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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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People carry their belongings onto a bus as they leave a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last month. Photo: AFP
Cambodia

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

A government crackdown freed thousands, but with no passports or support, survivors have simply traded captivity for destitution.

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

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.

Pedestrians walk past campaign posters in Bangkok on Tuesday ahead of Thailand’s general election. Photo: AFP
Pedestrians walk past campaign posters in Bangkok on Tuesday ahead of Thailand’s general election. Photo: AFP
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.

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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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.

A protester interrupts US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) as he testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images
A protester interrupts US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (right) as he testifies before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday. Photo: Getty Images
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.

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
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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(From right) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on September 1, 2025. Photo: EPA
(From right) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin during the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Tianjin on September 1, 2025. Photo: EPA
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.

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
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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Advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the notorious KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand’s border province of Tak, on September 17. Photo: AFP
Advertisements for gambling sites and what appears to be Starlink satellite dishes on the roofs of buildings at the notorious KK Park complex in Myanmar’s eastern Myawaddy township, as pictured from Mae Sot district in Thailand’s border province of Tak, on September 17. Photo: AFP
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.

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.

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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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Rescuers carry a resident of Cebu City, the Philippines, past cars swept away in floods brought by Typhoon Kalmaegi on November 4. Photo: AFP
Rescuers carry a resident of Cebu City, the Philippines, past cars swept away in floods brought by Typhoon Kalmaegi on November 4. Photo: AFP
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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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
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.

Self-styled social media influencer Gun Jompalang with Thai officers. Photo: Handout
Self-styled social media influencer Gun Jompalang with Thai officers. Photo: Handout
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.

Britain

Opinion | Self-interest is now the main driver of Britain’s Asia policy

There are a great many reasons why the UK government should pay more attention to the Asia-Pacific, but that does not mean that it will.

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UK military personnel stand on board Britain’s HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier as it arrives in Tokyo, Japan, in August. Photo: Reuters
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