TheDiplomat

The outgoing premier is expected to seek the ruling Democratic Party’s chairship amid mounting friction between the presidential office and the DP. 

Japan has earned rising acclaim from U.S. observers as a middle power that complements, rather than threatens, the United States. Yet Japan is not deepening its ties with Washington out of charity. 

Unless the diplomatic momentum abroad translates into economic improvement at home, its impact will be limited.

Before granting Uzbekistan Permanent Normal Trade Relations, Washington needs to use the leverage it has to push Tashkent toward accountability. 

From the National Intelligence Law to two new State Council decrees, China’s official messaging on foreign investment doesn’t match the actual developments on the ground.

The case against former Orda editor-in-chief Gulnara Bazhkenova, who was placed under house arrest in December 2025, is set to begin following months of legal proceedings.

Beijing’s AI data center strategy will purposefully exclude foreign firms – providing a shot in the arm for domestic companies.

A football tournament is China’s latest propaganda campaign to whitewash its abuses of Uyghur people – and deconstruct Uyghur identity in favor of Chinese “unity.”

India and Japan keep talking about diversifying supply chains, but there's a gap between diplomatic rhetoric and industrial reality.

China’s attack on Taiwan has already started – with the Ethnic Unity Law as a weapon.

The Nakamal Agreement between Australia and Vanuatu may be weaker than Canberra’s other regional pacts, but it remains significant in checking China’s influence.

Will the rules-based order be a beacon in troubled waters?

While not every arrest will lead to a conviction, the old assumption that power could delay accountability indefinitely has begun to shake.

The annual bung bang fai festival calls on the god Phaya Thaen to bring rain at the start of the agricultural season.

The Bangkok-based advocacy group Project88 documented 56 political arrests last year, the most in any year since 2018.

A decade on from one of the country's highest-profile political killings, democracy remains a dream rather than reality.

The maritime exploration firm Ocean Infinity will have an additional year to locate the wreckage of the Boeing 777 airliner, which vanished without trace in 2014.

Kazakhstan could plug Russia's current gasoline deficit, but it's a risk. Astana struggles already with self-sufficiency.

Scientists warn of a regional disaster if pollution from rare earth and gold mining in Myanmar continues to spread toxins further along the Mekong River.

Chinese workers have reportedly resumed construction on a critical highway along the Afghanistan-Tajikistan border where two such workers were killed in November 2025.