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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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The logo of the US AI company Anthropic. The US and China now face a prisoner’s dilemma in military AI. Photo: AFP
Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Who will save the world from a US-China AI arms race?

Unrestrained military AI could doom us all. The window for a global middle-power alliance to rein in the superpowers is closing fast.

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Cambodia

Opinion | Cambodia’s scam factory survivors find no escape in freedom

Asean

Asian Angle | How Asean can resolve its Myanmar dilemma post-election

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Vietnam

Opinion | Vietnam’s renewed nuclear power push faces formidable hurdles

Money, corruption, a lack of skilled staff and other factors may derail Hanoi’s goal of building its first nuclear power plant by 2031.

A nuclear power plant operating at night. Russia’s state-owned energy company Rosatom has been contracted to build Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant. Photo: Shutterstock
A nuclear power plant operating at night. Russia’s state-owned energy company Rosatom has been contracted to build Vietnam’s first nuclear power plant. Photo: Shutterstock
Thailand

Asian Angle | Thailand’s election will pass verdict on the architecture of elite control

After court rulings removed successive PMs, this election tests whether a popular mandate can finally survive the state’s veto traps.

Japan

Opinion | Honking for votes: inside Japan’s tradition of election sound trucks

During election season, sound trucks drive around Japan’s cities blaring out candidates’ names and the parties they are standing for.

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China-Philippines relations

Asian Angle | South China Sea: 6 risks facing Philippines, China as conflict threshold lowers

From violent incidents to US missiles in Luzon, a ‘perilous new normal’ and vanishing red lines threaten to derail the Code of Conduct.

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A China Coast Guard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippines’ BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pagasa island, in the disputed the South China Sea on October 12, 2025. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP
A China Coast Guard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippines’ BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippine-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pagasa island, in the disputed the South China Sea on October 12, 2025. Photo: Philippine Coast Guard via AP
Asean

Asian Angle | ‘Old order is not coming back’: Trump’s US, not China, threatens status quo

American unpredictability is pushing countries to hedge more proactively – and, ironically, soften existing tensions with China.

The Philippines

Opinion | Marcos health problems call to mind past Philippine leaders’ woes

Marcos has admitted he suffers from diverticulitis, as he battles problems including impeachment complaints and public anger over corruption.

Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia’s PM term limits could backfire unless election cycles are set

To secure his legacy, Anwar Ibrahim must ensure his reform doesn’t accidentally encourage the very political instability he seeks to prevent.

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim during an event in October 2025. Photo: AFP
Asean

Asian Angle | What a US-China ‘grand bargain’ would mean for Southeast Asia

Washington’s Venezuela raid has resurrected old fears about ‘spheres of influence’, sounding alarm bells for Southeast Asian autonomy.

US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan on October 30, 2025. Photo: TNS
US President Donald Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping after their talks at the Gimhae Air Base in Busan on October 30, 2025. Photo: TNS
Diplomacy

Asian Angle | China has a worthy blueprint to improve the UN. Why is the West ignoring it?

China’s Global Governance Initiative seeks to end ‘might is right’, but the West insists on viewing it through a dusty Cold War lens.

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Asean

Asian Angle | To win the future, Southeast Asia must rewrite its industrial rule book

Success relies on five key pillars, including deeper regional coordination and targeted industrial upgrading.

Indonesia

Asian Angle | Indonesia’s digital 2045 ambition rests on a fragile seabed spine

With few domestic repair ships and convoluted laws, Indonesia struggles to safeguard the 115,000km of cables powering its digital future.

An illustration of a submarine cable. The main threats to Indonesia’s undersea infrastructure are fishing and anchor damage. Photo: Shutterstock
Protests around the world

Opinion | From memes to the streets: Gen Z’s fight back against corruption

Youth-led movements are too often treated as fleeting emotional outbursts, even though they express structured political demands.

An activist holds a poster next to a flag bearing an image of the “Jolly Roger” from popular Japanese anime “One Piece” during a protest in Jakarta, Indonesia, in September. Photo: AP
An activist holds a poster next to a flag bearing an image of the “Jolly Roger” from popular Japanese anime “One Piece” during a protest in Jakarta, Indonesia, in September. Photo: AP
Myanmar

Asian Angle | How uneven borders fuel Myanmar’s vast and resilient scam economy

Fieldwork along the borders of China and Thailand reveals how uneven controls allow fraud networks to thrive despite crackdowns.

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Bangladesh

Asian Angle | Bangladesh needs ‘structural’ change, but how will it get there?

As Bangladesh heads into elections next year, it must tread the challenge of political transition with more care and thoughtfulness.

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Malaysia

Asian Angle | Sabah’s election proves Malaysians want results, not slogans

Local parties crying ‘Sabah First’ largely flopped as voters rejected empty identity rhetoric for proven service records.

Officials from the Sabah People’s Coalition, or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), hold a launch event on October 20 in preparation for the 17th Sabah state election. Photo: Facebook/grs.sabah
Officials from the Sabah People’s Coalition, or Gabungan Rakyat Sabah (GRS), hold a launch event on October 20 in preparation for the 17th Sabah state election. Photo: Facebook/grs.sabah
The Philippines

Asian Angle | Greed and pork barrel politics fuel the Philippines’ fatal floods

Filipinos are paying the ultimate price for a system that favours corrupt lawmakers’ pet projects over scientifically sound flood control.

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The Philippines

Asian Angle | Is the new Philippines-Germany defence pact built to last?

Rising anxieties over Beijing and Moscow have united Berlin and Manila in an axis that must now be institutionalised to ensure it endures.

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Japan

Opinion | From Singapore to Taiwan, Japan must face its past for Asia’s future

Lasting peace in Asia demands that Tokyo abandons its historical revisionism and refusal to acknowledge past crimes.

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A man displays a Rising Sun Flag, the Japanese naval ensign, at the Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on August 15, the 80th anniversary of Japan’s surrender in World War II. Photo: Reuters
Vietnam

Asian Angle | Vietnam’s anti-drug police are speaking Gen Z, and it’s working

Ho Chi Minh City’s police have found a way to wrap dry state messaging in viral humour, mirroring China’s digital playbook.

A viral social media post showing a faux wedding proposal created by an anti-drugs police unit photo in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Facebook/PC04.CATP
A viral social media post showing a faux wedding proposal created by an anti-drugs police unit photo in Ho Chi Minh City. Photo: Facebook/PC04.CATP
Thailand

Asian Angle | The Thai influencer bringing viral warfare to Cambodia’s border

Gun Jompalang is a self-styled ‘justice crusader’ with over 9 million followers but no commander. He’s not a soldier, but he is waging war.

Myanmar

Opinion | Why China is succeeding in Myanmar while the West has been sidelined

The West’s incoherent strategy is no match for a ruthless, integrated Chinese approach that leverages economic links to its advantage.

Vietnam

Asian Angle | The hidden domestic agenda behind Vietnam’s baffling foreign policy

To Lam’s recent pilgrimages to North Korea and Cuba signal ideological loyalty, even as he pushes a hard-nosed reform agenda at home.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Vietnam’s To Lam (left) talk before a meeting in Pyongyang, North Korea, last month. Photo: VNA/AP
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