Asia - South China Morning Post

India and China opened a new round of strategic dialogue as US tariffs on their exports spur the two Asian giants to broaden global trade ties and move beyond past disputes.

Both countries “uphold the strategic perception that China and India are cooperative partners instead of rivals”, China’s foreign ministry said in a statement after Tuesday’s meeting in New Delhi between Executive Vice-Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu and Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri. “China and India should deepen mutual...

As Asia grapples with falling birth rates, analysts warn that the rise of artificial intelligence may be making the problem worse, putting pressure on workers to upgrade their skills and posing a distraction to families after office hours.

Fertility rates across the region have fallen to some of the lowest levels in the world, well below the generally accepted replacement rate of 2.1 children per woman needed to keep a population stable over time.

This decline largely stems from financial...

For many South Korean families, traditional holiday gatherings may be getting smaller this Lunar New Year, but suitcases are getting bigger.

More than half of flight searches this holiday are for Japan, signalling a sharp shift away from the domestic travel boom that defined the holiday last year.

Flight search data from Skyscanner shows Japan accounts for 51.6 per cent of all Lunar New Year holiday queries by South Korean travellers, with Fukuoka leading at 23.3 per cent, followed closely by...

The Philippines is considering legal action against a man accused of assaulting a Filipino woman at a shopping centre in Singapore after a video of the incident went viral online.

Footage circulated on social media shows the suspect accosting the woman before kicking her as both lose balance and fall to the ground.

He quickly springs up and delivers another kick to the woman’s face. Shocked onlookers rush to intervene, with one of them hurling a shopping basket at the man.

It was unclear if the...

Malaysia’s opposition is in open civil war, with a power struggle threatening to split the main bloc against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim just two years out from the next general election.

Bersatu, or the Malaysian United Indigenous Party, sits at the core of Perikatan Nasional (PN), a conservative alliance whose appeal surged in the 2022 poll to become the largest opposition group after a hung parliament produced a unity government led by Anwar.

A succession fight between party chief and former...

Australia has summoned the Laotian ambassador to protest against what a victim’s family described as an “absolute injustice” after 10 people linked to a deadly methanol poisoning case received suspended sentences and fines equivalent to US$130.

The case stems from a fatal incident in the riverside town of Vang Vieng, a popular tourist destination in Laos, in November 2024.

Melbourne teenagers Bianca Jones and Holly Morton-Bowles, both 19, died after drinking methanol-tainted alcohol at Nana...

Malaysia Airports Holdings (MAHB) has been asked to explore ways to ensure goods and food sold at airports are priced reasonably, according to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Tiong King Sing.

Tiong added his ministry had received complaints from the public over the steep prices of items such as chocolates, food and alcohol at the airport shops compared with the prices outside.

“Visitors at the airport have mentioned that items sold at duty-free shops are expensive and that it is cheaper to...

This year, nearly one in four Japanese companies are expected to fall victim to baito tero, a term describing part-time employees performing pranks or stunts at work to post on social media, according to a new report.

The study by Tokyo-based human resources provider Mynavi, conducted in December and released in late January, revealed that most of the incidents came to light because the perpetrators shared their antics on social media.

Karaoke bars, hotels, restaurants, convenience stores,...

A man who posed as a teenager online to talk to underage girls was sentenced to 11 years’ jail and 10 strokes of the cane on Tuesday.

The Singaporean, now aged 25, who cannot be named due to gag orders protecting the identity of two victims, pleaded guilty to two counts of statutory rape, one count of sexual grooming of a minor and one count of sexual penetration of a minor.

Another 14 charges were taken into consideration for sentencing.

The court heard that the offender held various jobs such...

Despite a decisive election victory built on promises to ease Japan’s cost-of-living crisis, fresh government data released this week suggests voters’ faith in Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s brand of “trickle-down” prosperity may soon be tested.

Preliminary figures from the labour ministry show that inflation-adjusted wages shrank by 1.3 per cent last year, extending a three-year slide in real incomes as rising prices for essentials continued to outstrip pay increases.

The average employee...