South Korea, ASEAN launch first joint economic think-tank talks

ASEAN, comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam, has become an increasingly vital partner for Korea in recent years.

COMMENT: China’s quiet power play in Southeast Asia

COMMENT: Why Asia should not follow the failed European model

Over the past 15 years, Europe’s trade frameworks have faltered, integration has stalled, and a number of its core political and economic ideas have failed under real-world pressure.

ASIA BLOG: Beijing’s South China Sea strategy is about Taiwan — and the world needs to sit up and take notice

Even as Taiwan is described as potentially the most dangerous flashpoint in Asia, it is actually the fulcrum upon which the future of the Indo-Pacific — and by extension the global balance of power — may pivot.

HALLIGAN: Power struggle in OPEC+ is pulling oil prices down

The oil market has entered choppy waters once again. Crude prices fell by a dramatic 18% in April y/y – the sharpest monthly drop since November 2021 – partly due to a global slowdown, but more due to a power struggle within OPEC+.

ASEAN aligns with Japan, China and South Korea in warning against protectionist risks

Meeting on the sidelines of the recent Asian Development Bank’s annual gathering in Milan, Italy, the officials reiterated their support for a rules-based, free and fair multilateral trading system.

ASIA BLOG: Is China preparing to poke the paper tiger in the White House?

The US intimidates certain countries. But America is just a paper tiger. Don’t believe its bluff. One poke and it’ll burst!

Asian giants thrive in Russia despite sanctions

Maintaining a complex balance between profit, geopolitical alignment and risk management, the presence of Asian nations in Russia reveals a divergence between Western corporate exodus and Eastern mercantile strategy.

ASIA BLOG: China suddenly recognises need for community, in a region Beijing has long polarised

President Xi made no mention of long-standing territorial issues with China’s closest neighbours including Japan, South Korea and the self-governing country long claimed as an integral part of China by Beijing: Taiwan.

Southeast Asia's leading economies ponder possible US tariffs as 90-day pause takes effect

When the US administration under President Donald Trump announced sweeping import tariffs on ASEAN nations, it triggered an immediate ripple across Southeast Asia’s export-dependent economies.