Asia - South China Morning Post

South Korea is drawing growing interest from Middle Eastern oil producers seeking to store crude oil at the country’s petroleum reserve bases, the world’s sixth largest, amid a prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a South Korean official and an expert on the matter have said.

The strait’s closure in the wake of the US-Israel war on Iran has taken a toll not only on South Korea and other nations dependent on oil imports but also oil-producing countries whose storage tanks are filling up...

The Philippines has crowned its newest Miss Universe candidate, Bea Millan-Windorski, as the country – known for its penchant for beauty pageants – prepares to send its latest representative to the global competition in November.

The 23-year-old, who grew up in Wisconsin in the United States and holds a degree in history and international relations from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, stood out among seven finalist last weekend with her winning answer.

Asked why the Philippines was still...

Malaysia is resorting to cloud seeding to bring much-needed rain to the country’s “rice bowl” north, where a drought has delayed planting of the staple crop and raised supply fears.

“This year ... has been affected by prolonged dry weather, low rainfall and reduced dam water levels,” said Malaysia’s Minister of Agriculture and Food Security Mohamad Sabu.

The conditions mean farmers have missed two of the three usual planting phases for so-called “wet direct seeding” of rice, a technique that...

It took less than six minutes for Japan’s Type 88 missile to find its mark, a decommissioned Philippine warship 75km (47 miles) off the coast of Ilocos Norte.

The US-made Tomahawk took rather longer to hit its target, some 630km (390 miles) away.

It was, analysts say, a pointed display of resolve: Japanese, American and Filipino troops bringing this year’s Balikatan joint exercises to a thunderous close with a volley of missiles fired from sites in the far northern Philippines.

The Tomahawk...

Rescuers on Saturday recovered the body of an Indonesian woman caught in a volcanic eruption at Mount Dukono on Indonesia’s remote island of Halmahera a day earlier, as search operations continued to find the bodies of two Singaporeans, officials said.

The slain hikers were among 20 who set out to ascend the 1,355-metre (4,445-foot) volcano in defiance of safety restrictions and became stranded when Dukono erupted early on Friday, spewing a thick ash column that rose about 10 km (6 miles) into...

Japan’s Mogami-class destroyer appears to be pulling ahead in the race to become the next generation of warships for the Royal New Zealand Navy (RNZN), in what would be another major deal for Japan’s defence industry just weeks after Tokyo announced it was lifting its long-held ban on weapons exports.

Under its 2025 Defence Capability Plan, the government in Wellington has committed to replacing its two ANZAC-class frigates – launched in the early 1990s – with more capable, modern warships.

The...

Two Singapore residents who had been on board a hantavirus-hit cruise ship have tested negative to the rare respiratory disease, according to Singapore’s Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA).

The two men aged 65 and 67 had been on the MV Hondius and also the same flight as a confirmed hantavirus case from St Helena to Johannesburg on April 25, the CDA said a day earlier. The confirmed case did not travel to the city state and died in South Africa.

The CDA’s National Public Health Laboratory...

As global markets are roiled by geopolitical uncertainty and the energy fallout from war in the Middle East, a tiny speck in Southeast Asia has emerged as an oasis of stability – at least in terms of where the well-heeled can park their money.

Giig Tanaporn, CEO and founder of business and wealth consultancy Unique Prime Group, has observed that high-net-worth clients, especially from the Middle East and South Korea, have been increasingly choosing Singapore for its regulatory framework,...

The old order is dead. We just don’t know what will replace it. As Henry Kissinger reminded us in his 2014 book World Order, “no truly global order has ever existed”. After US President Donald Trump’s erratic actions, the gloves are off. American comedians and Iranian Lego cartoons tell us all we need to know about the demise of the old order.

If the unipolar order is not viable, and America is abandoning the multilateral order and the rules of the game it created after World War II, what are...

Deeper economic cooperation between China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will hinge on whether a code can be laid down to govern maritime territory and activity in the South China Sea, Philippine leader Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has said.

“We cannot institutionalise any of those things until the code of conduct is finalised,” he told a press conference on Friday at the close of the 48th Asean summit in Cebu, when asked about aspects that held the most potential in relations between...