Asia - South China Morning Post

A Philippine coastal defence project in Palawan province could complicate Chinese operations near the Spratly Islands, but is unlikely to close Manila’s military gap with Beijing and could turn one of the country’s most important naval hubs into a more prominent target in a crisis, analysts have said.

On Monday, the Puerto Princesa City Council approved a Department of National Defence proposal allowing the Armed Forces of the Philippines to establish Coastal Defence Regiment assets and...

Members of Afghan settlements in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa border province hurriedly packed up belongings this week while others hid at home as police launched a “large-scale crackdown” on undocumented residents.

Authorities in the northern province carried out housing demolitions, roadside identity checks and told Afghans to leave as part of a broader government pushback, community members and officials said.

Residents of Mattani, a short drive from the provincial capital Peshawar, said...

On a 1,620-hectare (4,000 acres) site north of Manila, Philippine and US officials are pitching a hi-tech hub as a global gateway to AI, semiconductors and critical minerals.

For critics, however, the proposed development – part of the US-backed global Pax Silica project – is concrete proof of another infrastructure push over contested land at the expense of local communities, threatening their livelihoods and scarce water supplies.

It is, they argue, a further example of ambitious investment...

South Korea plans to develop its own cybersecurity-focused artificial intelligence model by the end of this year, after a brief US clampdown on advanced systems exposed the risks of relying on foreign technology for national cyber defence.

But Seoul’s more ambitious, longer-term goal of building a frontier model capable of competing with the world’s most advanced systems would require it to overcome a persistent gap in AI software, computing capacity and large-scale training, analysts said.

The...

A Singaporean man has been arrested in Bali after a woman was found dead in a rental unit, Indonesian police said on Thursday.

The suspect, identified only by the initials MZ, was arrested in less than three hours by a joint police team, according to a post on the Denpasar police’s official social media account.

The victim, a 26-year-old woman from Central Java, had been in a relationship with the suspect for about a year, a police spokesperson said.

Preliminary investigations indicate that the...

Japan’s parliament approved on Friday a revised Imperial House Law to address the issue of the shrinking royal family, while retaining the long-standing male-only succession system, despite public support for female emperors.

The first substantive revision to the 1947 law introduced two changes – permitting the adoption of males aged 15 and over from former branch families descended from emperors through the male line and allowing female members to retain their imperial status even after...

South Korean food exporters are no longer treating Vietnam as just another market for kimchi, instant noodles and premium fruit.

As Southeast Asia emerges as one of South Korea’s most important trading regions, Seoul is positioning Vietnam as a logistics and distribution base for a wider push to turn the popularity of Korean culture into sustained demand for Korean food across the region.

But analysts said the strategy would depend on more than hallyu-driven curiosity, with exporters needing to...

Japan’s firm support for Ukraine in its war against Russia is expected to be tested after Kyiv expressed interest in working with Tokyo to produce Patriot interceptor missiles.

Such a move is unlikely because it would require Japan to cross a sensitive line on exports of lethal weapons and complicate its regional relations, according to analysts.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Kyiv was keen to work with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to manufacture Patriot...

A sudden crowd surge at a popular Hindu festival in eastern India’s Odisha state on Thursday left at least one person dead and many sent to hospital, a news agency reported.

The incident occurred as tens of thousands of people gathered in the coastal town of Puri for the annual Rath Yatra chariot festival, according to the Press Trust of India.

The festival is considered one of the world’s oldest and largest religious processions.

The centuries-old festival involves the idols of Hindu deities...

In a ruling that could expose carmakers to greater liability over India’s ethanol-blended fuel policy, an Indian consumer court has ‌ordered Maruti Suzuki to provide a new car to a customer who alleged mandatory E20 fuel damaged his car.

The first-of-its-kind ruling is likely to be closely watched as legal experts said it could embolden other vehicle owners who believe the fuel has caused problems with their cars to seek compensation.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government and carmakers –...