Asia - South China Morning Post

Japan dramatically ramped up security as US President Donald Trump arrived in Tokyo on Monday, with 18,000 police officers on duty and a specialist emergency response team on constant alert for the American leader’s three-day visit.

An incident on Friday suggested that elevated levels of security for the occasion are warranted, with a police officer stationed outside the US embassy in central Tokyo attacked by a man with a knife.

The man, who has been arrested, was stopped after police believed...

North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son-hui met Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin on Monday to discuss strengthening cooperation, North Korean state media KCNA said on Tuesday.

“Many future projects to constantly strengthen and develop” the bilateral relationship were discussed during the meeting, KCNA said. Choe also conveyed North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s “brotherly regard” to Putin.

The visit comes amid growing international concern over cooperation between the two countries,...

United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres on Monday urged Myanmar’s junta to focus on increasing aid to its struggling people instead of holding an election, which he said would be neither free nor fair.

Myanmar’s junta has been widely pilloried for pressing on with the election starting this December, while it continues to bomb civilians in a civil war that has killed thousands and displaced more than 3.5 million people.

Guterres, who was in Kuala Lumpur for a summit between the UN and...

The Korean peninsula has snapped back into global focus. The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in South Korea is expected to bring the leaders of the US and China together for their first in-person meeting since US President Donald Trump’s second term began. Meanwhile, Russia-allied North Korea seeks US recognition of its status as a nuclear state and direct talks with Trump.

This points to a structural shift in Northeast Asia’s security architecture. Rather than a simple US-China binary...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to skip the Asean summit in Malaysia was probably made with an eye on coming crucial state polls in Bihar and to avoid meeting US President Donald Trump amid sensitive trade negotiations, analysts have said.

During a special event at the White House last week, Trump had reiterated claims that India would stop buying Russian oil. The US president then attended the Asean meeting in Kuala Lumpur before departing for Japan on Monday.

Modi addressed the...

The world’s largest trade agreement was given a jump-start on Monday, as leaders met in Kuala Lumpur at a “pivotal” time for the global economy, desperate to turn the pact into tangible gains as sweeping US tariffs threaten to slow growth across Asia-Pacific.

The Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) covers 30 per cent of the global economy, with Asean members at its core alongside East Asian giants China, Japan, South Korea, as well as Australia and New Zealand. The pact was signed...

The United States has ramped up efforts to hedge against rare earth export controls by China – the world’s dominant supplier – through agreements signed on Sunday with two Southeast Asian countries, including one that experts believe could deliver results relatively quickly.

Memoranda of understanding with Malaysia and Thailand pave the way for increased critical mineral exports to US automotive, defence and hi-tech hardware manufacturers – following a US$8.5 billion US-Australia framework deal...

US President Donald Trump arrived in Japan on Monday, telling reporters he was excited for his meeting with new Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and the prospect of completing a joint deal to promote shipbuilding capacity.

“I look forward to meeting the new prime minister. I hear phenomenal things,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he flew from Malaysia, where he attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations summit.

Trump sidestepped questions about what corporate leaders...

South Korean President Lee Jae-myung and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet agreed on Monday to form a joint task force to combat scams targeting South Koreans, in response to growing public concern over recent abductions and detentions of Lee’s compatriots in Cambodia.

The task force, which begins operations next month, will include South Korean police officers, according to presidential spokeswoman Kang Yu-jung. The size and operational details of the force will be determined as soon as...

Two mountaineers, one French and one South Korean, have died in Nepal after separate expeditions to the Ama Dablam mountain in the Himalayas, hiking officials said on Monday.

Hugo Lucio Colonia Lazaro, 65, from France, was hit on the head by a falling piece of ice and was evacuated to Kathmandu by helicopter last week, said Subash Shrestha of the Himalayan Vision Treks and Expedition company.

Lazaro then died in hospital on Friday.

South Korean Park Hong-khy, 66, died on Sunday while climbing...