Asia - South China Morning Post

Malaysia’s football authorities are under mounting pressure to convince Fifa that they can clean up after a forgery scandal that has shaken the national game, with experts warning that failure to act decisively could invite outside intervention by the sport’s global governing body.

The latest flashpoint emerged after the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) on Thursday reinstated its secretary general Noor Azman Rahman, months after he was suspended amid an investigation into forged documents...

A female tourist from China, who went diving in Semporna, Malaysia’s Sabah state, has called out another Chinese national who was seen dragging a critically endangered hawksbill turtle, breaking corals deliberately and killing sea slugs during a dive, China Press ­reported.

The tourist, known only as Xiaoqing, shared on social media that she visited Sabah and went diving in Semporna on December 31 and January 3.

During the first dive, Xiaoqing witnessed another diver from China who was in his...

The Philippines has expressed confidence in countering China’s widening influence in contested waters as its navy presses ahead with expanding its fleet, joint activities with foreign partners and the use of unmanned systems.

Analysts say these measures would boost the interoperability of the Philippine military across the sea and air, as the South China Sea dispute continues to dominate its security planning.

“We are up to the challenge [posed by] … the People’s Liberation Army Navy, Chinese...

Singapore’s leader of the House, Indranee Rajah, has filed a parliamentary motion on the conduct of Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh and his suitability to continue as the leader of the opposition.

The office of the leader of the House said on Friday that the motion will be raised at a sitting on or after Tuesday.

Among other points, the motion asks for parliament to consider that Singh’s conviction and conduct render him unsuitable to continue as the leader of the opposition.

The full...

A senior Trump administration official has defended exports of advanced chips to China, arguing that the US is building its own “digital silk road” to counteract concerns that Washington is eroding the competitiveness of top US models.

The comments, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Thursday, came amid questions from Chinese observers over why the US government would make certain advanced integrated circuits, such as Nvidia’s H200 artificial intelligence chips, available to the...

Indonesia’s Bali is weighing a regulation that would require foreign tourists to disclose how much money they have had in their bank accounts over the past three months, the island’s most far-reaching proposal yet in a drive to deter low-spending visitors and promote what officials call “quality tourism”.

Governor Wayan Koster said the measure would be included in Bali’s Draft Regional Regulation on Quality Tourism Management, which he said was nearing completion in the island’s...

I attended a memorial service last month for victims of the Nanking massacre, held at the Hong Kong government offices in Admiralty.

Such occasions are solemn reminders of history’s darkest moments, forcing us to pause and reflect on the scale of the tragedy that unfolded after the city was seized on December 13, 1937, and the broader suffering inflicted on China during World War II. Government figures estimate that military and civilian casualties exceeded 35 million, with 21 million lives...

Senior officials in South Korea’s Prime Minister’s Office are voicing concern over Park Seok-woon, a committee chairman under its authority, after he joined protests criticising US President Donald Trump and his administration over American military operations in Venezuela.

Park, a long-time liberal activist, took part in a rally on Monday in front of the US embassy in Seoul, following an American military operation to capture Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who has been in power since 2013,...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, riding high in opinion polls, is expected to call a general election in the coming months to capitalise on her popularity and seize the opportunity to rebuild a Liberal Democratic Party-led government.

Takaichi has done little to play down the possibility, telling a news conference on Monday: “It is important that the public can feel the tangible effects of our measures against rising prices and our economic policies. We are working hard to tackle the...

The US removal of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro from power has reverberated far beyond Latin America. In Pyongyang, where regime survival is the paramount concern and every US action is scrutinised for hostile intent, the deposing of a sitting head of state sends an unmistakable message: dialogue with Washington is a dangerous gamble, and only nuclear weapons guarantee survival.

The Venezuela operation may have killed the prospects for meaningful US-North Korea diplomacy in 2026 before they even...