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Asia - South China Morning Post

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

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China leveraged India-Pakistan conflict to test...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

China turned a brief but intense India-Pakistan conflict in May into a live testing ground for its advanced weaponry and intelligence systems, and then aggressively marketed those results to undercut Western arms sales, a US congressional panel said in its annual report on Tuesday. “Beijing opportunistically leveraged the conflict to test and advertise the sophistication of its weapons,” a new report from the bipartisan US-China Economic and Security Review Commission stated bluntly. It...

Takaichi’s Taiwan rhetoric is a strategic misjudgment

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s recent remarks suggesting that Japan could intervene militarily in the Taiwan Strait under the pretext of a “survival-threatening situation” represent a strategic pivot away from Japan’s post-war pacifist ethos. These statements, explicitly condemned by Beijing as “blatant interference in China’s internal affairs”, transcend mere diplomatic indiscretion. They reflect a calculated alignment with containment strategies aimed at curtailing China’s...

‘Excellent’: Singapore lauded for jailing man who...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Singapore’s jailing of an Australian man who rushed at singer-actress Ariana Grande at a film premiere has earned near-unanimous applause from locals, reflecting deep frustration with behaviour seen as attention-seeking and disruptive to the city state’s hard-won image for safety. The nine-day term – which the judge increased from an initial proposal of seven days – was also the first time serial stage invader Johnson Wen has faced custodial consequences, after similar antics across Australia...

Singapore-China ties must not cross ‘red line’,...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Singapore should seek deeper integration of new Chinese immigrants to guard against any possibility that the demographic may be used as instruments for “China’s interests”, a former diplomat from the city state has warned. In an essay published in the newly launched (Re)Defining Singapore, Bilahari Kausikan, an ex-permanent secretary at Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, argued that the relationship between the city state and China was unique in light of it being the only country

Marcos family feud: Philippine president ‘microdoses’...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

A searing public broadside by Senator Imee Marcos accusing her younger brother, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr, of using cocaine and cannabis has stunned the Philippines’ political establishment and intensified a bitter feud inside one of the country’s most powerful clans. Delivering her claims to a crowd of 600,000 at a rally organised by Iglesia ni Cristo – a religious group with historic ties to the Marcos family whose name translates to Church of Christ – Imee, 70, said she

Philippine flood corruption scandal deepens with...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Philippine prosecutors filed on Tuesday the first criminal charges in a sweeping corruption scandal over bogus flood control projects, promising “many” more indictments in the case that has prompted public ire and protests. Rage over so-called ghost infrastructure, believed to have cost taxpayers billions of dollars, has been building for months, ever since President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr put the issue centre stage in a July address after weeks of deadly flooding. Scores of construction firm...

Why India extraditing Hasina to Bangladesh to face...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

India is unlikely to accept an extradition request for Bangladesh’s former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who is facing the death penalty in her own country for crimes against humanity. Hasina, 78, has been living in India since fleeing Bangladesh in August last year after the fall of her regime. She was sentenced to death on Monday after being found guilty by a tribunal of incitement, issuing kill orders and failing to stop atrocities linked to last year’s protests in which up to 1,400 people...

Fifa kicks out Malaysia’s ‘heritage players’ appeal,...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Fifa has lodged criminal complaints in five countries and opened its own formal investigation into the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM), after dismissing its appeal over the use of forged documents by seven foreign-born footballers representing the Southeast Asian nation. In a withering 63-page explanation of its decision, football’s governing body upheld all fines and bans imposed in September against FAM – and the seven players – describing the falsified records allowing the “heritage...

US national security focus throws a spanner in the...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Regardless of the outcome of the challenge to US President Donald Trump’s powers under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act now before the Supreme Court, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has made clear the administration will continue to use national security rationales to enact its disruptive trade measures. It was not always thus. Nations have always had national security interests. Major powers have always engaged in espionage targeting adversaries – even allies. But since the...

Singapore seizes US$867,000 worth of rhinoceros...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Singapore has recorded its largest-ever seizure of rhinoceros horns after discovering 20 pieces worth S$1.13 million (US$867,000) in an air cargo shipment labelled “furniture fittings”, transshipped from South Africa to Laos through the city state’s Changi Airport. The smuggled parts, totalling 35.7kg (78.8lbs) in weight, were detected in four cargo batches bound for Vientiane and seized on November 8, Singapore’s National Parks Board (NParks) and air cargo handler SATS said on Tuesday. This...

Why is Mary Jane Veloso still in prison a year after...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Mary Jane Veloso’s lawyers have asked the Philippine Supreme Court to explain why the woman who once narrowly escaped execution in Indonesia remains behind bars in the Philippines nearly a year after her return, despite facing no criminal charges under local law. The petition has revived international attention on a case that for years sat at the intersection of labour migration, human trafficking and Southeast Asia’s harsh drug laws – and continues to raise questions about how Manila

US$16 billion stock rout dethrones Manuel Villar as...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

One of the frothiest stocks in the Philippines has plunged in recent days, erasing more than US$16 billion of its founder’s fortune and raising new questions about its remarkable ascent and sudden nosedive. Property developer Golden MV Holdings began falling on Thursday after regulators lifted a six-month trading suspension on the stock, continuing through Tuesday morning. So far it is down 76 per cent, its worst streak as a public company. It has also knocked Golden MV founder Manuel Villar

Japan considers fines for men who buy sex in major...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Japan’s government is weighing the introduction of penalties for men who buy sex, marking a potential sea change in the country’s approach to prostitution. Lawmakers and women’s advocacy groups argue that current legislation, dating back to the 1950s, fuels exploitation and risks the country being branded a sex tourism hotspot. The issue was thrust into centre stage last week, when a member of parliament pressed Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to address what he called the “asymmetric” nature

Murderer slathers Australian state with lawsuit over...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Simply tasting Australia’s Vegemite spread might seem like cruel and unusual punishment to some, but one prison inmate from the land down under argues he should be allowed to enjoy the toast topping as a basic human right. Convicted murderer Andre McKechnie has sued the prisons commissioner in the state of Victoria in a novel bid to eat the quintessentially Australian condiment. McKechnie argued that he had a right to eat Vegemite because it was “his culture as an Australian”, according to

Why Trump won’t let Thailand keep tariff, border...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Thailand’s insistence that trade negotiations with the US can proceed separately from talks over a fractious border dispute with Cambodia has been met with deep scepticism given Washington’s increasing use of economic policy as a political instrument and US President Donald Trump’s personal stake in the ceasefire deal. Bangkok announced on Saturday that tariff talks with the United States would “remain separate from border issues”, a pledge government spokesman Siripong Angkasakulkiat said...

Singapore says Chinese firm’s electric buses not...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Singapore has 20 electric public buses by Chinese manufacturer Yutong Group, and none of these vehicles support any remote control functions, the Land Transport Authority said on Monday. LTA’s response came after Norway’s public transport operator Ruter found that Yutong had access to the buses’ control systems for software updates and diagnostics. This could allow the manufacturer to turn them off remotely. The discovery has also raised cybersecurity concerns, with Ruter saying earlier this...

What BJP’s dominance means for India’s democracy and...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

A sweeping election victory for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Bihar has raised fresh questions about the future of India’s political opposition. Analysts say the landslide outcome – which defied predictions of a close race – highlights an increasingly lopsided political landscape, with a dominant BJP facing a fragmented opposition, particularly a Congress party struggling with internal drift and unresolved leadership issues. The BJP, its main regional ally,...

Malaysia pulls US children’s show off the air over...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

Malaysia’s state broadcaster has suspended the animated Nickelodeon children’s series Santiago of the Seas following viewer complaints that an episode contained an LGBTQ scene. The controversy erupted after viewers reported seeing the character Rio, a mermaid, kiss his partner Martin on the cheek in an episode that aired on Sunday on TV2. RTM, which operates the channel, said an internal review had found no evidence of any such display of same-sex affection but halted the show “to avoid

Malaysia-Singapore crossing brawl, climate crisis in...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Bus queue brawl at Malaysia-Singapore crossing spotlights border bottlenecks Viral footage of two commuters wrestling on the floor of Johor Bahru’s main border terminal has once again highlighted the chronic congestion – and fraying tempers – at one of Southeast

Australian poll reveals rising concerns over US...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/18

More than half of Australians are concerned about US interference while support for defence spending has reached a new high, according to a nationwide poll that comes as friction mounts between the allies over issues such as trade. The survey released on Tuesday by the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney found that 54 per cent of respondents are worried about US influence on domestic affairs – a jump of nearly 20 percentage points since 2021. The

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