This Week in Asia /

Long Reads

Sexual harassment and assault

For lust and money: when online sexual encounters end in despair and death

Sextortion syndicates in Asia and Africa are raking in millions from targets in places such as Britain, enabled by wire-transfer services and cryptocurrencies, while ill-equipped authorities are struggling to keep up with swiftly evolving technology.

Sexual harassment and assault

Abuse and anger: inside the online groups spreading stolen, sexual images

Sexual harassment and assault

Porn, privacy, and pain: how image-based abuse tears women’s lives apart

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Hong Kong extradition bill

What Carrie Lam can learn from Hong Kong’s history of riots

The best way for the embattled chief executive to find a way out of Hong Kong’s present crisis may be to look to its past, historians and former officials say. The British colonial administration weathered far more violent affairs.

Rioting in Mong Kok in 2016. Photo: Bloomberg
Rioting in Mong Kok in 2016. Photo: Bloomberg
Hong Kong extradition bill

What next for Hong Kong’s extradition bill protesters?

Weeks in and Hong Kong’s anti-extradition bill protesters feel they have little to show for their efforts. As despair sets in, will defiance fade – or burn brighter?

Mongolia

How one woman took on Mongolia’s mining industry to save the snow leopards

Bayarjargal Agvaantseren roused local communities and politicians to prevent mines destroying the magnificent mountain cat’s habitat – home to a population of snow leopards that is the world’s second largest after China.

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Bangladesh

Move over ‘Made in China’. It’s ‘Made in Bangladesh’ era now

Soaring wages at home have seen many Chinese firms set up shop in Bangladesh, boosting its economic growth

Workers at a Chinese-run factory in Bangladesh produce 12 million toys a year. Photo: Phila Siu
Workers at a Chinese-run factory in Bangladesh produce 12 million toys a year. Photo: Phila Siu
Families in China

One of the ‘blue-eyed people’: Libby Wong on serving Hong Kong

She worked with colonial governors Murray MacLehose, Edward Youde, and David Wilson, and was instrumental in the formation of the Academy for Performing Arts and the Hospital Authority. She worries about Hong Kong’s future.

Chinese overseas

Why are Chinese workers so unpopular in Southeast Asia?

Chinese migrants have a long history of seeking better lives in Southeast Asia. But as a new breed of worker from an ascendant China ruffles feathers, a backlash threatens the immigrant dream.

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Singapore

How Japanese club Albirex Niigata scored big in Singapore soccer

The satellite team has been a huge success in the Singapore Premier League, winning all 11 trophies on offer since 2016 and drawing bumper crowds. But what does its dominance say about the standard of local football?

Albirex Niigata Singapore FC is dominating soccer in the Lion City, and was unbeaten for all of last season. Photo: Leo Shengwei, Playmaker
China Overseas Land & Investment

China in Latin America: partner or predator?

Whether they're new colonisers or a vital source of cash and technology, the jury is out on Beijing's investment in the region – but one thing is certain, the US will not relinquish its control without a fight

5G

My way or the Huawei: how US ultimatum fell flat in Southeast Asia

5G technology is coming to Southeast Asia, and the odds are Huawei’s technology will be driving it. That’s despite the US trying to poison the well against its Chinese competitor. So why is no-one listening to Uncle Sam?

Asia elections

By land, air, sea or elephant: 1 billion across Asia prepare to vote by any means

Indonesia is made up entirely of islands, India has 1 million voting stations to disperse and Australia has to reach extremely remote communities. But officials in all three have a plan to include everyone in the democratic process.

New Zealand shooting

Why did some Indians celebrate the Christchurch shootings?

Like white nationalists, Hindu nationalists have been scapegoating Muslims as a way to rally their base. An Islamophobia campaign under Prime Minister Narendra Modi has gone into overdrive

Floral tributes to those who were gunned down at the two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Photo: AFP
Mahathir Mohamad

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s exclusive interview in full

In his first interview with international media this year, Mahathir speaks candidly to the South China Morning Post on everything from the US-China trade war to his scandal-tainted predecessor Najib Razak.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is approaching the one-year mark of his second stint as the country’s leader. Photo: EPA
Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad is approaching the one-year mark of his second stint as the country’s leader. Photo: EPA
Aviation

Amelia Earhart’s disappearance: a tiny atoll and a smoking gun

Earhart, the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, vanished on a 1937 attempt to fly around the globe. An American organisation believes it has found the answer to her fate hidden in decades-old 16mm film footage.

Social media

The Instagram royals who reinvented Asia’s monarchies

Ignore the abdications in Malaysia and Japan and forget the turmoil in Thailand; a new breed of monarch is breathing new life into Asia’s long love affair with its royals – and it’s not afraid of letting social media know about it.

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Indonesia

Jakarta’s MRT is almost ready. Will it give Widodo an election boost?

After a delay of almost 30 years, Indonesia’s capital is about to get a subway system, just in time for the April polls. The president is talking up his work in getting it across the line, but there’s more to do to solve congestion in the city.

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The first corridor of Jakarta’s US$1.1 billion MRT connects the iconic Hotel Indonesia roundabout at the city centre to Lebak Bulus in the city’s south. Photo: Kyodo
The first corridor of Jakarta’s US$1.1 billion MRT connects the iconic Hotel Indonesia roundabout at the city centre to Lebak Bulus in the city’s south. Photo: Kyodo
North Korea

Are Trump, Xi and Moon all just keeping up with the Kims?

Kim Jong-un is heading to Vietnam for a second date with the US president. Opinion is split over whether the millennial dictator’s charm offensive is a genuine quest for legitimacy or a rebranding of his old playbook

Iran

From the Wall to the Water: chasing ghosts of history in Iran

Enamoured by the tale of Gan Ying, an ancient Chinese explorer who set out to reach Rome, William Han decided to follow his path – from Hong Kong to Italy, via the likes of Afghanistan and Iran. Here is the fourth excerpt from his book

Afghanistan

Talking Chinese politics and dodging IS in Afghanistan

Enamoured by the tale of Gan Ying, an ancient Chinese explorer who set out to reach Rome, William Han decided to follow his path – from Hong Kong to Italy, via the likes of Afghanistan and Iran. Here is the third excerpt from his book

Herat, Afghanistan. Photo: William Han
Chinese culture

Discovering Suyab, Kyrgyzstan, where Chinese poet Li Bai was born

Enamoured by the tale of Gan Ying, an ancient Chinese explorer who set out to reach Rome, William Han decided to follow his path – from Hong Kong to Italy, via the likes of Afghanistan and Iran. Here is the second excerpt from his book

Children in the countryside of Kyrgyzstan. Photo: William Han
Children in the countryside of Kyrgyzstan. Photo: William Han
Religion in China

Retracing the Old Silk Road to meet the Uygurs in Kashgar

Enamoured by the tale of Gan Ying, an ancient Chinese explorer who set out to contact the Roman Empire, William Han decided to follow in his path – from Hong Kong to Italy, via the likes of Afghanistan and Iran

Malaysia

10 great reads over Lunar New Year

Want to know about the black sugar you probably ate over the festive period? Are you keeping an eye on elections in Thailand, Indonesia, or the Philippines? Or wondering where the US is taking on China next? Read on …

United States

The Pacific islands in middle of US-China battle for influence

Even the US’ Mariana Islands are caught up in Washington and Beijing’s simmering power struggle in the region, from unprecedented deep-sea research in the Mariana Trench to what was the world’s most lucrative casino.

The Mariana Islands, comprising CNMI and Guam, and located in the north-western Pacific, were once seen as “the tip of the spear” of American power projection. Photo: Alamy
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