Asia & the Pacific

Same-sex marriage has been on the cards for years, but progress has been slow.

China, Russia, and their autocratic friends are leading another epic clash over the world’s largest landmass.

Historical records show that dropping atomic bombs was the least bad option.

Washington should start letting other countries take the lead.

But Taipei is also getting tired of supply chain issues.

A progressive-led government in Bangkok could take a new approach to the crisis next door.

A landlocked country is offering flags of convenience at sea.

There is less to Beijing’s security gains in the Pacific than meets the eye.

New Delhi wants to be friends with both Moscow and Washington, but the war in Ukraine has underscored the contradictions in its global vision.

A coercive visa policy aims to bolster democracy ahead of the country’s elections next January.

South Korea’s unique conditions make it an entertainment giant.

So-called fence-sitters are rejecting zero-sum geopolitical binaries in favor of multi-alignment.

As Russia and China grow closer, Central Asian leaders don’t have as much leverage—or independence—as they once did.

By pitching himself as a hero to the U.S. right, he’s taking a page from the 1960s North Vietnamese playbook to undermine support for Ukraine.

Personal and political violence are intermixed in authoritarian societies.

Amid a flurry of diplomacy, the trip gave India a chance to advance key foreign-policy goals.

After years of human rights abuses, Beijing wants Han visitors in the region.

U.S.-China rivalry has led to the rerouting of crucial subsea internet cables, which could have major geopolitical consequences.

Southeast Asian skepticism toward the foursome is softening.

The generals could subvert last week’s opposition victory, but it would guarantee a political crisis.

From deterrence to military readiness, Ukraine aid is a major boost to Pacific security.

Beijing may be an appealing partner, but that doesn’t mean the region is breaking with Moscow.

The absence of a U.S. diplomatic presence leaves Washington powerless and strengthens the extremists in Kabul.

Extremist curriculum is teaching children how to hate, not how to think.

A landslide opposition victory signals an irrepressible urge for change.

Indonesia’s presidential election is less than a year away, and the race to replace Jokowi has begun.

India’s government wants to turn the war-torn region into a renewed tourist hot spot.

A new book shows its history as anything but sweet.

U.S. allies are feeling neglected thanks to chaos in Washington.

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Emine Dzhaparova on convincing the rest of the world to stand on the right side of history.

This weekend’s G-7 summit is not the first time the city’s national context has complicated its status as a global peace symbol.

Imran Khan’s arrest is cycling the country through crisis yet again.

The crisis spurred by the opposition leader’s arrest shows no signs of de-escalation.

Record youth unemployment is causing a rethink of education’s value.

Beijing’s refusal to talk to Washington is part of a war of attrition against U.S. influence.

Coercive labor is getting less visible, but more intense.

Foxconn founder Terry Gou will be hoping his pro-China message finds more takers than it did in 2020. 

They got food, fado, and sossegado. Also, the Inquisition.

Regardless of election results, Bangkok will keep leaning toward China.

The United States should pause deliveries to partners such as Saudi Arabia to free up weapons for Taipei.

A new project aims to link New Delhi to the Middle East through roads, rails, and seaports.

The group’s Afghanistan branch is capitalizing on the Russia-Ukraine war to recruit, fundraise, and incite violence.

Washington and Hanoi have been inching closer, but it’s a complicated dance.

Beijing is looking for ways to harm its neighbor other than invasion.

Bilawal Bhutto Zardari is in Goa to meet regional counterparts—not to patch up bilateral ties.

Political scion Paetongtarn Shinawatra aims for a landslide victory on May 14—if the conservative establishment will accept it.

The U.N. meets this week to decide whether to play by Taliban rules or pull out. Both are bad.

The now-detained radical's actions may herald a new age of militancy.

China hawks spread their wings ahead of the 2024 election season.

India now has the world’s largest population—and is trying to find ways not to.

Reassuring allies prevents nuclear proliferation and is a win for Team USA.

Nuclear assurances contribute to a dangerous cycle of anxiety.

Pushing Seoul into engagement with Pyongyang is hard but vital.

The question looms large over a meeting between Biden and the South Korean leader this week.

At their upcoming summit, Biden needs to let Yoon know there would be consequences for breaking Seoul’s nonproliferation promises.

Nothing says forever like the promise of Afghanistan’s mineral riches.

Taipei can’t outspend Beijing to win friends. But it’s got other things going for it.

South Asia is particularly vulnerable to extreme weather and its deadly knock-on effects.

The prime minister has turned India’s G-20 leadership into a nonstop advertisement for its growing clout.

The Pentagon’s top policymaker, Colin Kahl, details why the island is consequential to U.S. national security strategy.

Extremism, more than all the other crises, challenges Pakistan’s very survival.

Cybercrime is a windfall for Kim Jong Un’s nuclear ambitions.

U.S. companies are seeking Chinese partners for Indonesian nickel.

The region will host a G-20 meeting next month, but repression persists since New Delhi revoked its semi-autonomy in 2019.

The world’s biggest company is hedging its dependence on China.

Tokyo has abandoned decades of passivity and become a global strategic actor.

Even some non-aligned countries have cautiously signaled support.

Washington withdrew from a 20-year fight against terrorism, vowing to maintain over-the-horizon capability. It’s still squinting.

Tokyo wants to double its military budget within five years.

The West’s urge to counter China shouldn’t mean ignoring democratic erosion among its own coalition members.

Rahul Gandhi’s expulsion from Parliament leaves the Indian National Congress party little time to recover ahead of next year’s national elections.

Okinawans continue to pay the price for being caught between great powers.

Rescheduled provincial elections mark a win for Imran Khan, but the government seems determined to thwart him.

The ousted Pakistani leader and his party face dozens of charges he says are politicized—but he hasn’t been arrested yet.

Left in the cold, the extremists are falling back on an old trick of swapping foreigners for favors.

How India became captivated by a hapless fugitive Sikh separatist.

Responding to Beijing’s aggression is more than a military question.

Russian weapons dominate India’s arsenal, but Moscow can no longer deliver.

A dispirited diplomatic corps is the last remnant of a fallen government.

Dhaka’s recent moves suggest it is testing the limits of its nonalignment in the region.

An influx of newcomers is disturbing Indonesia’s tourist economy.

The best lines from Ryan Hass, Zongyuan Zoe Liu, and James Palmer on the latest China-focused FP Live.

To stop the return of separatist violence, New Delhi needs help from Western partners with powerful diaspora communities.

Washington should stop trying to force Seoul and Tokyo together.

A controversy threatens to blow the alliance’s nuclear submarine deal out of the water.

As a top U.S. military official warns of a growing transnational threat, the group is already wreaking havoc in Taliban-led Afghanistan.

Shaming and shunning won’t make life better for Afghans.

Drama around former Prime Minister Imran Khan leaves Pakistan’s finances in the lurch.

The Philippines is using U.S. military infrastructure to commit human rights violations.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

An isolated junta would be cripplingly dependent on Beijing.

Top banking chief Haruhiko Kuroda is leaving with his work half done.

India and Israel have strengthened their defense ties in recent years—but a new book makes the relationship sound more sinister than it is.

India and Pakistan have a strong interest in seeing the accord succeed.

The global norm against nuclear proliferation is strong, but Seoul’s political and economic ties are stronger.

Given that Japan’s primary threats are maritime, why has it invested so heavily in a land-based force?

Online streaming is more representative of the country’s diversity but is becoming a double-edged sword.

Precolonial kingdoms challenge our beliefs about people power and monarchies.

With the big sub deal in hand, it’s no longer Miller time.

The tragedy is just the latest to strike the community, underscoring Dhaka’s challenge in hosting so many refugees.

Regional aid needs manpower more than boats.

If Tokyo is serious about protecting itself, it needs to kick-start its military manufacturing sector.

The Biden administration is trying to cut red tape. But advocates worry the scissors are slow.

The deteriorating status of women under Taliban rule is a strategic disaster for Washington.

The Taliban are marking International Women’s Day with an ever-worsening cascade of abuses against women.

Beijing’s phony proposal lays bare its conditions for winning an East Asian war.

The scandal has cast doubt on whether Modi can ensure India remains the world’s fastest-growing major economy.

From Elvis to BTS, militaries have long used celebrity soldiers for clout.

The abrupt end of the Khmer Rouge Tribunal in Cambodia and the ongoing proceedings in Colombia show how the process doesn’t always serve the victims.

Considering some militants as instruments of regional influence while fighting others has had disastrous consequences.

Most of the country wants the government to do more for Indigenous Australians. So why is a proposal to achieve that so fraught?

New Delhi plays host to foreign officials this week, and its guests’ silence on the government’s crackdowns against critics is striking.

Washington’s commitment to Taiwan hasn’t been sold to the American public.

As G-20 president this year, New Delhi must secure greater climate financing and a debt restructuring plan for developing countries.

The businessman has roots in Gujarat, but he resembles past Southeast Asian tycoons who formed monopolies through political patronage.

Long-suffering residents near the Afghan border are voicing their grievances with militancy—as well as the powers that be.

The scandal may rattle India’s elite just enough to jump-start long-neglected reforms.

The cutoff of the Matsu Islands may be a dry run for further aggression.

Manila’s geopolitical shift is more than the Biden administration could have hoped for.

A rise in worldwide consumption would test an industry built largely on exploitation.

New U.S. policies are eroding Taiwan’s dominance of the global chip industry. Will that jeopardize the island’s security?

The country’s growing leverage at U.N. negotiations has not resonated with much of its population.

The find will help fuel Indian manufacturing and clean energy, but it could take years to pay dividends.

Hindu nationalists have met their match in one of India’s most beloved movie stars.

As the Taliban start to crack, Afghanistan is once again the proxy battleground of terrorists and their backers.

The country is struggling to legalize an industry at the center of its economy but the margins of its society.

By curtailing free speech and doubling down on blasphemy laws, Islamabad is endangering its relationship with Europe and the United States.

A veteran negotiator explains how Washington’s attempts at nonproliferation floundered.

Beijing-funded infrastructure projects have slowed, but their longtime partnership remains inevitable.

India’s geopolitical shift is inexorable, and membership in the G-7 would help bridge north-south divides.

Mahbouba Seraj, a rights activist and nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, says there’s no choice now but to talk to Afghanistan’s new rulers.

Tokyo’s abandonment of its post-1945 security stance is another fallout from Russia’s war.

The charismatic Pakistani general aimed to be a great national leader but failed by shredding the constitution and recklessly doing Washington’s bidding.

A new book shows that New Delhi’s own obstacles could slow its ambitions on the global stage.

Fraud allegations caused $100 billion in losses for the conglomerate.

Beijing’s growing influence in Kathmandu has prompted high-level diplomacy from Washington.

Washington hopes the Bongbong Marcos government will allow it to use runways in the Philippines in the case of an armed conflict with China.

The purported ban on opium and ephedra devastates poor farmers, enriches the Taliban, and has done nothing to curb addiction.

Two years after the military coup, many communities are providing their own public services and making the case for federalism.

The Taliban’s rule isn’t inevitable or forever.

Germany’s self-inflicted wound has left defense partners looking for alternatives.

Kashmiris fear an expensive infrastructure project will mean more military domination and demographic change.

Forgetting the site where Russia became a nuclear power comes with its own risks.

Silicon Valley has spent years courting India, but its companies face an increasingly tricky censorship minefield in the world’s largest democracy.

New Delhi hosted the Egyptian president as a guest of honor, reflecting growing strategic interests in the region.

Two years after the coup, the world has moved on, but many Burmese can’t.

Under climate change, women will increasingly be forced to eat less than men.

The program revisits a dark episode for the prime minister. New Delhi’s move has only brought more attention to it.

In confronting China, Japan is thinking beyond its military. The United States should follow suit.

The World Food Program seems poised to carry on, driving NGOs to call it quits on aid.

A new poll reveals shifting perspectives as Beijing challenges New Delhi on several fronts.

Washington’s long-held policy has outlived its usefulness.

FP convenes a discussion with four top global executives at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland.

The Indian government has tread carefully—and invited trouble.

North Korean nuclearization makes a once-taboo option thinkable.

Chinese domestic instability could encourage the CCP to attack the Taiwanese archipelagos of Kinmen and Matsu.

Labor shortages and supply chain problems could hamper Chinese exports, but New Delhi also has strategic opportunities.

Governments must not limit their moral outrage to situations that serve their short-term interests.

New President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has promised a more compassionate approach, but that’s not what it looks like in the slums of Manila.

Washington has stepped up its game in the region but is constrained by its unwillingness to do trade deals.

The U.S. and U.N. are halting aid as the Taliban ratchet up their atrocities.

Electoral shock showed that voters have other worries than Beijing’s threat.

An ambitious state-backed industrial plan targets both growth and China.

In the Booker Prize-winning “The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida,” the past haunts a country racked by unresolved death.

To evade surveillance and reporting by nationalist members of the diaspora, anti-CCP protesters get creative.

A surprising war of words over U.S. actions in the country highlights Dhaka’s tricky balancing act.

Forcing states to choose between Washington and Beijing is a strategic mistake.

One year on, events in Kazakhstan that cemented its president’s grip on power remain shrouded in mystery.

The social network is global, but what comes next may not be. 

Twelve experts weigh in on how to prevent, deter, and—if necessary—fight the next conflict.

Harsh sanctions can cut off the dictatorship’s Russian and Chinese support.

Seoul and Hanoi can no longer ignore a fraught part of their history.

Misogyny gets headlines. The pillaging of international aid money goes unnoticed.

From India’s G-20 presidency to brewing public discontent elsewhere in the region, 2023 could be another up-and-down year.

War-gamers plan for Taiwan’s D-Day.

Recent negotiations and elections may put off Chinese aggression.

The skirmish in Arunachal Pradesh reflects Beijing’s confidence—and New Delhi’s diminished deterrence.

Four stories stood out in a tumultuous 2022, from Sri Lanka’s economic crisis to Modi’s pushback against Putin.

In 2022, the country has seen a dramatic change in power, record-high inflation, and catastrophic floods. What could happen in 2023?

The country’s richest man has bought its last independent television channel—and made an enemy of its biggest star.

People displaced by climate disasters remain vulnerable, as this year’s floods show.

Kim Jong Un’s attention-grabbing missile testing frenzy belies a much more interesting dynamic developing among neighbors.

The Afghan Adjustment Act didn’t make it into the final major spending bill, leaving refugees in limbo.

Fights with neighbors, terrorism attacks on the group’s few patrons, and concerns over Taliban defections darken Afghanistan’s future.

“We have no right to ask others to help us if we are not prepared to defend ourselves,” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said.

Poor economic headwinds have given government opponents a long-awaited opportunity.

The country is meant to go to the polls next year. It might erupt first.

Historian Ramachandra Guha explains how Narendra Modi is eroding real people power.

The World Cup is ending, but trouble is far from over for the families of guest workers.

Beijing is still making an example of a rebel city.

A recent book emphasizes domestic politics in the conflict but doesn’t account for the depth of the impasse.

India upholds the rules-based, Western-led international order—but in its own way.

A historic victory and a narrow loss in state elections shows the ruling party remains indisputably dominant, but it still has some vulnerabilities.

Pyongyang imagines it could win a limited conflict.

The new prime minister has a grueling task ahead of him.

The Nepali Congress party looks set to hang onto power when final results come in next week.

Beijing’s military and infrastructure advantage has transformed the crisis and left New Delhi on the defensive.

It’s not recognition yet—just resignation.

Canberra has spent decades ostracizing asylum-seekers and detaining Africans and Asians fleeing war. Now, the national team needs them on the field.

The case for a global forecasting unit led by the United States and Australia.