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This Week in Asia /

Opinion

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Iranian women walk past a memorial in Tehran to a school that was targeted by a US air strike in February killing 165 children and staff. Photo: EPA
United States

Asian Angle | The Thucydides Trap is a lie created to justify a US-China war

Ancient Greece offers no lessons for Asia. The Global South must stop letting America’s war machine write history.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Passage through the Strait of Hormuz is a right in war and peace

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Asean

Asian Angle | Doubts about Trump strain Southeast Asia’s US-China balancing act

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Vietnam

Asian Angle | Who is Vietnam’s new Prime Minister Le Minh Hung?

The ex-central banker has the credentials to succeed. Whether he has the political capital remains to be seen.

Le Minh Hung (centre) attends a swearing-in ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday after being elected as Vietnam’s new prime minister. Photo: Vietnam News Agency/Xinhua
Le Minh Hung (centre) attends a swearing-in ceremony in Hanoi on Tuesday after being elected as Vietnam’s new prime minister. Photo: Vietnam News Agency/Xinhua
US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Why the ‘Gate of Tears’ may yet make the whole world weep

With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed, any attacks on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait will pile further pressure on global supply chains.

US, Israel war on Iran

Asian Angle | Hormuz is sending Southeast Asia a warning – and we can no longer ignore it

The crisis has shown we must invest in renewables rather than staying in a fossil fuel comfort zone.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | One rule for Israel and another for Iran risks nuclear disaster

Israel is believed to have some 80 to 90 nuclear weapons. Iran has none. Such double standards are unsustainable.

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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he has drawn on a graphic representing an Iranian nuclear bomb as he addresses the UN in 2012. Photo: Reuters
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu points to a red line he has drawn on a graphic representing an Iranian nuclear bomb as he addresses the UN in 2012. Photo: Reuters
The Philippines

Asian Angle | The Philippine military must transform, not just modernise

Changes to doctrine and force structure are needed to realise the armed forces’ dream of becoming a 21st century military.

Indonesia

Opinion | Indonesia’s new aircraft carrier is more vanity project than war machine

The jet-less carrier might buy Jakarta a seat at the elite table, but it offers no advantage in modern naval warfare.

Malaysia

Asian Angle | Malaysia’s LGBTQ crackdowns aren’t hypocrisy, they’re politics

Anwar’s government isn’t failing its ideals. It’s navigating a reality where Malay-Muslim legitimacy dictates the limits of social change.

A man holds a rainbow flag, commonly used to signal LGBTQ pride. Photo: Shutterstock
Asean

Opinion | Underwater and unprotected: why Asean and the EU must secure subsea lifelines

With global data at risk from hybrid threats, Southeast Asia and Europe need to look past declarations to secure our shared data arteries.

Workers install a submarine communications cable in western France. Photo: AFP
Workers install a submarine communications cable in western France. Photo: AFP
Myanmar

Opinion | Myanmar’s junta staged an election. It couldn’t stage legitimacy

A closer look at the vote raises doubts about whether the generals can hold the country hostage in the long term.

Thailand

Asian Angle | How to win an election in Thailand: stage a rebrand, rely on rural votes

Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul put Bhumjaithai’s technocrats centre stage, while letting provincial barons run the real campaign.

Australia

Opinion | Australia needs to make its stance on the Iran attacks known

By refusing to condemn these legally baseless strikes, the Albanese government risks choosing ‘might is right’ over the UN Charter.

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Members of the Iranian diaspora in Australia celebrate US and Israeli military strikes on Iran outside Iranian embassy in Canberra on March 1. Photo: EPA
Artificial intelligence

Asian Angle | Southeast Asia needs AI sovereignty – the Grok scandal proved it

From Singapore’s SEA-LION to Malaysia’s ILMU, Southeast Asian nations aim to build AI that reflects their own languages, cultures and values.

A link to the Grok website is seen in a social media post. Grok released a feature in December that allowed users to generate non-consensual sexualised images of women and children. Photo: Getty Images
A link to the Grok website is seen in a social media post. Grok released a feature in December that allowed users to generate non-consensual sexualised images of women and children. Photo: Getty Images
US-ally trade wars

Opinion | Southeast Asia, do not mistake Trump’s tariff defeat for a reprieve

One court loss won’t end the trade wars. But if ‘Peak Trump’ has arrived, the region’s negotiating hand may have just got stronger.

Artificial intelligence

Opinion | Who will save the world from a US-China AI arms race?

Unrestrained military AI could doom us all. The window for a global middle-power alliance to rein in the superpowers is closing fast.

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Cambodia

Opinion | Cambodia’s scam factory survivors find no escape in freedom

A government crackdown freed thousands, but with no passports or support, survivors have simply traded captivity for destitution.

People carry their belongings onto a bus as they leave a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last month. Photo: AFP
People carry their belongings onto a bus as they leave a suspected scam centre compound in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, last month. Photo: AFP
Asean

Asian Angle | How Asean can resolve its Myanmar dilemma post-election

Asean should not discard the Five-Point Consensus, but translate it into a politically astute strategy of conditional engagement.

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Vietnam

Opinion | Vietnam’s renewed nuclear power push faces formidable hurdles

Money, corruption, a lack of skilled staff and other factors may derail Hanoi’s goal of building its first nuclear power plant by 2031.

Thailand

Asian Angle | Thailand’s election will pass verdict on the architecture of elite control

After court rulings removed successive PMs, this election tests whether a popular mandate can finally survive the state’s veto traps.

Pedestrians walk past campaign posters in Bangkok on Tuesday ahead of Thailand’s general election. Photo: AFP
Japan

Opinion | Honking for votes: inside Japan’s tradition of election sound trucks

During election season, sound trucks drive around Japan’s cities blaring out candidates’ names and the parties they are standing for.

Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance co-leader Yoshihiko Noda and local candidates attend an election campaign event for the February 8 snap election, in Yokohama on January 28. Photo: Reuters
Japan’s Centrist Reform Alliance co-leader Yoshihiko Noda and local candidates attend an election campaign event for the February 8 snap election, in Yokohama on January 28. Photo: Reuters
China-Philippines relations

Asian Angle | South China Sea: 6 risks facing Philippines, China as conflict threshold lowers

From violent incidents to US missiles in Luzon, a ‘perilous new normal’ and vanishing red lines threaten to derail the Code of Conduct.

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Asean

Asian Angle | ‘Old order is not coming back’: Trump’s US, not China, threatens status quo

American unpredictability is pushing countries to hedge more proactively – and, ironically, soften existing tensions with China.

The Philippines

Opinion | Marcos health problems call to mind past Philippine leaders’ woes

Marcos has admitted he suffers from diverticulitis, as he battles problems including impeachment complaints and public anger over corruption.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr at the Apec summit in South Korea last year. Marcos last appeared on January 22 in a video clip saying he was suffering from diverticulitis. Photo: AP
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