https://www.scmp.com/rss/523737/feed The latest news and top stories on the East Asian Institute (EAI). A Singapore-based research institute and think tank, EAI is dedicated to promoting academic and policy-oriented research on East Asian development. Its main areas of focus include the political, economic and social dynamics of contemporary China, Japan, Korea and Asean. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Joseph Sipalan,Ushar Daniele Joseph Sipalan,Ushar Daniele For a few weeks after the bombs started falling on Iran, Southeast Asian governments told their people not to worry. Emergency funds would cushion the blow. Subsidies would hold. Prices would stabilise. A month on, with oil well above US$100 a barrel, long queues for fuel forming at petrol stations across the region and Thailand restarting coal plants it had mothballed years ago, the reassurances have worn thin. Against this backdrop, an old question has resurfaced with fresh urgency: why does a... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3348186/iran-war-energy-shock-revives-aseans-power-grid-plans-its-way-go?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/health-environment/article/3348186/iran-war-energy-shock-revives-aseans-power-grid-plans-its-way-go?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Mar 2026 00:00:13 +0000 An excerpt An excerpt In a new memoir No Borders: Journeys Across Islands And Continents, renowned historian Wang Gungwu traces his life across Malaya, London, Australia, Hong Kong and Singapore, sharing both personal anecdotes and perspectives on the changes in China and the modern world. In the excerpt below, Wang reflects on his impressions of Singapore after arriving from Hong Kong with his wife Margaret in the 1990s, the differences between the two cities, and his work on contemporary China with Singapore’s... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341918/tale-two-cities-singapore-hong-kong-and-their-contrasting-paths?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341918/tale-two-cities-singapore-hong-kong-and-their-contrasting-paths?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 01 Feb 2026 06:00:14 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Wang Gungwu is widely regarded as a pre-eminent expert on the ethnic Chinese in Southeast Asia and the history of China, but at 95, he writes in his latest memoir that he is no longer able to call himself a historian. In No Borders: Journeys Across Islands and Continents, launched in Singapore on Thursday, Wang writes that while a historian today has the objective of reconstructing the past as it actually happened, the Australian sinologist is no longer interested in this. Through his studies... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341831/his-singapore-book-launch-sinologist-wang-gungwu-recounts-own-journey-through-history?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3341831/his-singapore-book-launch-sinologist-wang-gungwu-recounts-own-journey-through-history?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Jan 2026 08:54:45 +0000 Mia Nurmamat Mia Nurmamat An adviser to China’s central bank has publicly questioned the stability of the United States’ debt – highlighting growing concerns over Washington’s fiscal trajectory and the risk of a global spillover. “I’ve heard so many people telling me that [debt] as a share of GDP [gross domestic product] has been rising and probably will continue to rise. That’s probably not sustainable,” said Huang Yiping, an adviser to the People’s Bank of China, on Wednesday. The current institutional setting in the... https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3340716/china-central-bank-adviser-flags-us-debt-probably-not-sustainable?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/global-economy/article/3340716/china-central-bank-adviser-flags-us-debt-probably-not-sustainable?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 22 Jan 2026 04:00:13 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau Southeast Asian countries should not be judged harshly on their shifting positions amid the heightened US-China rivalry, Singapore’s top diplomat has said, while emphasising unique “vulnerabilities and opportunities” across the region. Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan told the FutureChina Global Forum on Friday to avoid binary thinking, stressing that the city state was open for business to all, with China as its biggest trading partner and the United States its largest foreign... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3326201/singapore-minister-defends-aseans-shifts-amid-china-us-rivalry-dont-judge-too-quickly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3326201/singapore-minister-defends-aseans-shifts-amid-china-us-rivalry-dont-judge-too-quickly?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Sep 2025 12:52:55 +0000 Mandy Zuo Mandy Zuo It has been a tumultuous couple of months for Alex Xu’s company – a solar panel manufacturer based in eastern China’s Zhejiang province – as product prices have surged by about 20 per cent. Long plagued by severe oversupply, China’s photovoltaic industry is grappling with cutthroat price wars and even loss-making sales. From Xu’s perspective, nearly half of the industry’s capacity is excessive. But a rebound in prices has followed recent calls from Chinese authorities to combat “involution”, or... https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322605/chinas-crippling-price-wars-old-laws-revision-seeks-sustainable-equilibrium?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/economy/china-economy/article/3322605/chinas-crippling-price-wars-old-laws-revision-seeks-sustainable-equilibrium?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 21 Aug 2025 22:00:12 +0000 Jean Iau Jean Iau A marquee visit by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to China this week has underscored a push by Southeast Asian countries for multilateralism amid uncertainty over America’s commitment to the region and free trade. Observers say Wong’s comments during his five-day trip, particularly at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, or so-called Summer Davos, are aligned with the regional agenda of Asean members in recent years. But even as Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country and... https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3315974/china-bridge-builder-singapore-champions-multilateral-world?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/politics/article/3315974/china-bridge-builder-singapore-champions-multilateral-world?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 26 Jun 2025 12:24:52 +0000