Amid rising energy security pressures, Indonesia is turning to one of its most underused resources — geothermal. The sovereign wealth fund Danantara has allocated US$120 million for 19 geothermal ...

Indonesia under President Prabowo Subianto appears to have entered a post-Islamist arrangement, with no major Islamist party standing in open opposition. But this convergence rests on state coercion ...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's visit to Australia in late April 2026 coincides with the eve of the 50th anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Co-operation. Both countries face an ...

The 15th Five-Year Plan approved by the National People’s Congress on 12 March embeds President Xi Jinping’s vision for the nation’s future development based on the securitisation of the economy, with ...

China’s 15th Five-Year Plan reinforces a gradual, controlled approach to capital account opening and renminbi internationalisation. Rather than pursuing broad liberalisation, Beijing is refining a ...

The final days of 2025 saw Taiwan surrounded by Chinese warships, aircraft and coast guard vessels in what the Chinese Ministry of Defence described as a serious warning to ‘Taiwan independence’ ...

US tariff policy towards Southeast Asia remains uncertain against the backdrop of ongoing US–China tensions. While headline ‘reciprocal’ tariffs are largely uniform across the region, effective rates ...

A tentative shift in US rhetoric around a US–China G2 marks a potential pivot in President Donald Trump’s China strategy. While China’s own view on the G2 appears contested and Washington’s invocation ...

The Philippines has lost an estimated 42.3–118.5 billion Philippine pesos (US$713 million–2 billion) a year from flood control corruption since 2023. The scale of illegal wealth accrued by contractors ...

Japan’s defence policy shift — doubling spending, acquiring counterstrike capabilities and loosening arms-export restrictions — is reshaping Southeast Asia’s security landscape. Tokyo’s new official ...

In late August 2025, Indonesia was shaken by a wave of protests following the death of Affan Kurniawan, a motorcycle taxi (‘ojek’) driver who was struck and killed by a police tactical vehicle during ...

With Western unity on globalisation and democratic norms fraying, Asia can no longer rely on developed-world leadership for global economic governance. ASEAN has preserved space for cooperation ...