Asia - South China Morning Post

Indonesia’s top diplomat said the country will not pursue tolls on ships passing through the Strait of Malacca, seeking to calm concerns after its finance minister raised the idea this week.

“As a trading nation, Indonesia supports freedom of navigation and expects open sea lanes,” Foreign Minister Sugiono said on Thursday in Jakarta. “So Indonesia is not in a position to impose such charges – that would not be appropriate.”

Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Wednesday questioned whether...

The job ads posted on several Philippine military forums on Facebook in 2023 looked enticing.

“We are hiring regional security researcher,” said a notice bearing the emblem of Janes – the well-known international aerospace and military technology publisher. It came with an eye-watering offer: “US$1,000-US$5,000.”

“Send us your CV,” the ad urged, giving Viber and WhatsApp numbers as well as an email address.

The hitch: while the ad was real, the recruiter was not.

Researchers who traced the ad’s...

Fifteen years after one of the world’s worst nuclear disasters, this part of the Fukushima coast feels stuck in the aftermath. Empty lots where homes once stood. Signs warning of restricted access. Convoys of construction trucks carrying radioactive dirt and materials.

And then, improbably, a tour bus.

Visitors are flowing into barely inhabited towns, attracted for the most part by the very catastrophe that drove their residents away. The wrecked Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant has become a...

Albert*, a 68-year-old retiree in the Philippines, was struggling to log into the country’s Social Security System app in August last year when a man rang to offer help.

The caller said he worked for the government pension fund, the website was down for maintenance and a new app had just been rolled out.

To prove he was genuine, he sent Albert his full name, Social Security number, and home address over the Viber messaging app, followed by a link to the “new” app.

More than an hour after Albert...

A landmark warship deal between Australia and Japan is expected to drive further defence technology cooperation between the two Asia-Pacific nations, comparable in scope to Canberra’s security arrangements with Washington.

Analysts say the agreement with Tokyo will also help Canberra address navy shortfalls and reduce its overreliance on the US at a time of great volatility.

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles and his Japanese counterpart Shinjiro Koizumi announced on Saturday that the...

US President Donald Trump reposted a video and comments from a conservative pundit calling India a “hellhole”, prompting the South Asian country on Thursday to criticise the remarks as “inappropriate”.

The comments come ahead of a planned visit next month to India by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who would seek to turn the page on recent tensions between the normally friendly powers.

Trump late on Wednesday reposted on social media a video and a screed apparently written by someone else...

The Philippines has emerged as the clearest example of what observers say is Japan’s shift towards a more active defence role abroad, with both countries deepening their military cooperation in areas ranging from joint drills to technological partnerships.

Japanese forces are taking part for the first time in this year’s Balikatan military exercises hosted by the Philippines, while bilateral cooperation is set to expand after Tokyo eased its defence export rules on Tuesday.

These activities...

Malaysia’s durian growers say they are in “survival mode” as an early bumper harvest collides with a surge in fuel and freight costs, squeezing an export trade built around getting premium fruit into China fast.

Hot weather has brought harvests forward, swelling supply just as exporters face higher packaging, energy and transport costs, with the Iran war disrupting fuel supplies and making cargo more expensive.

The strain is exposing the vulnerability of Malaysia’s durian industry, which has...

South Korea’s air force apologised on ⁠Thursday for a ⁠2021 mid-air collision involving two ⁠fighter jets, a day after auditors said pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident.

“We sincerely apologise to the public ‌for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman said in a press briefing, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action...

Indonesia’s new front-of-pack nutrition labelling scheme has been welcomed by health advocates as a long-overdue measure to tackle excessive sugar, salt and fat intake.

But experts said the labels were only a first step and would do little on their own to slow Indonesia’s growing burden of obesity, diabetes, hypertension and other diet-related diseases.

A decree issued by the health ministry on April 14 requires ready-to-eat food and drink products to carry nutrition labels and health messages...