Asia Watch Archive

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

South Korea said Tuesday it would consider supplying arms to Kyiv after Seoul’s spy agency alleged that North Korea has sent up to 3,000 special forces soldiers to Russia to assist with Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, fusing together European and Asian security anxieties and raising tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

On Monday, China held sweeping military drills in the seas and skies around Taiwan in response to Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te's resolute National Day speech three days earlier.

Canada and India came to the table on Thanksgiving Monday not to break bread after months of tensions, but to trade stunning allegations, recriminations, and expulsions, sending diplomatic relations to an all-time low and imperiling Canada’s broader relationship with a country identified as a “critical partner” just two years ago.

On Monday in Manila, the Philippines and South Korea formally elevated their bilateral relationship to a “strategic partnership,” an upgrade entailing more co-operation between coast guards and a greater joint focus on tourism, supply chains, and nuclear energy.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is in Laos today for the ASEAN leaders’ summit, a gathering featuring ASEAN’s 10 members and a coterie of external dialogue partners — including Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, China, India, Russia, and the U.S.

Chinese President Xi Jinping addressed a 3,000-person reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on Monday, delivering an address on the eve of National Day that contained familiar calls for “national rejuvenation” and “Chinese modernization,” while reiterating a claim that “Taiwan is an integral part of China's territory.”

Japanese voters will head to the polls on October 27, following a snap election call by newly instated Japanese prime minister Ishiba Shigeru, a self-described“defence nerd” who has floated plans for an ‘Asian NATO’ and is determined to revise a key security treaty with t

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly were in New York City this week for the United Nations General Assembly and its Summit of the Future, where leaders and diplomats tried to — in the words of the UN’s secretary-ge