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Solomon Islands Prime Minister Matthew Wale has announced plans for a maritime agreement allowing the US Coast Guard to patrol the country’s waters alongside local police. Photo: EPA
US-China relations

Top Chinese South Pacific security partner to let US patrol its waters

Agreement will allow US vessels to patrol with local police as Honiara expands maritime ties with Washington despite close Beijing links.

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North Korea

North Korea paves way for possible Kim trip to Moscow

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Myanmar

Myanmar edges out of isolation as Asean steps up engagement

Japan

Japan wants 60 million tourists, but China isn’t sending them

Tokyo is banking on a massive visitor boom to do what its factories and financiers increasingly cannot: carry the economy forward.

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Tourists throng a shopping street in front of Sensoji Temple in the popular Asakusa district of Tokyo, Japan, last month. Photo: Kyodo
Tourists throng a shopping street in front of Sensoji Temple in the popular Asakusa district of Tokyo, Japan, last month. Photo: Kyodo
The Philippines

After China sanctions Philippines’ defence chief, Marcos breaks his silence

For weeks, Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said nothing about the sanctions on Gilberto Teodoro. Then, on a work trip to Vancouver, he finally did.

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2025 Cambodia-Thailand conflict

Can Asean keep the Thailand-Cambodia peace?

With zero enforcement powers, monitors risk being used to simply validate rival propaganda campaigns, analysts say.

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The Philippines

Inside Germany’s plan to transform a Philippine Cold War relic

A multimillion-dollar aviation deal at Clark highlights European economic investment as a tool of strategic power.

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A Philippine soldier guards an American F-18 fighter jets on a refuelling stop at Clark Airbase in 2001. Photo: AFP
A Philippine soldier guards an American F-18 fighter jets on a refuelling stop at Clark Airbase in 2001. Photo: AFP
India

3 killed, no apology: the strike straining India-US relations

Instead of showing remorse, Washington ordered New Delhi to obey its blockade, stoking public outrage.

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Thailand

Costly Malaysia-Thailand seafood stand-off nears an end

Talks are advancing on resolving the dispute, but every day of delay is costing thousands of Thai shrimp farmers.

South China Sea

What is Marcos’ diplomatic end game? Inside Philippines’ South China Sea shift

By making undersea cables and fisheries the issue, analysts say Manila is trying to give all Asean members ‘skin in the game’.

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Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr (centre) leads a wreath-laying ceremony to mark the Philippines’ Independence Day on Friday. Photo: EPA
Thailand

Thailand and Vietnam team up in an Asean ‘plus or minus’ gamble

Southeast Asia’s second- and third-largest economies opt for bilateral insurance over reliance on the regional bloc.

Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul welcomes Vietnam’s President To Lam to Bangkok’s Government House complex on May 28. Photo: Sopa Images/Zuma Press Wire/dpa
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul welcomes Vietnam’s President To Lam to Bangkok’s Government House complex on May 28. Photo: Sopa Images/Zuma Press Wire/dpa
Japan

Japan adds Indonesia to its ‘network of navies’ after Australia, Philippines

By exporting warships, analysts say Tokyo is sidestepping military pacts to bind partners through shared hardware.

Asean

Asean at 60: peace, prosperity and polite paralysis

Non-interference bought decades of stability, but now breeds inaction. Is Asean due an overhaul?

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China-North Korea relations

Xi lands in North Korea with denuclearisation likely off the table

Chinese President Xi Jinping is making a rare trip to North Korea having stepped back from efforts to deter his host from building nuclear weapons.

Crowds await Chinese President Xi Jinping in Pyongyang. Photo: Xinhua
India

Quad’s proposed port project in Fiji risks being ‘another empty promise’

Analysts warn that a lack of commitment by the four-member bloc on the project could open the door for China to expand its economic clout.

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Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose before a Quad meeting in New Delhi on May 26. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, India’s Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar, Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose before a Quad meeting in New Delhi on May 26. Photo: Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP
India

Why India is rolling out welcome mat for Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing

The military leader’s first presidential trip to New Delhi signals pragmatic engagement as India moves to counter rising Chinese influence.

The Philippines

Philippines and Vietnam close ranks on South China Sea as To Lam visits

The Vietnamese president is wrapping up a Southeast Asia tour aimed at shoring up regional security alliances.

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Malaysia

Did US restrictions sink Malaysia’s US$147 million Norway missile deal?

Analysts say US-controlled parts may have been a factor in Norway’s revoked export licences, underscoring risks for Asian defence buyers.

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US President Donald Trump speaks to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at a peace summit on Gaza in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in October last year. Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump speaks to Norway’s Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store at a peace summit on Gaza in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in October last year. Photo: AFP
Asean

Why Indonesia is ceding its role as Asean’s natural leader to Singapore

For decades, Indonesia’s standing was a given. A new survey suggests the region’s opinion leaders are no longer so sure.

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Japan

Japan ditches decades of arm export curbs as US reliability wavers

From drones for Ukraine to warships for Australia, ‘peace-loving’ Japan is fast pivoting towards arming the world.

Pakistan

Pakistan seeks to shield Gulf states as US-Iran talks set to resume

A senior official involved in Islamabad’s diplomacy says it is trying to defuse the crisis ‘in any way we can’.

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US Vice-President J.D. Vance (centre) walks with Pakistan’s Field Marshall Asim Munir (left) and Pakistani Foreign Minister Mohammad Ishaq Dar after arriving for talks with Iranian officials in Islamabad on Saturday. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS
Indonesia

Leaked plan for US military overflights triggers sovereignty row in Indonesia

Internal warnings reveal a government split over risks that blanket access for US warplanes could drag Indonesia into foreign conflicts.

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US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with Indonesia’s Director General of Defence Strategy Major General Agus Widodo at the Pentagon on Monday. Photo: AFP
US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth shakes hands with Indonesia’s Director General of Defence Strategy Major General Agus Widodo at the Pentagon on Monday. Photo: AFP
China-Middle East relations

China-Pakistan five-point plan to end Iran war

China and Pakistan launched an initiative to restore stability in the Middle East.

Japan

Japan races to limit fallout from Chinese embassy break-in

Chinese state media seized on the breach as proof of Japan’s militarism and ‘rampant far-right ideology’.

North Korea

North Korea and Belarus sign friendship treaty on Lukashenko’s first visit

Kim Jong-un and Alexander Lukashenko formalise ties in Pyongyang, agree to cooperate in an array of fields.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Belarus’ President Alexander Lukashenko toast at a banquet in Pyongyang. Photo: KCNA via AFP
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