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Asia - South China Morning Post

Breaking news, analysis and opinion from the SCMP"s Asia edition.

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Why Singapore’s PAP is taking aim at opposition WP so...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/15

It has been six months since the national polls concluded in Singapore, but the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) is not resting on its laurels. A popular line among party faithfuls is that the PAP begins preparing for the next election the day after winning one. But a recent series of salvoes against its main opponent, the Workers’ Party (WP) and leader Pritam Singh suggests a new intensity, if not strategy. Observers point to a calculated PAP approach outside election season as its...

Why a document on South Korea-US trade, security...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/15

South Korea and the United States have released a long-awaited joint document detailing their recent trade and security agreements, including Washington’s approval for Seoul to build nuclear-powered submarines. However, analysts warn that key gaps in the fact sheet could lead to both governments interpreting their partnership very differently, particularly on sensitive defence provisions and the feasibility of South Korea’s submarine ambitions. The publication comes two weeks after President

Asean, China, Japan and South Korea hold...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/15

Southeast Asian economies, along with China, Japan and South Korea, have a “transformative” opportunity to enter the world’s critical mineral supply chain, said Yasuto Watanabe, director of the Asean+3 Macroeconomic Research Office (AMRO). Critical minerals – essential raw materials for the production of hi-tech gadgets, cars and aerospace equipment – will make the 11-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ (Asean) supply chain “more resilient and sustainable”, said Watanabe, who also...

Climate collapse: Southeast Asia’s new normal?

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/15

For four long months and counting, the residents of Bang Ban, a low-lying district in Thailand’s ancient city of Ayutthaya, have lived their lives under water. Elderly residents must be ferried to safety by raft, schools stand closed and under the muddy surface, ruined rice fields rot. Even Ayutthaya’s 700-year-old stupas have been submerged, their crumbling towers jutting through a murky brown deluge that shows no sign of retreat. Annual floods are not unusual here. Each monsoon season, the...

Flooded Thai restaurant lets customers dine with live...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

A restaurant in central Thailand was bursting with a stream of customers coming for a unique dining experience: enjoying a meal while sitting in floodwaters, surrounded by live fish they bring into the establishment. Since an adjacent river breached its banks 11 days ago, the flooded riverside restaurant has become an internet sensation, drawing customers keen to pose in the lapping brown water or toss fish food to photograph the feeding frenzy. Families enjoyed lunch at Pa Jit restaurant in...

Trump calls Thailand and Cambodia after new clashes...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

US President Donald Trump called Thailand and Cambodia on Friday to bolster the peace deal he brokered after fresh clashes erupted between the Southeast Asian neighbours, the White House said. Trump co-signed a truce between the two countries on October 26 during a tour of Asia, touting it as one of several peace deals around the world that he believes should win him the Nobel Prize. But Thailand suspended the deal on Monday after a landmine blast, and the two sides traded accusations of new...

Beijing warns Japan after PM’s Taiwan comments fuel...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Beijing on Friday expressed deep concern and issued a stern warning to Tokyo against shifting its non-nuclear policy, after comments by the Japanese prime minister about Taiwan sharply escalated tensions. Sanae Takaichi, who took office on October 21, has been considering revising Japan’s long-standing non-nuclear weapons principles, Japanese media reported on Friday citing government sources. This came after Japan’s defence minister, Shinjiro Koizumi, urged the country to consider acquiring...

‘I saw her die before my eyes’: Namewee breaks...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Malaysian rapper and filmmaker Namewee says he did everything he could to save Taiwanese influencer Iris Hsieh, but to no avail. “I saw a human being die before my eyes for the first time. “I did everything I could to save her but nothing could be done. This image will remain in my mind forever,” Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, said in a Facebook post on Friday. This was his first public statement since he was released from detention over the police investigation into Hsieh’s...

Fugitive ex-Philippine official accuses Marcos of...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

A fugitive former Philippine lawmaker has accused President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr of directing him to add 100 billion pesos (US$1.7 billion) worth of dubious public works projects to the national budget, a claim that throws new fuel on the corruption scandal that has dogged his administration for months. Analysts say the explosive allegation, made in a video sent to reporters by ex-appropriations chairman Zaldy Co, could feed a wider destabilisation push by rival political blocs, including

Why China need not fear US-led ‘Squad’ evolving into...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

The Asean summit in Kuala Lumpur witnessed major geopolitical developments, including a peace deal between Thailand and Cambodia presided over by US President Donald Trump. Eager to mend recently strained relations with Washington, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, chairman of the regional body this year, also signed a new trade deal with the United States. However, one of the most crucial meetings took place on the sidelines of the summit. Pete Hegseth, the US defence secretary, met

Megan Khung’s father sues influencer in Singapore...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

A Singaporean influencer who has set up a children’s charity drive and named it after his late daughter Megan Khung, a victim of horrific child abuse, has sparked a debate over the move, culminating in a legal spat between him and another online personality. Some online users questioned his sincerity, accusing Khung Wei Nan, who goes by the moniker Simonboy, of using his four-year-old daughter’s name for publicity, while others pointed to his imprisonment for drug use and said that he had

Modi’s alliance poised for Bihar poll win, boosting...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling coalition is headed to win a key state election in a vote seen as a crucial test of Modi’s popularity in one of the country’s poorest yet most politically influential states. Partial results on Friday from the Election Commission of India, the country’s election watchdog, showed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) expected to take 208 seats of the 243-member legislature in the eastern state of Bihar. A simple majority

Singapore Airlines profit nosedives amid Air India...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Singapore Airlines on Thursday reported a sharp fall in first-half profit, hit by losses at its Indian associate Air India, higher costs and intensifying competition. The airline’s profit slid steeply in the second quarter to S$52 million (US$40.18 million) from S$186 million in the first quarter, highlighting Air India’s drag on performance. Singapore Airlines began accounting for Air India’s earnings in December 2024 after the integration of joint venture Vistara into Air India. The

South Korean farmers sue state utility, claiming its...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Hwang Seong-yeol stood at the edge of a golden field, watching nervously as a combine harvester crawled through his rice, churning up mud and stalks. Its steady hum filled the damp autumn air as grain poured into a truck waiting at the other end of the muddy paddy. It was the final day of what Hwang said was one of his toughest seasons in three decades of farming. He and other farmers feel helpless against increasingly erratic weather that they link to climate change and damage to their

Takeaway from Cop30: climate action needs to be up...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Spectating from afar during the Cop30 UN climate summit in Belem on the edge of Brazil’s Amazon forests, it is easy to despair. Despite 30 years of concerted global diplomacy and exhaustive scientific evidence of the gravity of global warming, carbon dioxide emissions continue to rise, as do global temperatures. Brazil’s rainforest continues to burn. Global oil and gas production remains robust. Governments procrastinate and funding promises still fail to materialise. Worst of all, the

India-Pakistan conflict risks surge amid terror...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Tensions are again mounting in South Asia after suspected terrorist attacks in Pakistan and India triggered a furious exchange of accusations, including claims of proxy warfare conducted through Afghanistan. Analysts are cautiously optimistic that renewed conflict can be averted, following deadly clashes between Pakistan and India in May and skirmishes between Pakistani forces and the Afghan Taliban in October. The hope is that restraint and international diplomatic pressure may yet stave off...

Malaysian economy’s hot run continues despite Trump’s...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/14

Malaysia predicts growth this year is likely to approach 4.8 per cent after a resurgent exports sector defied the impact of US tariffs in the third quarter. The nation’s growth rate in 2025 is set to be “closer to” the upper range of the official forecast of 4 per cent to 4.8 per cent, and may even exceed it, Bank Negara Malaysia Governor Abdul Rasheed Ghaffour said at a briefing in Kuala Lumpur on Friday. An expansion in household spending and sustained investment activity will drive the...

‘Empty and numb’: Laos methanol poisoning survivor...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/12

A year after her childhood friend died in a mass methanol poisoning incident in Laos, British traveller Bethany Clarke is still grappling with grief and a lack of answers.On November 12 last year, Clarke had joined 28-year-old lawyer Simone White and another friend for a spontaneous side trip to Vang Vieng, a riverside party town popular with backpackers. After a night out at a hostel serving complimentary shots, all three fell dangerously ill. White would not survive. Six tourists died in...

‘Leave Japan’: xenophobic note to Malaysian teacher...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/12

A Malaysian English teacher living in Yokohama has gone viral in Japan after sharing photos of a hate-filled message taped to his front door and car, sparking both outrage and an outpouring of support amid growing concern over anti-foreigner sentiment in the country. Written in Japanese and signed “Yokohama City Conservative Faction”, the flier read: “To foreigners, please leave Japan. You are not welcome here. Japan doesn’t need immigrants. Japanese taxes are not paid for you. Go back to

How Asean quietly became China’s buffer against US...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/12

The signing of the Asean-China free trade agreement upgrade last month looked procedural. It wasn’t. The protocol adds chapters on digital trade, the green economy, supply chain connectivity, and the nuts and bolts of trade facilitation. These elements matter more than tariff cuts. As US tariffs on Chinese goods remain high, including on electric vehicles (EVs), batteries and solar cells, agreements that reduce friction, harmonise standards and streamline certification are becoming strategic...

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