Asia - South China Morning Post

By the second half of the 21st century, the Sino-Indian relationship will become the world’s most significant geopolitical relationship, dislodging even the complex China-US cooperative rivalry. By 2050, the world’s three largest economies are likely to comprise some combination of China, India and the United States. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts this exact order – with the US having the highest per capita income but the smallest population.

Both Asian powerhouses enjoy significant theoretical...

South Korean Prime Minister Kim Min-seok and US President Donald Trump discussed the possible reopening of talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a meeting in Washington, Yonhap news agency reported on Saturday.

Kim told Trump he was the only Western leader to have had dialogue with North Korea’s Kim and was currently the only person who could resolve issues on the Korean peninsula, Yonhap quoted Kim as telling reporters in Washington.

“President Trump said he was curious if...

Thai rice exports to the Middle East were halted as the escalating war disrupts shipments to the nation’s largest market for the grain, further straining farmers grappling with rising costs and reduced overseas demand.

Two ships carrying a combined 80,000 tonnes of rice bound for Iraq were suspended at a Bangkok port this week, with buyers instructing containers be unloaded and the grain returned to warehouses, Chookiat Ophaswongse, honorary president of the Thai Rice Exporters Association, said...

For years, the West’s answer to Chinese dominance of critical minerals was to rally around Washington. Now, some of its most important allies are reaching a different conclusion: that depending too heavily on the United States carries its own risks.

Japan, France and Canada have all been exploring how to build supply chains for rare earths and other critical minerals that answer to neither Beijing nor Washington.

Senior officials from the three Group of Seven economies are working on...

A Japanese court on Friday sentenced a man to 14 years in prison for attempting to rape an intoxicated woman after forcing her to take 32 shots of tequila, which resulted in her death from acute alcohol poisoning.

The Nagoya District Court ruled 44-year-old Hiroki Itaya had intended to rape the 25-year-old woman by bringing her to a hotel. Prosecutors had sought a 16-year prison term.

Itaya had pleaded not guilty, with his defence claiming he had taken the woman to the hotel to take care of...

Iran ⁠has allowed two Indian-flagged liquefied ⁠petroleum gas carriers to sail through the Strait of Hormuz, ⁠four sources with direct knowledge of the matter said, a rare exception to the Iranian blockade that has disrupted global energy supplies.

The Indian-flagged LPG tanker Shivalik crossed the Strait under escort from the Indian Navy, said two of the sources, and the second vessel, Nanda Devi, was expected to clear in the ‌next few hours.

Since the United States and Israel launched a...

Singapore said it ran a trade deficit with the US in 2024, disputing figures published by Washington that showed the city state posted a surplus and challenging suggestions that it is contributing to global manufacturing overcapacity.

The dispute surfaced after the Office of the US Trade Representative announced this week that it had launched investigations under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 into the acts, policies and practices of 16 economies, including Singapore. The investigations...

The US-Israeli attacks on Iran have profound implications for the global governance order. For America, the world’s mightiest power, to attack another nation without congressional or UN approval condemns the rules-based order to the dustbin of history.

Governance is about checks and balance by rules, self-restraint or simply a humble appreciation that waging “forever wars” often ends up in self-destruction. War is such an extreme and costly measure it should only be undertaken after careful...

India’s Supreme Court has allowed the parents of a 31-year-old man to withdraw life-sustaining treatment after more than a decade in a vegetative state, a ruling experts say could shape how the country implements its legal framework for passive euthanasia.

The decision in the case of Harish Rana is widely seen as one of the clearest real-world applications of the principle that patients have a right to die with dignity under India’s constitution.

Rana, an engineering student, had been in a...

The cost of Malaysia’s subsidies for fuel at the pump is projected to rise by more than four times in the short term, the government has said, as it rushed to assure the public the country’s energy supply will not be disrupted even as the Iran war chokes global oil and gas shipments.

Fear of an energy crisis has engulfed much of Southeast Asia since the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran on February 28, pushing Tehran to close the Strait of Hormuz – a vital waterway that handles about a...