Vietnam’s rapid headline growth is driven almost entirely by foreign‑invested and government‑favoured conglomerates, leaving domestic small-to-medium enterprises and workers behind. Foreign-invested ...

Vietnam’s US$4 billion Ca Mau–Hon Khoai bridge and seaport project is presented as an overdue development initiative for one of the country’s poorest regions, but it may also help Hanoi preserve its ...

Though Chinese AI models are approaching or matching leading US systems on public benchmarks, this does not necessarily mean that export controls have failed. Chinese firms still own only a fraction ...

China’s dominance of rare earth supply chains has given Beijing significant geopolitical leverage, but its ability to weaponise that position depends on more than control over mines, processing and ...

Japan is emerging from decades of exceptionalism as inflation and higher interest rates return, defence spending expands and the Takaichi government pursues increasingly assertive policies on security ...

The Pacific Islands Forum annual leaders’ summit began in Palau on 30 August 2026 against the same backdrop of growing geopolitical pressures that catalysed the adoption of the Blue Pacific Ocean of ...

Rommel Banlaoi, PhD, is the President of Philippine Society for International Security Studies and Chairman of the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research. He used to teach at ...

The second Trump administration has transformed US foreign policy, with immediate implications for economic and security ties with Asia and long-term implications for regional and global order. The ...

Indonesia is experiencing record job creation, adding nearly 5 million positions in 2024 alone. Yet most of these are informal, low-wage roles rather than secure corporate or public sector employment.

Japan’s 2026 shunto wage negotiations delivered average wage increases of over 5 per cent for a third consecutive year. But gains are concentrated in large corporations, while small and medium-sized ...

Japan's economic agenda under Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi promises monetary easing, fiscal expansion and heavy state-led investment, but its internal contradictions risk worsening stagflation rather ...