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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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The Lynas Rare Earths processing plant in Gebeng, Malaysia. Photo: AFP
US-China relations

Asian Angle | Southeast Asia faces a false binary in US-China mineral trade

The real question for rare earth exporters is how to turn global mineral competition into higher-value industries.

Vladimir Putin

Opinion | Why the Global South keeps its doors wide open to Russia

Vietnam

Asian Angle | Politics aside, young Vietnamese are warming to China

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Nepal

Asian Angle | After Nepal-Tibet floods, recovery depends on grass-roots solidarity

Rebuilding devastated border villages means backing local support networks long after foreign aid money disappears.

Soldiers shovel mud away from a school that was swamped by the flood in Baireni Bazar, Nepal. Photo: EPA
Nepalis ride in a cage on a makeshift zip line to cross the Trishuli River on Wednesday after landslides and mudslides damaged bridges in Nuwakot district, Nepal. Photo: Reuters
A man sits on the ledge of his damaged house on Wednesday, a week after the devastating flash floods at Baireni in Nepal’s Dhading district. Photo: AFP
Rescue crews work at the former site of the Gyirong Port in Tibet, which was destroyed by a mudslide on August 26. Photo: CNS / AFP
Singapore

Opinion | Singapore’s blueprint for economic success: plan, but be prepared to adapt

External shocks and changing domestic conditions often render plans unfeasible, so being agile is a better policy.

China-India relations

Asian Angle | India-China ties are warming, the time to capitalise is now

The post-Galwan freeze is over. Rebuilding economic dialogue offers both nations a win-win path forward.

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Myanmar

Asian Angle | SpaceX’s Starlink blackout punishes Myanmar civilians, not just cybercriminals

An estimated 13 million people – nearly a quarter of Myanmar’s population – rely on Starlink for internet access.

A man uses his mobile phone while sheltering under an umbrella as rain falls in Yangon, Myanmar, on August 11. Photo: AFP
A man uses his mobile phone while sheltering under an umbrella as rain falls in Yangon, Myanmar, on August 11. Photo: AFP
Vietnam

Asian Angle | How Vietnam’s ‘streamlining revolution’ may lead to uneven success

The most sweeping administrative overhaul in decades is expected to encounter hurdles ranging from staff shortages to resource mismatch.

Thailand

Asian Angle | Bangkok branches out: how Thai capital moved from concrete to real jungle

Bangkok’s urban greenery playbook contains lessons that other cities, including Hong Kong, should pay attention to.

2025 Cambodia-Thailand conflict

Asian Angle | Cambodia and Thailand must define the border to achieve lasting peace

Without boundary demarcation, all Cambodia-Thailand ceasefires are on borrowed time.

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Thai soldiers stand guard near the Thailand-Cambodia border in Pong Nam Ron district, Chanthaburi province, on July 22. Photo: Reuters
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | America and China can be allies against AI catastrophe

Rival powers have contained nuclear and cyber threats before. AI safeguards demand the same instinct for survival.

AI safety activists take part in a "Stop the AI Race" protest march in San Francisco on July 11. Photo: AFP
AI safety activists take part in a "Stop the AI Race" protest march in San Francisco on July 11. Photo: AFP
Asean

Asian Angle | Decades of talk, zero barrels stored: why can’t Asean stockpile oil?

The Iran war energy crisis revived Asean’s joint reserve plans. To avoid another shelved ambition, the bloc needs swift, binding action.

Malaysia

Asian Angle | Southeast Asia must embrace reforms for ‘China plus one’ to succeed

The region needs to build strong institutions, pursue industrial policies that allow local firms to compete and upgrade its supply chains.

Cambodia

Asian Angle | Cambodia’s war on scammers needs a blueprint built to last

Rounding up foot soldiers is easy. The hard part is tracing cash, exposing high-level enablers and protecting coerced victims.

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A compound near the Thai-Cambodian border Thailand’s military said was used for scam operations, pictured in March. Photo: Reuters
Vietnam

Asian Angle | Vietnam’s economic miracle has a made-elsewhere problem

The numbers dazzle, but Vietnamese companies are losing ground in their own export boom as the middle-income trap looms.

A Vietnamese scrap collector walks past a Chinese-language sign in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. Photo: AFP
A Vietnamese scrap collector walks past a Chinese-language sign in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. Photo: AFP
Asean

Opinion | Southeast Asia must write its own trade rules for China’s ‘flying geese’

As Chinese manufacturers migrate south, Asean has the leverage to dictate terms on local sourcing and skills training.

China-Asean relations

Asian Angle | Why a second ‘China shock’ is good for Southeast Asia

Fear of Chinese imports is misplaced. Roughly 90 per cent of what the region buys is inputs and machinery driving local manufacturing.

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Pacific nations

Opinion | Panic over China’s missile test is born of Western bias

Every nuclear power routinely tests its arsenal. The outcry over Beijing’s launch reveals a glaring double standard.

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A long-range ballistic missile bursts out of the sea during a test launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine in the South Pacific on Monday. Photo: Xinhua/AP
A long-range ballistic missile bursts out of the sea during a test launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine in the South Pacific on Monday. Photo: Xinhua/AP
US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Oman and China: the real winners of Trump’s Iran deal?

Behind the triumphalism, an eerily familiar agreement hands Muscat a privileged position that Beijing hasn’t missed.

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Singapore

Asian Angle | Singapore’s trade pacts prove small states can shape global rules

While major powers employ coercion, Singapore is using flexible, legally binding templates to keep trade open.

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Indonesia

Asian Angle | Liberal Islam in Indonesia is sliding into irrelevance

Political entanglements and ideological schisms have left the pioneering Liberal Islam Network in disarray.

A boy waves a flag at a rally attended by thousands of Indonesian Islamists in Jakarta in 2018. Photo: AFP
Asean

Asian Angle | Asean’s side deals in Myanmar risk missing where the power truly lies

Trading collective leverage for isolated bargains blinds the bloc to changing realities on the ground.

Myanmar’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs U Hau Khan Sum (left) with other Southeast Asian leaders at the Asean summit in Cebu, the Philippines, on May 8. Photo: Pool via Reuters
Myanmar’s Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs U Hau Khan Sum (left) with other Southeast Asian leaders at the Asean summit in Cebu, the Philippines, on May 8. Photo: Pool via Reuters
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?

Vietnam has stood by Cuba for 60 years. Now Washington is raising the price of that friendship – and Hanoi must decide what it’s worth.

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Asean

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

Yet neither power will truly grasp this complex, diverse region if they continue to treat it merely as a geopolitical chessboard.

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People gather in front of the “Sunflower Angel”, an illuminated nine-metre-tall fibreglass art installation, at Prambanan Temple in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Photo: AFP
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