Asia - South China Morning Post

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday migration levels were reducing, responding to an opinion poll showing a right-wing populist party ahead of governing Labor.

Support for the One Nation party was 31 per cent, ahead of Labor on 30 per cent, a Newspoll aurvey published in The Australian newspaper on Monday showed.

Albanese’s net approval rating has sunk to its lowest level since the 2022 election at minus 24, with 36 per cent of Australians satisfied with his performance,...

Cambodia has failed to dismantle much of its online scam industry despite a year-long crackdown that authorities said would eliminate it, according to an Amnesty International report that challenges official claims of success.

The London-based rights group said it identified 86 scam compounds operating across Cambodia as of April, up from 53 a year earlier, and found evidence of state intervention at only 24 sites during the government’s campaign.

That contrasts with official statements that...

A museum in Japan is facing accusations of “rewriting history” for replacing the Nanking massacre with the word “incident”, drawing criticism and reviving anger over the country’s wartime aggression.

The Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum, which previously resisted revisionist attempts, appears to have capitulated to a civic group’s pressure campaign following Thursday’s release of proposed exhibit changes by its operations council.

Other amendments announced by the museum, which opened in 1996,...

At least 35 people were killed and more than 200 injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck the southern Philippines on Monday, toppling buildings, setting off landslides and sending panicked residents fleeing into the streets.

One survivor told This Week in Asia the shaking was so violent “you couldn’t stand”.

The casualty count remained fluid as rescue teams fanned out across Mindanao, with disaster-response officials reporting deaths from landslides, collapsed buildings, falling debris...

Japan appears to be edging ever closer to a referendum on its pacifist constitution, after a realignment of parliamentary forces delivered the supermajority needed to put the change to a public vote.

For nearly eight decades, Article 9 of the 1947 constitution – drafted under Allied occupation and long treated as untouchable – has prevented Tokyo from formally maintaining a military with “war potential”.

That article has outlasted every previous attempt to change it. But Japanese conservatives...

When foreign ministers of countries that are part of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) gathered in New Delhi last week, the agenda looked familiar: supply chain resilience, telecommunications security and maritime domain awareness. The talking points have evolved, the initiatives have multiplied and the meetings have become routine.

Asia is entering a new strategic era. However, its geopolitical debate remains stuck in the previous one. Across the region, governments are investing in...

The ⁠White House is considering ⁠a plan to buy the Chagos ⁠Islands from Mauritius, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.

US officials have drawn up a proposal to bypass the UK and make their own deal to take control of Diego Garcia, the report said.

The plan is among several options being ‌drafted by the White House, in a paper aimed at providing alternatives to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer ceding sovereignty of the Indian Ocean archipelago to Mauritius, the report said.

“President Trump has...

Pakistan’s interior minister was in Tehran on Sunday in a fresh bid to restart negotiations between Iran and the US, as the American military said it shot down two more Iranian drones over the Strait of Hormuz that threatened international maritime traffic.

The latest action came as the Washington presses for Iran to make a deal to end the war in the Middle East, which has strained the global economy and threatened a hunger crisis in some of the world’s most vulnerable countries.

The heaviest...

Indonesia has always been a favourite travel destination for Malaysians and visitor numbers are expected to increase with the neighbouring country’s currency hitting a record low.

Melaka Tourism Association president Madelina Quah said the low rupiah presents an advantage for Malaysians travelling and shopping in Indonesia.

“This will translate to cheaper holidays, shopping for weddings and buying of raw materials for imports against exports’ competitiveness,” she said.

“Younger Malaysians...

For nine days, Nurul Nisa was crammed onto one of four fishing boats with 130 others, fleeing her village in Myanmar in search of safety. She was a child then, but she still remembers the crying, the sleepless nights and the hunger.

“We had to drink seawater,” she said, recalling the journey she made with her mother and two sisters in 2010, after their village had been burnt down.

To secure the four wooden fishing boats needed for the voyage, the villagers pooled their resources and sold...