Asia Watch Archive

Leaders of NATO nations convened in Washington, D.C., this week to discuss global security and the future of the 75-year-old military alliance. The leaders’ summit comes as elections and divisions abound, testing the resolve and changing the face of the 32-country organization, which recently confirmed Sweden as its newest member.

An invisible fight on the ocean floor is bubbling to the surface in a competition pitting China against the U.S. for control of the undersea cables that prop up global communication and commerce.

In a year stacked with dramatic, high-stakes elections — spanning India, Indonesia, South Korea, Taiwan, the U.S., and elsewhere — Mongolia’s June 28 parliamentary election was but a blip on the international radar.

The Philippines and Vietnam are set to discuss competing claims to a section of the South China Sea, a rare bright spot of diplomacy on an increasingly prickly issue.

Earlier this month, the Philippines delivered a submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, a technical UN body, on expanding its continental shelf.

On Monday, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland announced the launch of policy consultations, beginning July 2, to prevent a surge of inexpensive Chinese electric vehicles from flowing into Canada.

Today, Chinese Premier Li Qiang wraps a whirlwind week of diplomatic travel, returning to Beijing after tours of Australia and New Zealand, as well as Malaysia.

Leaders of the G7 nations met in sunny southern Italy last week for a three-day summit, accusing China in a joint statement of enabling Russia’s war against Ukraine, employing “dangerous” tactics in the South China Sea, enacting unfair trade policies, and sponsoring malicious cyber activity.

Beverley McLachlin, chief justice of Canada’s Supreme Court from 2000-17, is set to retire from her post as a non-permanent foreign judge on Hong Kong’s top court.

McLachlin said in a statement that she would step down from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal at the end of her term in July. She continues to have “confidence in the members of the court [and] their independence.”
 

Over the past three weeks, North Korea has provoked its southern neighbour with a playbook blending tried-and-true ‘scare tactics’ with newer, more unconventional methods.

Narendra Modi will continue as India’s prime minister after voters returned him to power with a weakened legislative mandate, a shock result for Modi who sought — and seemingly expected — a strong majority.

Modi’s governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) picked up 240 seats in the country’s lower house, known as the Lok Sabha, out of a possible 543 seats.

Canadian defence minister Bill Blair was in Singapore over the weekend for the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual gathering of top defence officials, academics, and journalists.

Indonesia may join Canada, Japan, and nine other states in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as the country finalizes its application to the 11-member trade deal.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Chinese Premier Li Qiang, and South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol met in Seoul on Monday for long-awaited talks on trade, people-to-people exchanges, science and technology, and more. The three countries’ last leaders’ summit took place in 2019.

On Monday, the head of the UN’s refugee agency lamented that Myanmar’s civil war was “dramatically worsening,” largely due to the “brutal crackdown” by the ruling junta. He urged neighbouring Bangladesh — which, since 2017, has accepted more than one million Rohingya from Myanmar — to once again protect those fleeing violence.

On May 20, Taiwan instated its new president, Lai Ching-te, who said in his inauguration speech that in the face of the “many threats” from China, “we must demonstrate our resolution to defend our nation.”

On Tuesday, the Indian and Australian navies concluded bilateral talks and agreed to boost collaboration, “marking a significant milestone” in the relationship, according to India.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Joe Biden quadrupled tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles in a move to “protect” American workers and shore up votes as the U.S. presidential election — now just 173 days away — draws ever closer, and candidates tout ‘tough-on-China' trade policies.

Three Indian nationals appeared in a B.C. court on Tuesday on first-degree murder charges linked to the death of Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was shot in Surrey, B.C., last June. Police arrested the suspects last week in Edmonton.

In September 2023, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the Indian government may be linked to Nijjar’s murder, rocking diplomatic relations. The RCMP confirmed that it is investigating these supposed links.

The Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of the Philippines, Enrique Manalo, is on a cross-Canada tour this week, as the two countries celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations.

An extreme heat wave has swept across South and Southeast Asia, exacerbated by an El Nino weather pattern that has created drier weather conditions and pushed temperatures to dangerous highs. In addition to the immediate public health threat, schools were closed in many countries and demand for water and electricity strained utilities.