Whither ASEAN? A decade of silence on the South China Sea

This article first appeared on Pacific Forum and is republished with permission. Read the original here. July 12 marked the 10th anniversary of the arbitral…

China expels ex-Xinjiang official from Communist Party over graft

China expelled a former top Xinjiang official from the ruling Communist Party and removed him from all his posts over corruption allegations, including nepotism, bribery,…

India is the canary in the global inflation coal mine

Global inflation has been climbing back for months. India’s June print — 4.38%, up from 3.93% in May and above every forecast — isn’t a…

Families claim bodies as Bangkok fire toll rises to 30

Grieving relatives of the victims of a huge Bangkok bar fire claimed their bodies Tuesday as the death toll rose to 30, even as others…

US-Israel military merger bill a threat to American democracy

It’s called Section 219. Tucked away in the massive congressional spending bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, this provision of the law would…

US wartime buildup races against China’s industrial clock

The US push for a wartime industrial base is accelerating, but its real test is whether new weapons can be produced, delivered and sustained fast…

Crunch time looms over Myanmar’s grinding civil war

Following the dramatic shifts on the battlefields of Myanmar’s civil war in recent years, 2026 was always likely to be a year of decision. By…

Hong Kong independent bookstore Have a Nice Stay announces closure, citing financial difficulties and ‘red lines’

Independent bookstore Have a Nice Stay has announced its closure, citing financial difficulties and “unclear red lines” that make it hard to determine which titles…

China’s Africa lending model has a split personality

Over the past two decades, China’s rise as the world’s largest bilateral creditor has profoundly altered the global development finance landscape. Yet international scholarship on…

Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Shi Nan-sun dies at 75

Renowned Hong Kong film producer Shi Nan-sun, who was behind the city’s classic cinematic works such as Infernal Affairs, has died following infections that resulted…

Indonesia-Singapore reset marks new era of ASEAN transactionalism

JAKARTA – The annual Indonesia-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat, held at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on July 6, was more than a routine diplomatic exercise. With Indonesian…

Over a quarter of Wang Fuk Court homeowners sign contracts to sell flats to gov’t under buyback scheme

More than a quarter of homeowners at the fire-hit Wang Fuk Court have signed contracts to sell their flats to the government, with funds already…

Trump knocks US-Iran war back to square one

For all practical purposes, the US-Iran Memorandum of (Mis)Understanding is over. The dispute over how to manage the Strait of Hormuz in the interim has pushed the…

Why the money is drying up

Ukraine’s robot army advancing on the war’s front lines

The Ukrainian military is steadily replacing dangerous frontline tasks with ground robots. In April, President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered the military to field at least 50,000 unmanned ground…

Myanmar’s conscription drive killing the junta from within

On June 21, in the hills of Hpapun Township in Karen State, the commander of the junta’s Light Infantry Battalion 19, Major Kyaw Min Thant,…

South Korean strategy responds deftly to Trump’s unpredictability

US President Donald Trump’s whimsical and profoundly ill-advised war against Iran has shredded the US reputation for probity. Trump committed a huge strategic blunder. The…

Musk’s SpaceX stock crashes to new low

Hong Kong’s struggling Star Ferry seeks 30% fare hike, proposes pet-friendly route

Hong Kong’s struggling Star Ferry is asking the government to let it hike fares by around 30 per cent. It is also proposing a pet-friendly…

US MAHA war on seed oils could benefit Asian palm and coconut oil

Thanks to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his Make America Healthy Again tribe, seed oils have been getting a lot of unwanted attention. The MAHA…