Asia - South China Morning Post

Fissures along ethnic lines are being opened ahead of the Johor state election in Malaysia next month, as the Malay-nationalist Barisan Nasional (BN) moves to box in the Chinese-dominated Democratic Action Party (DAP), and political imperatives pit key government coalition members against each other.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim helms an uneasy coalition of erstwhile political rivals. He is seeking to keep his Pakatan Harapan unity government – with the DAP as a core member – on an even keel...

When a modest Chaoshan-dialect film about an indebted grandson, a missing grandfather and a bundle of yellowing remittance letters opened quietly in China in late April, few expected it to become one of the biggest films of the year. Yet Dear You has earned more than 1.8 billion yuan (US$265.75 million) at the Chinese box office. It has done so without major stars or heavy promotion – an unlikely triumph for a film told largely in Teochew or Chiu Chow.

As the film is released across Southeast...

A zoo in Japan has issued a stern warning after a visitor is seen aiming a laser pointer at Punch, the baby macaque who became a viral sensation, in an online video.

The Ichikawa City Zoo and Botanical Gardens in Chiba prefecture told The Japan Times on Thursday that it received a call a day earlier about a YouTube video posted last week showing someone shining a laser on Punch.

“It’s unacceptable,” Takashi Yasunaga, who is in charge of the city’s zoo division, told the newspaper.

Pointing...

The Indonesian tourism ministry’s proposal to expand visa-free entry to more countries risks bringing in “low-quality tourists”, its immigration chief has said, asking the government to reconsider the decision.

“We do not want visitors who do not contribute positively. When visas are waived, we effectively give up a source of state revenue. We must also protect the dignity of the nation,” Immigration Director General Hendarsam Marantoko told the Jakarta Globe newspaper.

On Wednesday, the tourism...

In July 2024, India’s weight in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, a leading gauge of stocks in developing economies, hit a record high of 19.99 per cent. At the time, this was less than three percentage points below China’s weight, which at one point was as high as 43 per cent.

Between 2022 and 2024, India was the darling of emerging market equity investors. The combination of the country’s fast-growing economy, strong corporate earnings, the Covid-19 pandemic-induced boom in retail trading and...

Japan and South Korea should build a stronger security alliance to anchor regional stability as US commitment to East Asia becomes less certain, former Japanese foreign and defence minister Taro Kono said on Wednesday.

“I think it is indispensable for peace and stability for East Asia that Japan and Korea create a very strong security alliance, not just the economy. Japan and Korea need to sit down and discuss security in the region,” Kono said during the “Asia-Pacific in the age of American...

New Zealand has seen a surge in Chinese tourists since it began testing an easier pathway for visitors via Australia.

The government began a 12-month trial in November that exempted Chinese and Pacific people from visa requirements if they were travelling from Australia. Officials estimated that after six months the new option has resulted in a 40 per cent increase in Chinese visitor arrivals, Tourism Minister Louise Upston said on Thursday in Wellington.

Tourism is New Zealand’s second-largest...

Philippine authorities successfully foiled another possible school attack in Leyte province just two days after Monday’s deadly shooting in Tacloban City, thanks to a timely tip from Senator Bam Aquino.

The senator, nephew of former president Corazon Aquino, informed Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla of the threat on Wednesday night. “At 8 o’clock last night, Senator Bam Aquino called me up and gave me a tip that there was chatter in Tacloban that there was an impending mass shooting that was...

A man in Singapore posed as his ex-girlfriend and shared her nude photos in a sex chat group with a religious theme, but was exposed when the victim caught wind of it and went undercover to investigate.

The victim, who was a teenager when she shared the photos with the culprit, was horrified to discover that the chat group contained many obscene images and videos of women clad in religious garb, including the tudung (headscarf). She filed a police report.

Abdul Marzuq Waliyuddin Abdul Majid, a...

The number of China-Japan flights scheduled by airlines for the coming summer travel period – the peak months of July and August – has dropped by 57 per cent versus a year ago following a political flap and a price hike in Japanese visas, according to industry data.

A total of 2,629 round-trip flights were expected next month between the two Asian countries, down from 6,317 in July last year. In August, 2,641 were scheduled, a drop from the 6,127 flown in August 2025, data compiled by British...