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July 01, 2026
 

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Karishma Vaswani
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un sees off Chinese President Xi Jinping at Pyongyang International Airport following Xi’s two-day visit to North Korea from Monday. 
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 11, 2026
Why China finds it hard to keep North Korea in line
Despite closer links with Moscow, Beijing is still Pyongyang’s main diplomatic partner and an important buffer against international sanctions.
Vietnamese President To Lam gives the keynote address during the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Friday.
COMMENTARY / World
Jun 2, 2026
Vietnam is Asia’s rising power to watch
According to the Lowy Institute’s 2025 Asia Power Index, Vietnam recorded the second-largest increase in overall influence in the region.
Auto rickshaw drivers, along with members of the Awami Rickshaw Union, protest rising fuel prices in Lahore, Pakistan, on April 7 amid the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 30, 2026
Get ready for another summer of rage in Asia
Young workers are especially vulnerable. Even before the war, the World Bank had warned of mounting unemployment among the region’s youth.
A container ship enters the Singapore Strait for the Strait of Malacca at mainland Asia's southernmost point in Johor, Malaysia, in November 2016.
COMMENTARY / World
Apr 28, 2026
How Asia should deal with the ‘Malacca dilemma’
The confrontation between the U.S. and Iran over the Strait of Hormuz has shown how easily chokepoints can be militarized and how quickly economic fallout can spread.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in September. China is trying to leverage its close ties with Iran to present itself as a mediator in the U.S.-Israel-Iran conflict.
COMMENTARY
Apr 7, 2026
China can’t end the Iran war. But it can shape the endgame.
Beijing does have skin in this game and, therefore, incentive to find a solution.
Oil tankers lie at anchor in the Singapore Strait off Singapore on March 17.
COMMENTARY
Apr 3, 2026
Why the Strait of Hormuz closure is an Asian crisis
About 90% of the oil and 83% of the liquefied natural gas that normally pass through the Strait of Hormuz are bound for Asia.
South Korea, the U.S. and Japan take part in joint naval missile defense exercises in international waters between the Korean Peninsula and Japan in April 2023. U.S. President Donald Trump asked South Korea and other allies to send warships to the Strait of Hormuz to protect commercial shipping.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 20, 2026
South Korea Is learning the hard truth about U.S. promises
How the U.S. balances its priorities amid the Iran conflict will reinforce longer-term concerns about its security guarantees.
Taiwan players celebrate their win over South Korea at Tokyo Dome on Sunday. A visit to Japan by Taiwan Premier Cho Jung-tai to watch the island’s team play in the World Baseball Classic prompted an outcry from China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 13, 2026
How a baseball game in Japan is testing China on Taiwan
The real significance of this WBC match lies beyond the stadium. It’s a signal that Tokyo and Taipei are testing how much Beijing can practically control their engagement.
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran will likely reinforce Kim Jong Un’s belief that nuclear weapons guarantee regime survival.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 12, 2026
U.S. strikes on Iran will only harden North Korea’s nuclear resolve
Kim’s lesson from the Iran strikes will be simple: Autocrats without nuclear weapons are sitting ducks, while states who develop them them have protection.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping welcomes then-Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi at a ceremony in Beijing in February 2023. China is unlikely to be weakened by Donald Trump’s Iran strikes and may instead exploit any prolonged U.S. distraction in the Middle East.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 6, 2026
Regimes come and go. China’s interests in Iran will endure.
“The Middle East is not a paramount security or foreign policy priority for the Chinese in the way it is for the Europeans and the Americans.”
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s election win is fueling regional backing for Japan to take on a bigger defense role as Asian nations seek balance against China and shifting U.S. policy.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 12, 2026
Most in Asia want a stronger Japanese security presence — except for China
A more confident Tokyo complicates Beijing’s preferred regional order. For many of Asia’s middle powers, that makes Japan an appealing counterweight.
Employees work in an automobile spare parts factory in Ayutthaya province, north of Bangkok. Thailand recorded roughly 2,000 factory shutdowns last year; officials cited cheap Chinese imports as a major factor.
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 26, 2026
How Asia’s Gen-Z is losing out to China’s $1 trillion surplus
Thailand recorded roughly 2,000 factory shutdowns last year; officials cited cheap Chinese imports as a major factor.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping, accompanied by his wife, Peng Liyuan, meets with his North Korean and Russian counterparts, Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin, during the military parade marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Beijing in September.  
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 2, 2026
Buckle up for a volatile year of Trump-Xi, Taiwan and Kim
Asia in 2026 is not on the brink of war. But the region will be more volatile than it has been in recent memory.
Islamic State graffiti in a house in the battle-torn city of Marawi, Philippines, in April 2018
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2025
Islamic state isn’t back in Asia, but its ideas still endure
The question is not whether Islamic State is “back” in Asia. It isn’t, but its ideology remains, as the tragedy in Bondi shows.
U.S. approval of Nvidia’s advanced AI chip exports to China risks accelerating the PLA’s military AI capabilities and eroding America’s technological edge at a critical moment in the U.S.-China strategic rivalry.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 26, 2025
Will Nvidia turbocharge China’s AI military?
The deal could give China access to Nvidia’s second-most powerful AI processor, which is roughly six times more capable than the H20 chips previously available to it.
Renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia over a century-old border dispute near the Preah Vihear Temple, which both sides claim, highlights the dangers of unresolved historical conflicts in the region and exposes ASEAN’s limited capacity to enforce lasting peace.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 12, 2025
Why Thailand and Cambodia keep fighting the same war
In 1962, the International Court of Justice ruled in favor of Phnom Penh, a decision it reaffirmed in 2013. But the surrounding border area was never fully demarcated.
A statue of former Indonesian President Suharto at a museum dedicated to him in the city of Yogyakarta. Authoritarian nostalgia is rising across Southeast Asia as leaders and societies whitewash past dictatorships. REUTERS
COMMENTARY / World
Nov 26, 2025
How amnesia is turning Asia’s tyrants into heroes
Experts warn that forgetting the realities of autocratic rule threatens democratic institutions, transparency and long-term stability.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping leave after a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, on Thursday.
COMMENTARY
Nov 4, 2025
The U.S. had the spotlight. China stole the show.
Xi’s diplomacy rests on the idea that China represents a “non-Western form of modernization.”
New Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi plans to boost Japan’s defense and regional security amid waning U.S. influence and rising threats from China, North Korea and Russia.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Oct 28, 2025
With new leadership, Japan has the chance to flex its defense muscles
New Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is determined to convince Trump she’s serious about boosting the nation’s military capabilities.
Protesters rally outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on the second anniversary of the Gaza war on Oct. 7.
COMMENTARY / World
Oct 15, 2025
The U.S. is losing hearts and minds in Southeast Asia over Gaza
For the first time, more respondents among the 10 ASEAN nations said they would align with China (50.5%) over the U.S. (49.5%) if forced to choose.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan falls in gut-wrenching fashion as Brazil strikes late to win World Cup clash
Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli (right) shoots past Japan defenders Shogo Taniguchi (left) and Takehiro Tomiyasu to score in the second half of a match in the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston on Monday.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
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