Asia & the Pacific

FP columnists on how the world could handle the new Washington.

Some parts of the country will begin voting on Dec. 28 in polls that could further legitimize the ruling junta.

How Gen Z-led movements shaped 2025—and what comes next.

The geopolitical ripple effects of the nuclear-armed rivals’ worst conflict in decades.

The stories that shaped the region in 2025, from India-Pakistan conflict to a deepening Afghan refugee crisis.

Here are the countries that have benefited the most—and least—from the U.S. president’s decision-making.

As the second Trump administration approaches the one-year mark, here’s who is influencing key policies. 

Smog is crossing borders and wrecking lives.

The former leaders of Colombia and Mexico are concerned over recent U.S. actions

The long-exiled Tarique Rahman will arrive ahead of a likely tense February vote.

A proposed Bangladesh-China-Pakistan nexus could raise concerns in New Delhi.

Sanae Takaichi’s massive spending program could be a risky political win.

Tracking the region’s biggest developments in 2025.

A constitutional reform throws restraint, deterrence, and regional stability into question.

Organizations working in Gaza and Sudan say their jobs have become harder than ever.

America’s greatest export was never democracy or consumer culture. It was the template for global power itself.

Officials still seem to be working toward a trade deal, but it won’t be a silver bullet.

Critics say the region’s leader hasn’t delivered on his defiant campaign rhetoric.

How New Delhi’s pollution has become a more fundamental crisis.

Hanoi has been quietly expanding partnerships beyond the Indo-Pacific.

The waters may have let up, but an aid crisis continues.

The MAGA revolution in U.S. foreign policy brings good news and bad.

The South Asian nation has deployed a combination of flattery and strategy to get Washington on its side.

“Left-Handed Girl,” Taiwan’s Oscar hopeful, offers a multifaceted view of women learning to live beyond shame.

The defense secretary is under scrutiny for a series of questionable decisions.

The visit comes at a somewhat precarious moment for India-Russia relations.

The tragedy confirmed to many locals that the city’s freedoms have vanished.

Three years ago, the country became a poster child for climate justice. Now, it faces a steep learning curve to secure the funding it needs.

“Sabah for Sabahans” undermines the country’s precarious ethno-political balance.

New sanctions on the world’s wealthiest criminal could threaten the Hun dynasty.

Beijing’s continued economic growth depends on a fragile balance of control and freedom.

Even imagining a potential Chinese invasion of the island has become a political act.

Why 2025 has been Modi’s most difficult foreign-policy year.

The leaders talked trade, Taiwan, and—likely—Japan.

Sanae Takaichi may be relishing confrontation with China.

The U.S. should avoid a narrow Christian focus.

Next week, the Russian leader visits New Delhi for the first time since his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Popular protest is keeping the issue of flood corruption in the news.

Will the dream of indigenous technology be co-opted for political control?

Rapid geopolitical change requires an urgent debate in Japan.

The bloc is beginning to have some agency—as long as you don’t mention China.

The former prime minister was sentenced to death in absentia months before a high-stakes election.

A Trumpian promise may be hard to deliver.

How some countries are quietly advancing progress.

The new Japanese prime minister is unlikely to back down from recent comments.

A cheap and practical intervention, given at birth, could save lives in conflict zones and beyond.

Breaking out of their cycle of hope and distrust requires political imagination on both sides.

Land mines, and who planted them, have been an ongoing factor.

Forced recruitment has helped reverse momentum back in the military’s favor, even as it pushes many young men to flee.

Switzerland cuts a deal—plus the latest global picture on Trump’s tariff regime.

Beijing finds itself in a precarious geopolitical position.

Renewables are in hot demand in a growing region.

The two incidents underscore growing risks to regional stability.

The new deals contain unusual concessions that could change the flow of goods in Asia.

The countries’ ethnic ties have grown strained in recent years.

Beijing’s green energy ambitions are fueling a global revolution.

Post-USAID assistance may depend on a country’s strategic value to Washington.

The Philippines has been battered by back-to-back typhoons.

From Afghanistan to Venezuela, the misleading term has inspired decades of misguided policies against real problems.

Tariffs and inattention have pushed regional states toward China.

The U.S.-Philippines-Japan partnership needs institutionalization.

As Islamabad draws attention on the global stage, it grapples with economic problems and surging terrorism back home.

As a more technical body, the task force might be able to fill the gap left by Security Council paralysis.

For a while, it looked as if China had learned its lesson on scaling back investments.

Kabul’s flirt with New Delhi is a classic case of geopolitical logic.

A controversial policy may be targeting religious minorities and Dalits.

Taipei needs to learn how to better wield the “silicon shield.”

In an increasingly dangerous era, the group’s old patterns of cooperation will not suffice.

His Cambodia charm offensive is the new normal in U.S. foreign policy.

Featuring planes, ships, rockets, and nukes.

From soybeans to semiconductors, here’s everything you need to know about what came out of the meeting. 

The complicated life of women struggling with climate change—and cultural change—in Kashmir’s mountains.

U.S. and EU penalties on Russian oil companies raise the stakes for New Delhi’s trade talks with Washington.

What if China ends up with a better deal than Southeast Asia?

From Japan to Pakistan, the deals keep coming.

U.S. military planners are caught in an impossible dilemma.

Megha Majumdar’s “A Guardian and a Thief” interrogates how the have-nots get by in a climate catastrophe.

Once-thriving crops are poorly adapting to new temperatures.

China’s complex new rules take on the entire world at once—and give Trump an opportunity.

The Trump administration is working to uphold the fragile Gaza cease-fire.

The threat to Moscow’s oil earnings is huge. But will it be enough?

Islamabad has pulled off repeated coups—but can they last?

A diplomatic visit highlights the cautious engagement between New Delhi and Kabul.

Ties between organized crime syndicates and Chinese intelligence run deep.

It’s not just terrorism concerns driving tensions.

Sanae Takaichi may not get a chance to implement her hard-line conservatism.

Timor-Leste’s president said it was easier to get into heaven than the Southeast Asian bloc.

Australia becomes the latest country to sign a deal with the U.S. president.

Despite a recent boost in ties, history shows that Islamabad is a fickle friend in South Asia.

New Delhi can only ignore the neighborhood’s political volatility for so long.

In Asia, soft power rests on a divisive, spiky fruit.

Here’s why you should be paying attention.

AUKUS and critical minerals will dominate the agenda for the Australian prime minister’s White House visit.

Southeast Asia’s freest democracy is joining ASEAN and could shift the balance of power.

The trip marks the culmination of a remarkable turnaround in ties.

Anti-Black videos speak to popular prejudices.

Governments are struggling to forecast and manage bad weather.

A soft-power breakthrough amid an escalating hard-power rivalry.

Taiwan’s pushback on chip production underscores continued U.S. dependency.

Nobody knows what the impact of the world’s biggest hydropower project will be.