelerate economic growth, boost private sector investment, and “enhance the spending power of India’s rising middle class.”

On Monday afternoon, U.S. President Donald Trump's across-the-board tariffs on Canadian goods were postponed for 30 days after Washington and Ottawa came to a deal that will see Canada bolster surveillance at the border against organized crime, fentanyl, and money laundering.

There is “no evidence” to suggest that Canadian institutions have been “seriously affected by foreign interference” or that there are “traitors” in Parliament, according to the long-anticipated final report from Canada’s foreign interference commission.

The market-jolting emergence of an innovative, Chinese-developed artificial intelligence model wiped US$1 trillion off American tech stocks on Monday, reigniting an AI ‘arms race’ between the U.S. and China and highlighting, for Ottawa, the need for a major rethink on AI strategy and investment.

Top diplomats from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) met over the weekend in Langkawi, Malaysia, to apply new pressure on Myanmar’s military junta and press for a ceasefire.

A junta representative outlined plans for an upcoming election — largely seen as a ploy to boost credibility for the country’s ruling generals — to the foreign ministers.

After four tempestuous years on the outside, U.S. President Donald Trump burst back onto the scene on Monday, reclaiming the presidency and pledging to “put America first” by overhauling trade, building the “strongest military the world has ever seen,” and slapping tariffs and taxes on other countries to usher in “the golden age of America.”

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.