Asia - South China Morning Post

US President Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to India on Thursday pushed back on fears that New Delhi was drifting towards China, pledging to draw India closer to the US, open its markets to American goods and end Russian oil purchases, while telling senators that India and China had little in common and were unlikely to forge closer ties.

“While we might have our moments of hiccups right now, we are on the track of resolving that. Our relationship with the Indian government … is much...

Lawyers for detained former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte say he suffers from significant cognitive deficiencies that affect his memory and daily functioning, according to documents made public by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Duterte, 80, was arrested and taken to The Hague in March on an arrest warrant that linked him to murders committed during his “war on drugs” where thousands of alleged narcotics peddlers and users were killed.

His lawyers have since then argued he is...

Indonesia’s new finance minister wants to immediately flood the economy with roughly US$12 billion in cash to jump-start lending, proving his commitment to President Prabowo Subianto’s growth agenda barely three days into the job.

The government would transfer half of the 400 trillion rupiah in cash reserves that it held with the central bank to state-owned lenders, Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa told lawmakers in a hearing on Wednesday. He added on Thursday that the cash injection would...

Malaysia may have become more polarised amid intense race rhetoric and systemic problems, but individuals have agency to do their part and private companies have a role to play in ensuring deeper ethnic integration, Transport Minister Anthony Loke has said.

Speaking to Malaysians living in Hong Kong at an event organised by the Malaysian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong and Macau on Wednesday night, Loke noted that although their country was divided along class and education lines with social media...

The arrests of activists and social media users in Indonesia on accusations of inciting violence in the recent protests have prompted rights advocates to warn of a “serious threat” to freedom of expression in the world’s third-largest democracy.

Jakarta police last week named 43 people as suspects behind “a series of anarchic acts” during the weeklong protests across Indonesia in late August. The protests were sparked by anger over the excessive perks given to lawmakers, which later morphed into...

Bangladesh is boosting power imports from India and output from fuel oil-fired power plants in a scramble to meet rising electricity demand as it grapples with constraints on gas supply and coal plant maintenance, industry officials and analysts say.

Power imports, mainly from an Adani Power-run coal-fired plant in eastern India, rose 70 per cent in the seven months through July and helped satisfy most of the rising demand, government data showed.

Natural gas accounted for about two-thirds of...

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke has called on the Chinese state-owned maker of the C919 passenger jet to set its sights on the global market and be more aggressive in boosting its international standing, as AirAsia nears a deal to become its first foreign buyer.

Loke made the comments on Wednesday while speaking at a Malaysian Chamber of Commerce Hong Kong and Macau (Maycham) event, where he outlined a series of updates on his country’s transport industry – from air travel to...

India is keen on tariff talks with the United States, but it is expected to stand its ground even as their bilateral relations sour on issues ranging from trade to foreign policy.

In the face of the 50 per cent tariff imposed on Indian goods, Delhi is neither “desperate nor cornered”, according to analysts.

Signalling a hardening of America’s position on the tariff issue, US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Friday that he expected New Delhi to say “sorry” and cut a deal with...

Walt Disney’s first cruise ship that was to be based in Asia has pushed back its maiden voyage from Singapore by three months.

“As we work on the final touches to bring the Disney Adventure to our guests, we’ve encountered unexpected delays in the shipbuilding process,” Joe Schott, president of Disney Signature Experiences, said. The ship, once complete, will be the company’s largest ever.

The Disney Adventure was set to make its first voyage from the city state on December 15 but that has now...

In the week before his fatal shooting, right-wing US political activist Charlie Kirk cheered the boom of conservative young men in South Korea and warned about a “globalist menace” in Tokyo on his first speaking tour of Asia.

Kirk, 31, who helped amplify Republican President Donald Trump’s agenda to young voters with often inflammatory rhetoric focused on issues such as gender and immigration, was shot in the neck on Wednesday at a speaking event at a Utah university.

In Seoul on Friday, he...