Asia - South China Morning Post

Swathes of Asia’s financial systems are vulnerable to potential disruption from quantum computing technology, including those hosting secure transactions, industry executives have warned.

Only a handful of major economies in the region, such as China, Japan, South Korea and Singapore, have embarked on strategies to safeguard their systems, but most financial institutions across the region are vulnerable to quantum attacks because they are ill prepared, experts say.

The threat looms even as...

The bag that Japan’s first female prime minister Sanae Takaichi carries has gone viral, catapulting a 145-year-old local leather goods maker into the spotlight.

Social media users identified the handbag Takaichi often carries when walking into the prime minister’s residence as the “Grace Delight Tote” made by Hamano, a 145-year-old Japanese leather goods maker, whose products have long been favoured by members of Japan’s imperial family.

Priced at 136,000 yen (US$895), the bag has gone viral,...

Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) will deploy units to the northern region of the country to help protect locals from bears, amid rising cases of attacks and a growing sense of “crisis”, according to authorities.

There have already been a record 10 fatalities across the nation this year.

Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Monday said he was looking into the possibility of sending troops to Akita prefecture in response to requests from the prefectural government, with officials in Tokyo...

Earlier this month, China National Nuclear Corporation quietly marked a groundbreaking achievement. It announced that Linglong One – which it has billed as the world’s first commercial land-based small modular reactor – had successfully completed its “cold functional test”. This is the first comprehensive assessment of a reactor, done before fuel loading, checking how the system functions under high pressure.

Linglong One, which has been much cheaper to construct than the larger Hualong One...

Heavy rains have caused major flooding in central Vietnam, with rivers swelling and submerging homes, farmland and tourist destinations including the historic cities of Hue and Hoi An.

Rainfall in the central city of Hue reached 1,085mm (42 inches) in 24 hours by late Monday, the highest volume ever recorded in Vietnam, according to the country’s meteorological department.

By Tuesday morning, water levels in Hue’s iconic Perfume River had risen to 4.62 meters (15 feet) and were waist-deep in the...

Few were ready for the zinger that followed when Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim leaned into the microphone and said, with a suitably dramatic pause for effect, that he and US President Donald Trump were alike in many ways.

“President Trump and I share a lot in common,” he said, as ears craned towards the lectern for the punchline. One of the overlapping experiences was “that I was in prison”, Anwar added, “and you almost got there”.

The joke landed well, drawing laughter in the room,...

The security situations in Asia and Europe are very different because of each region’s respective dynamics with China and Russia, Singapore’s former prime minister Lee Hsien Loong has said.

While several European nations would consider Moscow a security threat and want to boost their collective defence, China is not an existential issue for most countries in Asia, and many want to continue doing business while managing ties with Beijing, according to Lee.

Speaking at a forum at British think...

Southeast Asia’s economic future remains entwined with China despite the attention lavished on the region this week by United States President Donald Trump, experts say, as Asean upgraded trade ties with Asia’s superpower and its largest commercial partner.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations on Tuesday agreed to expand its existing trade deal with Beijing to include future industries such as the digital economy and green technology, as well as boost integration of supply chains.

The...

The gunman accused of killing Japan’s former prime minister Shinzo Abe pleaded guilty on Tuesday, three years after the assassination in broad daylight shocked the world.

The slaying forced a reckoning in a country with little experience of gun violence, and ignited scrutiny of alleged ties between prominent conservative lawmakers and a secretive sect, the Unification Church.

“Everything is true,” Tetsuya Yamagami said at a court in the western city of Nara, admitting to the murder of the...

China and a bloc of 11 Southeast Asian countries signed an upgrade to their free-trade agreement on Tuesday, expanding its terms to cover product quality, environmental protection and help for small businesses, in a sought-after strengthening of multilateral economic ties for Beijing amid its ongoing trade war with the US.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), a group with a combined population of 680 million and a total gross domestic product of US$3.8 trillion in 2023, signed the...