Asia - South China Morning Post

India plans to lift long-standing restrictions on Chinese companies bidding for government contracts, a move officials say is aimed at easing shortages and project delays as relations with Beijing show tentative signs of stabilising.

The proposal, first reported by Reuters, would roll back curbs, imposed after the two countries’ deadly 2020 border clash in the Galwan Valley, that effectively shut Chinese firms out of a vast segment of India’s public procurement market.

In October 2024, India and...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung played drums together on Tuesday after their summit talks in Nara, the capital of her home prefecture, in a surprise event showcasing their amicable personal relationship.

The leaders played two K-pop songs – “Dynamite”, a hit tune by world-famous boy band BTS, and “Golden” from the US Golden Globes-winning animated film Kpop Demon Hunters.

Takaichi led the session by showing Lee how to play the drums, according to...

A former mayor who quit her job amid a scandal over an alleged affair with a married subordinate has staged a political comeback in Japan, in a result analysts say shows how attitudes towards women in public life are shifting.

Akira Ogawa, 43, was re-elected as mayor of Maebashi, the capital of Gunma prefecture, on Monday, mere weeks after resigning under intense public pressure.

Running as an independent, Ogawa secured nearly 63,000 votes – around 10,000 more than her closest challenger –...

Australia’s former prime minister and a prominent China scholar, Kevin Rudd, will step down as ambassador to the United States a year ahead of schedule, a move some analysts say underscores a fundamental shift in how Canberra must navigate a Washington increasingly centred on the personal rapport with US President Donald Trump.

The resignation follows a period of heightened friction between Rudd and Trump, punctuated by the “America first” leader’s blunt public declaration in October 2025 that...

In 2025, India approved a number of major defence packages, together worth US$30 billion. Such rapid procurement approvals are relatively rare by Indian standards. However, what they signal to the region will depend less on such announcements and more on actual outcomes.

To some observers, especially after India’s four-day clash with Pakistan during what the former called “Operation Sindoor” last May, the surge appears to mark the start of a regional arms race. That interpretation is...

A special economic zone between Singapore and the Malaysian state of Johor (JS-SEZ) should include Indonesia’s Riau Islands to ramp up the region’s allure to global investors, an apex business chamber and leading accounting firm have said, ahead of the city state’s budget address next month.

As part of its 18 top recommendations, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF), which has more than 32,000 members, and PwC Singapore on Monday said expanding the zone to include the Indonesian islands of...

An independent counsel on Tuesday demanded the death sentence for former South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol on rebellion charges in connection with his short-lived imposition of martial law in December 2024.

Yoon, who was removed from office last April and is in jail, faces eight trials over various criminal charges related to his martial law debacle and other scandals related to his time in office. Charges that he directed a rebellion are the most significant ones.

Independent counsel Cho...

Indonesia’s ambitious free nutritious meals programme has fed more than 55 million people in its first year, a scale-up President Prabowo Subianto has hailed as a major step in tackling childhood malnutrition, even as critics warn that rapid expansion has come at the expense of oversight, food safety and fiscal discipline.

Launched with fanfare last year, the scheme provides free meals to schoolchildren, infants and pregnant women, with the government framing it as a long-term investment in...

A Chinese national suspected of running a Cambodia-based scam operation linked to the killing of a South Korean university student has been arrested during a raid on a luxury house in Thailand, authorities said.

The suspect, identified by South Korean officials as Han Mo, was captured in Pattaya by a joint Thai–South Korean task force formed after the discovery of the student’s body last year sparked international outrage.

“In close cooperation with Thai authorities, we arrested Han Mo, 42, a...

The Trump administration plans to ‌replace the US ambassador to Vietnam with a nominee set on addressing “imbalanced” trade relations, as Hanoi’s goods trade surplus ‍with Washington surpassed China’s in recent quarters while it was locked in unresolved tariff negotiations with Washington.

On Sunday, current ambassador Marc Knapper will end his tenure after being abruptly recalled before Christmas alongside several other career diplomats. His designated successor, career diplomat Jennifer Wicks...