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Northeast Asia North Korea

Carry on, Korea: Is China smart, or just lucky?

David P. Goldman By David P. Goldman, Spengler

It’s time to buy Asian stocks. In fact, last Friday was the time to buy Asian stocks. Outside of Japan, a relief rally buoyed Korean, Chinese  and Southeast Asian equities, with the bellwether Hang Seng China Enterprises Index jumping 1.27%. The markets are right and the pundits are wrong. The comedy of errors that ensued on North Korea’s July 28 ICBM test is nearly over. American policy is firmly in the hands of military men – Generals Mattis, McMaster and Kelly – who do not believe that America has a viable military option of any kind. The White House hardliners...

A THAAD interceptor is test-launched in Kodiak, Alaska, on July 11, 2017. Photo: Leah Garton/Missile Defense Agency/Handout via Reuters

Missile defense is the solution to the Korean crisis

By David P. Goldman
Richard A. Bitzinger

North Korea and the fraud of missile defense

By Richard A. Bitzinger
The Wall St sign in front of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York City, US, August 2, 2017. Reuters/Carlo Allegri
Northeast Asia North Korea

North Korea, the ultimate Black Swan

By William Pesek
But there’s no doubting what’s at stake as investors mull how a rhetorical arms race between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump might play out
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reacts during the launch of a long-range strategic ballistic rocket. Photo: Reuters

Mixed assessments cloud North Korean threats

By Todd Crowell
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un watches a ground test of a high-thrust engine for his country's missile program. Photo: KCNA via Reuters

Did media miss real story in North Korea’s war of words?

By Asia Unhedged
Employees on a production line inside a factory of Saic GM Wuling, in Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, June 19, 2016. REUTERS/Norihiko Shirouzu
Northeast Asia China

Robust China economic growth shows signs of fading in July

By Elias Glenn and Ryan Woo

Industrial output, investment, retail sales and trade all grew less than expected last month, after the world's second-largest economy put in a surprisingly strong showing in the first half

Schoolchildren wearing tricolor bangles pose in a circle during Indian Independence Day celebrations in Secunderabad. Photo/AFP/Files
South Asia Politics

Reasons to cheer, reasons to lament as India turns 70

By E Jaya Kumar
As the nation celebrates seven decades of independence from colonial rule, hard-fought freedoms are still under threat by politicians, vigilantes and other divisive forces
China South China Sea

US raising pressure in South China Sea

Bill Gertz By Bill Gertz

The Trump administration is stepping up pressure on China in a low-key campaign of increased naval activities aimed at undermining Beijing's vast territorial claims over the South China Sea. The US guided-missile destroyer USS John S. McCain on Aug. 10 sailed within 12 nautical miles of the disputed Mischief Reef – a key political battleground in the ongoing rivalry over whether the strategic waterway remains open international waters or becomes a Chinese lake. The destroyer passage through the Spratlys Islands – China insists on calling them the Nansha Islands – is the third freedom of navigation operation conducted during the first seven...

Xuan Loc Doan

Who is the real ‘thief crying stop thief’ in South China Sea?

By Xuan Loc Doan
Ken Moak

What’s the point of ‘freedom of navigation’ operations?

By Ken Moak
People walking past the Damascus International Fair in the Syrian capital countryside. The fair is scheduled to open on August 17 until August 26. Photo: AFP/Louai Beshara
Middle East Business

Syrian fair to attract a limited crowd

By Sami Moubayed

While China and Russia will send prominent commercial delegations to the showcase investment event, the US, France and Great Britain will all be notable no-shows

A fleet of vehicles equipped with Baidu’s autonomous driving technologies undergo road testing in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, China. Photo: Reuters/Baidu
Business driverless cars

Baidu needs to develop global brand for driverless cars

By Doug Tsuruoka Editor at Large

The Chinese firm is easing into the passing lane with its Apollo autonomous vehicle project, but simply developing and sharing its technology won't be enough

The Pentagon has intervened in the past against Sino-US technology collaboration. Photo: AFP

US may curb China’s help in developing driverless cars

By Doug Tsuruoka Editor at Large
Chinese Search engine company Baidu's headquarters in Beijing. Photo: iStock

Get ready for the ‘droid’ of autonomous vehicles

By Doug Tsuruoka Editor at Large
A Lao military officer commands an honor guard in a 2012 file photo. Photo: AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam
Southeast Asia security

What’s behind Cambodia-Laos’ border flare-up?

By David Hutt

A military standoff appears to have been defused, but the political and economic drivers behind the long-standing dispute have not been resolved

Ultimate Show Time
Spotlight Sands Resorts Macao

Macao, The Ultimate Event Destination

Southeast Asia Religion In-Depth
Supporters and monks belonging to the hardline Buddhist group Ma Ba Tha rally to the US embassy in Yangon on April 28, 2016. Photo: AFP/Romeo Gacad

Buddhist extremism, despite a clampdown, spreads in Myanmar

By Justine Chambers

Ethno-nationalist monks have resisted a state bid to restrict their views and activities targeting Muslim and other religious minorities

Business Investment

Tough talk has lifted cost of insuring South Korean debt

By Reuters

1. Jaw-jaw, sell-sell An unnerving war of words between Washington and Pyongyang has pushed the cost of insuring South Korean debt against default to its highest in 1-1/2 years and the expected volatility of the Korean won is creeping higher. Gauges of market risk have...

War of words is pushing up the cost of insuring South Korean debt. North Korea's test of the Pukguksong-2 missile in the undated photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang February 13, 2017. Photo: Reuters/KCNA
Southeast Asia Politics

Nameless, faceless leadership for Ho Chi Minh City

By David Hutt

In May, Dinh La Thang, the Communist Party Secretary of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest city, was stripped of his post, expelled from the Politburo and made vice-chair of a largely insignificant economic committee. The ruling Party’s reason for Thang’s removal after just 15...

Vietnam's recently appointed Party chief for Ho Chi Minh City and Politburo member Nguyen Thien Nhan in a file photo. Photo AFP/Kazuhiro Nogi
Middle East tourism
A Saudi Arabian woman in hijab breathes deeply at a local beach. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

Sharia-free vacation plans for Saudi Arabia

By Mustafa Salama
A proposed luxury beach resort on Saudi Arabia's pristine Red Sea islands will suspend Islamic law to promote global tourism, but could result in more havoc than rest and relaxation
Northeast Asia security

In call with Trump, Xi urges US restraint on North Korea

By Reuters

China's President Xi Jinping said there needs to be a peaceful resolution to the North Korean nuclear issue, and in a telephone call with US President Donald Trump he urged all sides to avoid words or action that raise tensions. Xi's comments came hours after...

US President Donald Trump talks to China's President Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Hamburg, Germany July 7, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Philippe Wojazer
North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un celebrates the second test-fire of intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 in this undated picture provided by KCNA in Pyongyang on July 29, 2017. Photo: Reuters/via KCNA

North Korea: fire, fury and fear

By Pepe Escobar
Yonhap News Agency screen grab of China's leader Xi Jinping (L) and North Korea's Kim Jong Un.

China should be neutral if North Korea attacks US – Global Times

By Ben Blanchard and James Oliphant
Southeast Asia security
Debris and smoke are seen after an OV-10 Bronco aircraft released a bomb, during an airstrike, as government troops continue their assault against insurgents from the Maute group, who have taken over parts of Marawi city, Philippines.Photo: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

Is the US angling to bomb Islamic State in the Philippines?

By Richard Javad Heydarian
Filipino leader Rodrigo Duterte and top US envoy Rex Tillerson's recent meeting in Manila has sparked speculation of possible American air strikes on militants lodged at the besieged city of Marawi
Philippine President Rodrigo tries on a Special Action Force (SAF) helmet with a five-star patch given to him as a token during the 116th Police Service Anniversary inside the Philippine National Police (PNP) headquarters in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines August 9, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco

US, China vie for anti-terror influence in the Philippines

By Noel Tarrazona
Business China Digest
China Digest 14

Beijing banks raise mortgage rates

By Poo Yee Kai and Zheng Xin

The Asia Times editorial picks of important economics, policy and market-moving stories from Chinese-language media

Northeast Asia Economy
Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had three so-called arrows in his Abenomics reform policy. Reuters/Thomas Peter

Japan’s Abenomics failure is 30 years in the making

By William Pesek

This is the second in a two-part series on how world economies are relying on 30-year-old tools that won’t work today

China is likely to remind Washington that the world's second largest economy also has leverage, as Trump and Xi meet for a second time in Germany. Photo: Reuters / Carlos Barria

Trump’s China policy has a 1985 problem

By William Pesek
South Asia infrastructure

Dueling ports underline China-India rivalry

By F.M. Shakil

India’s eagerness to develop Iran’s southern Chabahar port project has irked certain military circles in Pakistan which view the facility as a potential security threat that aims to economically isolate their country. India has intensified its efforts to commission the Chabahar port in the strategic...

A Pakistani soldier looks on during the opening of a trade project at the China-backed Gwadar port on November 13, 2016. Photo: AFP/ Aamir Qureshi
Richard King

Does India have a history of being the aggressor with China?

By Richard King
Zuu4
Spotlight ZUU

China’s fitness revolution

Asia Times mobile app

Asia Times launches app for iOS and Android

By Asia Times staff
AsiaTimesApp2
Greater China
Middle East Geopolitics Opinion

China, Turkey seek bridge over troubled waters of Mideast

By Shazar Shafqat

Turkey appears to have forged an epic bilateral security agreement with China. Mevlut Cavusoglu, the Turkish foreign minister, briefed reporters in Beijing on Thursday while on a state visit to China. He categorically stated that any security threat to China would be regarded as...

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (right) shakes hands with his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu during their meeting in Beijing on August 3, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Roman Pilipey/Pool
China defense
Soldiers of China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) get ready for the military parade to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the foundation of the army at Zhurihe military training base in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, China, July 30, 2017. Photo: China Daily via REUTERS

Why China’s army stocks are flat despite PLA’s growing might

By Zi Yang

August 1 – Army Day – was an occasion for Chinese chest-puffing. Investor frustration with the pace of industry reforms means the performance of the country's defense stocks remains bearish, however

DJI drones displayed in the company's first flagship store in Shenzhen, China. Photo: Reuters/Bobby Yip

Drone wars: US Army bans China’s DJI drones over cyber fears

By Asia Times staff and Reuters
Business China

Two in a bed: Apple out to satisfy Beijing amid falling sales

By Adam Jourdan and Pei Li

Apple Inc is binding itself more closely to China as its share of the world's biggest smartphone market slips and it becomes more reliant on selling services which require government approval. A flurry of recent action by Apple underlines its push to get on the right side...

China's Premier Li Keqiang (left) shakes hands with Apple's chief executive Tim Cook. Photo: China Daily via Reuters
Guests at the InterContinental hotel in Beijing can still use the Google search engine or check Gmail for messages. Photo: Reuters/Thomas Peter

In China’s hotel lobbies, gaps in ‘Great Firewall’ are closing

By Reuters
China Trade

How Xi's China has weaponized trade

By Brahma Chellaney

China denies mixing business with politics, yet it has long used trade to punish countries that refuse to toe its line. China’s recent heavy-handed economic sanctioning of South Korea, in response to that country’s decision to deploy the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) anti-missile system, was just the latest example of the Chinese authorities’ use of trade as a political weapon. China’s government has encouraged and then exploited states’ economic reliance on it to...

Jack Ma, Founder and Executive Chairman of Alibaba Group Holding, addresses the media during the inaugural Gateway '17 event at Cobo Center in Detroit on June 20, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Rebecca Cook

Not all money is equal under authoritarian capitalism

By Francesco Galietti
China Hong Kong Opinion
The construction site (foreground) for the West Kowloon terminus of the high-speed rail link connecting Hong Kong to the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou is seen in Hong Kong on July 27, 2017. Photo: AFP / Isaac Lawrence

How a Chinese checkpoint in Hong Kong raised so much angst

By Kent Ewing
Joint immigration arrangements are not exactly uncommon around the world. Many in Hong Kong fear, however, that allowing mainland laws to apply in a pocket of their city might turn out to be thin end of a nasty wedge
China Economy

China’s local governments told to ‘clean up’ debt financing

By Asia Times staff

Local government debt is once again coming under scrutiny from China's authorities, with regional governments being told to "clean up" financing guarantee arrangements that are “out of place”, according to a report by the 21st Century Business Herald on Wednesday. The governments have until the end...

Photo: Reuters / Thomas White
China Censorship

Chinese video site says it ‘self-censored’ in purge of content

By Poo Yee Kai

Removal of foreign dramas was a "strategic adjustment of content." Users are skeptical

Page Not Found on Bilibili. Photo: Bilibili
Who's calling the tune on Chinese internet access? Photo: Creative Commons

Cracks in the firewall: China’s VPN game of cat-and-mouse

By Lin Wanxia
Hong Kong
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia security

What is China’s PLA doing in Laos?

By Zi Yang

China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA), the world’s largest fighting force with over 2.3 million soldiers, is fast expanding its operations in its near abroad. A 90-person PLA medical team recently concluded a little noticed goodwill mission in neighboring Laos. Dubbed “Train of Peace 2017”, the...

Police officers take part in a joint anti-terrorist exercise between Chinese and Laotian police in Xishuangbanna of southwest China's Yunnan Province, Sept. 13, 2016. Photo: Mur Photo via AFP/ Chen Haining
An elephant and mahout during a festival in Sayaboury Laos. Photo: AFP via Biosphoto/Jean-François Mutzig

China buys out a mammoth source of Lao pride

By Melinda Boh
Southeast Asia Business
State-owned oil giant Pertamina's refinery unit IV in Cilacap, Central Java. Photo: Reuters/Darren Whiteside

Empty barrels mounting in Indonesia

By John McBeth

The country's lurch towards economic nationalism, typified by Total's pending departure from the country's largest natural gas field, has hit the energy sector especially hard

Southeast Asia Diplomacy

Tillerson in Thailand presses for more action on North Korea

By Amy Sawitta Lefevre

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Tuesday pressed Thai leaders for more action on North Korea during the highest level visit to Thailand by a US official since a military coup in 2014 soured relations with the United States. Tillerson's top priority has been urging...

Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha shows the way to US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson during a meeting at Government House in Bangkok on August 8, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Rungroj Yongrit/Pool
A combined image of North Korea and Thailand's national flags. Photo: iStock/Getty Images

Thailand-North Korea ties in the spotlight

By Richard S Ehrlich
Southeast Asia security

Asean meet leans in China’s favor

By Richard Javad Heydarian

The latest round of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) ministerial meetings in Manila, which saw foreign ministers from 27 countries in attendance, produced at best mixed results. With US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson in attendance, the agenda focused on two key regional security...

People's Republic of China Foreign Minister Wang Yi answers questions during a interview with reporters, after a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of an Asean meeting held in Manila, Philippines August 6, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Romeo Ranoco
Southeast Asia Culture
Singapore's iconic Merlion statue (R) is projected with a light-art installation by Danny Rose Collection of France titled "The Body of the Sea" during media preview for the iLight Marina Bay festival in Singapore on March 1, 2017. Photo: AFP/Roslan Rahman

State versus the arts in Singapore

By Kirsten Han
The National Arts Council claims to support the island nation's emergence as a 'distinctive global city for the arts', but conditional and often withdrawn funding to artists betrays an enduring nanny state
Li Shengwu delivers a eulogy to his late grandfather and Singapore national founder Lee Kuan Yew on March 29, 2015. Photo: Screen Grab/Singapore Prime Minister's Office video

Next generation target in Singapore family feud

By Kirsten Han
Southeast Asia Business

Duterte’s favorite tycoon rings a golden bell

By Bong S Sarmiento

Dennis Uy, a Sino-Filipino businessman who helped Rodrigo Duterte win the Philippine presidency, is now fast expanding his commercial empire from his home base of Davao City on the restive island of Mindanao. While Duterte has taken hard aim at the country’s traditional business family...

Dennis Uy (R), founder and chief executive officer of Philippines' Phoenix petroleum company, rings the bell at the Philippine Stock Exchange in the financial district of Makati, suburban Manila on July 11, 2017, on the company's tenth anniversary of its listing. Photo: AFP/Ted Aljibe
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has pushed fast spending on infrastructure to spark growth but is raising market concerns about an expanding trade deficit. Photo: Reuters/Lean Daval Jr

Duterte’s ‘golden age’ of infrastructure hits the peso

By Reuters
Southeast Asia Diplomacy

Kidnapping makes Vietnam persona non grata in Germany

By David Hutt

A Vietnamese asylum-seeker who fled his country last year after allegedly causing a state-owned petroleum firm to lose almost US$150 million was kidnapped by Vietnam’s secret service on the streets of Berlin, the German foreign ministry said yesterday. Earlier this week, Vietnam’s ministry of public...

German Chancellor Angela Merkel greets Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc ahead of the G20 Summit in the Hotel Atlantic in Hamburg, Germany, 06 July 2017. Photo: Michael Kappeler/dpa via AFP
Communist Party Secretary General Nguyen Phu Trong applauds after delivering a speech at the closing ceremony on the final day of the 12th National Congress of Vietnam's Communist Party in Hanoi on January 28, 2016. country. Photo: AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam

Vietnam’s anti-graft drive more politics than reform

By David Hutt
China's former paramount leader Deng Xiaoping, the architect of China's reform and open-door policies, at an unidentified seaside location in an undated photo. Photo: AFP
Southeast Asia Diplomacy

Deng Xiaoping-inspired peace plan for the South China Sea

By Richard Javad Heydarian
Northeast Asia
Northeast Asia Politics
Japan's new Internal Affairs Minister Seiko Noda arrives at Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's official residence in Tokyo, Japan, August 3, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai

Meet the woman who might be able to save Abenomics

By William Pesek
Seiko Noda, Shinzo Abe's pick for internal affairs minister, may well provide the impetus for policy changes that finally allow Japan to tap its female talent
Japan's Defence Minister Tomomi Inada announces her resignation during a news conference at the Defence Ministry in Tokyo, Japan July 28, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Kim Kyung-Hoon
Northeast Asia Opinion

Japan’s security: bigger problems than a defense minister

By Grant Newsham

Teflon Abe gets reprieve in dysfunctional Tokyo

By William Pesek
Photo: iStock / Getty
Russia energy

Russian blackout, worst in 7 years, halts power exports

By Inga Denezh
Northeast Asia Far East Russia Analysis

Russia’s Far East rolls out the welcome mat for investors

By Irina Drobysheva

Russia's government is offering tax breaks, special economic zones and other incentives to investors in the Far East areas of the country, including the Free Port of Vladivostok, to broaden the economy from natural resource extraction to processing industries and services. "The Far East shares...

Russian President Vladimir Putin is hoping to tempt citizens to move to the Russian Far East with offers of free land. Photo: Reuters/Sputnik/Kremlin
World
Hafiz Saeed, the mastermind behind 2008 Mumbai terror attacks, has floated a new party with an eye on 2018 elections. Photo/AFP/Files
South Asia terrorism

Indian Muslims call for UN action on Pakistani terrorism

By E Jaya Kumar
South Asia India Opinion

Time for India to revive Gandhi’s inclusive nationalism

By E Jaya Kumar

Nationalism is back in focus in India as the federal government is giving it a religious color, rival parties are courting Kashmiri separatists and tension is rising on the country’s borders with Pakistan and China. One question being raised amid this disturbing scenario is how...

A statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the center of downtown Pietermaritzburg, South Africa, where he was thrown off a train on the night of June 7, 1893 for refusing to move from a whites-only rail car. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
China security
PLA soldiers prepare for a UN peacekeeping mission in Africa. Photo: EPA/Michael Reynolds

Djibouti military base highlights China’s African ambitions

By Theo Neethling

China's rising role on the continent is focused on a desire to be regarded as a friend to developing nations and more responsive to global expectations

Politics South Asia

Nawaz camp still in denial as ‘stopgap’ PM tries to steady ship

By F.M. Shakil

As the newly elected leader of Pakistan's National Assembly, Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, was delivering his maiden speech in parliament on Tuesday, members of the Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) were to be seen holding portraits of ousted Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Even the desk from which...

Shahid Khaqan Abbasi is Pakistan's new prime minister. Photo: Reuters / Faisal Mahmood
World BRICS Opinion

Against all odds, BRICS nations get their act together

By Pepe Escobar

The trade ministers of the five BRICS nations (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) met this week in Shanghai, ahead of the annual summit of heads of state in Xiamen next month. Trouble looms across the board. China and India are immersed in a...

Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan attends a news conference at a BRICS trade ministers' meeting in Shanghai on August 2, 2017. Photo: Reuters/Aly Song
Politics South Asia
Photo: iStock / Getty

China raps India over Doklam standoff, but dogs are on leash

By M.K. Bhadrakumar
While New Delhi has remained silent, Beijing has put itself on the front foot, throwing down the gauntlet over India's ties with Bhutan and leaving the Indian side guessing as to the state of play in China-Bhutan dialogue
Chinese troops conducting a live-fire drill in Tibet. Screen grab of CCTV footage.

Chinese TV strikes a delicate balance on Doklam coverage

By Christopher Scott
South Asia Politics

A checklist for progress as India marks 70 years of freedom

By E Jaya Kumar

The country has made great strides but continues to confront major obstacles

Photo: iStock
Taslima Nasrin. Photo: Handout

OpinionWhy secularists are silent on religious bullying

By E Jaya Kumar
Photo courtesy of No Food Waste

Feeding India’s hungry? There’s an app for that

By Anusha Venkat
South Asia infrastructure Opinion

CPEC could be an expensive albatross around Pakistani necks

By Salman Rafi

Will the China-Pakistan-Economic Corridor benefit both countries, or only China? Scrutiny of certain aspects of the project indicates Pakistan may not benefit at all

Chinese trucks carrying trade goods are pictured parked at the Gwadar port, some 700 kms west of Karachi on November 13, 2016. Photo: AFP / Aamir Qureshi
Middle East Iran

New Iran sanctions simply don’t add up

M.K. Bhadrakumar By M.K. Bhadrakumar

The new legislation by the venerable lawmakers in the United States, imposing sanctions against Iran (along with Russia and North Korea), has an air of inevitability. But what is inevitable doesn’t always have to be logical. The base line is how effective these sanctions are going to be. Iran is not new to US sanctions and its economy does not depend on trade or investment from the US. In sum, the US lawmakers are hoping...

Hugo Weaving as Mr Smith in a scene from The Matrix. Photo: YouTube trailer
Business Technology

Can the US really stop China’s access to American AI tech?

By Doug Tsuruoka

Don’t panic. The Terminator isn’t here – yet

By Doug Tsuruoka

An obscure Washington panel that wields considerable clout

By Doug Tsuruoka
India

Business and Finance
Business Investment

With Dow touching 22,000, rough second half approaches

By Reuters

1. August angst With the Dow Jones Industrial Average touching 22,000 in the past week, some investors and traders are bracing for a rocky second half of 2017. The August through October time frame is the only three-month period to have a negative average return...

With the Dow Jones Industrial Average touching 22,000, investors are preparing for a bumpy second half of year. Illustration: iStock/Getty
Photo: Reuters/Aly Song

Asian investors pump the brakes as stocks stuck in overdrive

By Nick Westra
A Bond Connect at Hong Kong Exchanges in Hong Kong, July 3, 2017. Photo: Reuters / Bobby Yip
China Bonds

Foreign holdings of Chinese debt up, Bond Connect impact scant

By Andrew Galbraith
Asia Unhedged Chinese Stocks
A man walks at Lujiazui financial district of Pudong in Shanghai. Photo: Reuters/Aly Song

Deleveraging is the hottest trade on the Chinese stock market

By David P. Goldman
Highly leveraged large-caps are massively outperforming the market composite index
Russia Business

Mazda given special terms to open engine factory in Russia

By Inga Denezh

The Russian government has decided to expand a special economic zone in its Far Eastern region’s Primorskye Krai territory to secure the first investment by Japan’s Mazda into an engine plant in the country. The central government has passed legislation to alter the boundaries of...

The Mazda logo is pictured at a dealership in Tokyo. Photo: Reuters / Toru Hanai
Business Sport
Importing the fantasy sports craze to Asia Pacific could potentially yield even larger financial rewards in the future, given the region’s vast population. Photo: iStock / Getty

Fantasy sports firms size up billion-dollar reality in Asia

By Nick Westra
High smartphone usage and an existing eSports ecosystem could bring mainstream appeal in the region for an industry that is hungry for new participants
A child plays the game "Honour of Kings" by Tencent. Photo: Reuters
China Gaming

*Ding! China’s gaming industry sees first-half growth of 27%

By Zheng Xin
Technology microchips

Employees ‘volunteer’ to have microchips injected in hands

By Stephen Bryen

A Wisconsin company is getting under its employees’ skin – literally. Three Square Market, which makes vending machines with credit-card microchip readers, says employees are volunteering to get RFID chips implanted in their hands. The chip will permit entry to company buildings, access computers and...

Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips have many uses, and can even be implanted in human beings. Photo: iStock
Culture and Living
Photo courtesy of No Food Waste
South Asia society

Feeding India’s hungry? There’s an app for that

By Anusha Venkat
Culture visual art
Song of a Manhattan Suicide Addict. This video installation shows the artist singing an original song about her experience dealing with depression. A moving sequence of artworks forms the backdrop. Taking its title from Kusama’s acclaimed debut novel, published in 1978, this work provides an insight into her worldview and drive to create art. Collection of the Artist. ©YAYOI KUSAMA. Courtesy of Ota Fine Arts, Tokyo/Singapore, David Zwirner, New York

Connecting the dots: a peek into the heart of Yayoi Kusama

By Elena Owyong

New and old works from Japan's most celebrated contemporary artist, 88, are currently on display at Singapore's National Gallery. Asia Times delves into a vast body of work that cuts across multiple different disciplines but which returns tirelessly to certain visual and thematic obsessions

The White Building in Phnom Penh, labeled a slum by the government, is being demolished. Photo: Lim Sokchanlina
Culture Kavich Neang

Farewell to the White Building

By Elena Owyong
Middle East Obituary

Iranian genius who rejected hijab is mourned by Tehran

By Sami Moubayed

Maryam Mirzakhan, who won the Fields Medal in 2014, has been embraced as a hero in Iran following her death, aged 40, from cancer

Maryam Mirzakhani gives a press conference after accepting a Fields Medal at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul on August 13, 2014. Photo: AFP
The Teenage Psychic
Culture Asian Film

What’s behind the success of HBO Asia’s first Chinese series?

By Liu Hsiu Wen
Culture Muslim women
Muslim head scarves vary in size, color and origin. They have also become a controversial issue in some countries. Photo: Getty.

Global hijabista style

By Carol Mann
Cheerful, multicolor hijabs are seen across the Middle East, although in Iran the stern black tchador that covers heads but not faces is also common
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