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Opinion

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A street food hawker waits for customers by a roadside in Bangkok, Thailand, on May 12. Photo: EPA
Ageing society

Asian Angle | Asia’s silver dividend can offset ageing’s economic toll

Research shows demographic decline hits productivity, not workforce size. Keeping older workers active through technology is the solution.

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US-China relations

Asian Angle | What the China-US stability pact means for Southeast Asia

China-Asean relations

Asian Angle | China offers Southeast Asia clear advantages in nuclear power

History

Opinion | The West was never the whole world. It’s time to move on

As Asia reclaims its roots, the burden of reinvention now falls on the West. Its brief era of supremacy was a historical aberration.

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People walk past a television screen in Beijing broadcasting US President Donald Trump’s visit to China on Thursday. Photo: EPA
People walk past a television screen in Beijing broadcasting US President Donald Trump’s visit to China on Thursday. Photo: EPA
China-Philippines relations

Asian Angle | 3 reasons Marcos’ South China Sea energy gambit won’t work

The Philippine president has mooted the idea of joint oil and gas development. China is willing, but history shows this road leads nowhere.

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US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Trump’s threats against Iran are historically illiterate

The US president’s threats to end Iranian civilisation expose his ignorance of the country’s long history.

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Japan

Asian Angle | Why Japan-China ties can benefit from promoting people-to-people exchanges

Filling the information gap through direct contact between the two peoples can help improve both countries’ public images and ease tensions.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their talks in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025. Photo: Kyodo
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi (left) shakes hands with Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of their talks in Gyeongju, South Korea, on October 31, 2025. Photo: Kyodo
Thailand

Asian Angle | A year after corporal punishment ban, Thailand needs to curb resurgence

Two school incidents show corporal punishment remains prevalent, and Thai authorities must strengthen accountability to prevent a recurrence.

US, Israel war on Iran

Opinion | Trump’s oil crisis is accelerating the end of the fossil fuel era

Ironically for president ‘drill, baby, drill’, this crisis may prove an irreversible tipping point for clean energy.

War and conflict

Opinion | Blinding the world with lies makes peacemaking an impossible task

From Iran to the Horn of Africa, disinformation is killing diplomacy. Mediators need facts, not state-sponsored fictions.

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A satellite image shows smoke rising from an oil refinery in Tuapse, Russia, on Monday after an overnight strike claimed by Ukraine’s military. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Reuters
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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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
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
US, Israel war on Iran

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

Neutral ships have a legal right of passage, even in war. Singapore has defended international law, which provides for a stable world order.

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Asean

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

An increasingly unpredictable Washington is making the region’s traditional hedging strategy harder to sustain.

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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
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.

A satellite image shows Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen on February 27. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters
A satellite image shows Bab el-Mandeb Strait off the coast of Yemen on February 27. Photo: Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters
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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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.

Filipino soldiers take part in counter-landing live fire drills during the annual US-Philippines “Balikatan” joint military exercise in Palawan on April 28, 2025. Photo: AFP
Filipino soldiers take part in counter-landing live fire drills during the annual US-Philippines “Balikatan” joint military exercise in Palawan on April 28, 2025. Photo: AFP
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.

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
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.

Supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party wave party flags in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, in October 2025. Photo: AP
Supporters of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party wave party flags in Naypyidaw, Myanmar, in October 2025. Photo: AP
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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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
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