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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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China Briefing
The View
Kim Mu-yeol stars as Na Hwa-jin in “Teach You a Lesson”, the K-drama making waves across Asia. Photo: Handout
South Korea

Asian Angle | Korean drama Teach You a Lesson serves up a reality check on education

The hit Netflix series uses a vigilante classroom fantasy to expose deep, real-world anxieties about school violence.

Vietnam

Asian Angle | When the US comes for Cuba, what can Vietnam do?

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Asean

Asian Angle | China builds Southeast Asia expertise as the US lets it wither

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Indonesia

Asian Angle | Indonesia’s nickel rule changes are spooking Chinese investors

A leaked grievance letter reveals how Jakarta’s resource nationalism risks driving essential Chinese capital away.

A worker processes nickel at plant in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: EPA
A worker processes nickel at plant in Sorowako, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: EPA
Indonesia

Opinion | Indonesia’s labour movement is deeply divided over political patronage

Rival rallies reveal a fundamental clash between a co-opted union elite and an independent grass-roots movement.

Malaysia

Opinion | Can Malaysia’s unity government survive a state poll fight?

Pakatan Harapan and Barisan Nasional might find it easier to compete locally and maintain a lukewarm federal alliance.

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Asean

Asian Angle | Where Southeast Asians really want to live, work and travel

While Thailand leads for tourism, Singapore and Japan are the top draws for work, revealing uneven regional soft power dynamics.

People at the Merlion statue in Singapore. The city state has emerged top among Southeast Asians who chose an Asean member as their preferred relocation destination, according to a survey. Photo: AFP
People at the Merlion statue in Singapore. The city state has emerged top among Southeast Asians who chose an Asean member as their preferred relocation destination, according to a survey. Photo: AFP
Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia’s 3R catch-all risks turning every grievance into a threat

Conflating local governance concerns with racial and religious slights threatens pluralism and stifles legitimate public policy debate.

Ageing society

Asian Angle | Asia’s silver dividend can offset ageing’s economic toll

Research shows demographic decline hits productivity, not workforce size. Keeping older workers active through technology is the solution.

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US-China relations

Asian Angle | What the China-US stability pact means for Southeast Asia

The real test of Beijing and Washington’s adoption of ‘constructive strategic stability’ will be how words translate into action.

US President Donald Trump (left) shakes hand with China’s Xi Jinping at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 14. Photo: Reuters
China-Asean relations

Asian Angle | China offers Southeast Asia clear advantages in nuclear power

With its experience in exporting nuclear reactors, China can offer long-term energy security and technological upgrades.

Researchers inspect an alloy material sample used to build a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor at a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics in October last year. Photo: EPA
Researchers inspect an alloy material sample used to build a Thorium Molten Salt Reactor at a laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics in October last year. Photo: EPA
History

Opinion | The West was never the whole world. It’s time to move on

As Asia reclaims its roots, the burden of reinvention now falls on the West. Its brief era of supremacy was a historical aberration.

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China-Philippines relations

Asian Angle | 3 reasons Marcos’ South China Sea energy gambit won’t work

The Philippine president has mooted the idea of joint oil and gas development. China is willing, but history shows this road leads nowhere.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Trump’s threats against Iran are historically illiterate

The US president’s threats to end Iranian civilisation expose his ignorance of the country’s long history.

Iranian women visit the ruins of Persepolis, ceremonial capital of the ancient Achaemenid empire of Persia, near Shiraz in Iran. Photo: AFP
Japan

Asian Angle | Why Japan-China ties can benefit from promoting people-to-people exchanges

Filling the information gap through direct contact between the two peoples can help improve both countries’ public images and ease tensions.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their talks in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025. Photo: Kyodo
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their talks in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025. Photo: Kyodo
Thailand

Asian Angle | A year after corporal punishment ban, Thailand needs to curb resurgence

Two school incidents show corporal punishment remains prevalent, and Thai authorities must strengthen accountability to prevent a recurrence.

US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Trump’s oil crisis is accelerating the end of the fossil fuel era

Ironically for president ‘drill, baby, drill’, this crisis may prove an irreversible tipping point for clean energy.

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War and conflict

Opinion | Blinding the world with lies makes peacemaking an impossible task

From Iran to the Horn of Africa, disinformation is killing diplomacy. Mediators need facts, not state-sponsored fictions.

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A satellite image shows smoke rising from an oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, on Monday after an overnight strike claimed by Ukraine’s military. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters
A satellite image shows smoke rising from an oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, on Monday after an overnight strike claimed by Ukraine’s military. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters
United States

Asian Angle | The Thucydides Trap is a lie created to justify a US-China war

Ancient Greece offers no lessons for Asia. The Global South must stop letting America’s war machine write history.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Passage through the Strait of Hormuz is a right in war and peace

Neutral ships have a legal right of passage, even in war. Singapore has defended international law, which provides for a stable world order.

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Asean

Asian Angle | Doubts about Trump strain Southeast Asia’s US-China balancing act

An increasingly unpredictable Washington is making the region’s traditional hedging strategy harder to sustain.

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US President Donald Trump (centre) stands for a group photo with Southeast Asian leaders at the 13th Asean-United States Summit in Kuala Lumpur on October 26, 2025. Photo: AFP
Vietnam

Asian Angle | Who is Vietnam’s new Prime Minister Le Minh Hung?

The ex-central banker has the credentials to succeed. Whether he has the political capital remains to be seen.

Le Minh Hung (centre) attends a swearing-in ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday after being elected as Vietnam’s new prime minister. Photo: Vietnam News Agency/Xinhua
Le Minh Hung (centre) attends a swearing-in ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday after being elected as Vietnam’s new prime minister. Photo: Vietnam News Agency/Xinhua
US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Why the ‘Gate of Tears’ may yet make the whole world weep

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, any attacks on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait will pile further pressure on global supply chains.

US, Israel war on Iran

Asian Angle | Hormuz is sending Southeast Asia a warning – and we can no longer ignore it

The crisis has shown we must invest in renewables rather than staying in a fossil fuel comfort zone.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | One rule for Israel and another for Iran risks nuclear disaster

Israel is believed to have some 80 to 90 nuclear weapons. Iran has none. Such double standards are unsustainable.

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he has drawn on a graphic representing an Iranian nuclear bomb as he addresses the UN in 2012. Photo: Reuters
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