Asia - South China Morning Post

In the dead of night, officers from Malaysia’s maritime agency boarded two tankers that were transferring millions of barrels of oil in the waters off Penang, as the re-emergence of ageing vessels from a shadow fleet in the country’s waters has put the spotlight on the illegal trade in Asia.

The January 29 bust was a rare disruption to a trade worth billions of dollars each year – much of it from sanctioned oil-producing nations Russia and Iran, and involving ships plying the waters in the...

Foreign tourists mistaking a funeral for an open air food court were given a taste of Thai hospitality when the hosts served them a meal anyway.

In two posts uploaded on social media, Charantorn Chaloemkiad, an ethnic Chinese Thai who was at his family’s funeral, shared how the tourists innocently gatecrashed the funeral in the city of Nakhon Si Thammarat over the weekend, thinking that it was part of a buffet.

According to Charantorn, long tables had been set up to serve funeral goers. In...

Chinese nationals accounted for the largest share of property buyers under Malaysia’s revamped “My Second Home” (MM2H) programme, the country’s tourism minister said on Wednesday, while cautioning against politicising the issue.

Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing told parliament that 744 MM2H participants bought homes in Malaysia between 2023 and 2025, with another 2,637 still negotiating purchases.

As of December 31, 304 purchases had been made by buyers from mainland China,...

The handbag she carries is sold out, her pink pen has gone viral and even her favourite snacks are in hot demand: Japan’s 64-year-old leader Sanae Takaichi has sparked an unlikely youth-led craze that could propel her to a big election win.

Polls suggest sanakatsu, roughly translated as “sanamania”, can help give Japan’s first female prime minister a decisive mandate in Sunday’s general election and unleash the spending plans she has promised will jolt the country’s moribund economy.

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Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told parliament on Wednesday that his government had not agreed to hand over any land to neighbouring Indonesia, calling claims of a large territorial concession “not true” and “a lie”.

The row erupted after Indonesian officials were quoted in local media as saying that parts of three villages in Nunukan regency, North Kalimantan, had been designated Malaysian territory and that Jakarta would receive 5,207 hectares (12,866 acres) “in compensation” to...

A proposal to update a nearly 50-year-old law requiring individuals to disclose their political activities in the interest of national security has gained steam amid allegations of the rise of “Filipino trolls” espousing pro-Beijing content.

Antonio Carpio, a retired Philippine Supreme Court senior associate justice, proposed that the country update its Foreign Agents Act, a 1979 law that requires individuals to register and disclose their political activities to regulate foreign...

A year after Vietnam elevated its relations with Washington to the highest diplomatic level, an internal document shows its military was taking steps to prepare for a possible American “war of aggression” and considered the United States a “belligerent” power, according to a report released on Tuesday.

More than just exposing Hanoi’s duality in approach towards the US, the document confirms a deep-seated fear of external forces fomenting an uprising against the communist leadership in a “colour...

With the number of deaths during the current severe winter season in Japan expected to rise, environmental and tourism experts have warned of greater risks to lives and property arising from unpredictable weather patterns due to climate change.

Parts of Japan have experienced “disaster-level” snowfall in recent days, with authorities reporting at least 29 dead and 290 injured in accidents since January 20.

Just as Japanese summers are becoming hotter, longer and more humid, global warming is...

Passersby stopped Thailand’s former prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva every now and again to ask for selfies ‌as the salt-and-pepper-haired leader walked through a bustling market in Bangkok, campaigning for general elections on Sunday.

“Good to see you again, still handsome just like before,” said ‍one noodle vendor, reflecting voters’ persisting warm feelings for the Oxford-trained economist, who is making an unexpected comeback to frontline politics.

Abhisit’s return has fuelled a revival of...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi appears set for a landslide victory in a coming election and is expected to maintain her stoic stance on China but without escalating tensions further, with observers noting Beijing would still be unlikely to engage her administration in the near term.

Takaichi’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is on track to win more than the 233 seats needed for a majority in the country’s Lower House election on Sunday, according to an Asahi Shimbun newspaper...