Headlines

Japan should help US in Iran while it’s still dangerous

Don’t expect any fireworks when Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi meets US President Donald Trump in Washington on March 19. Compared to Britain, Spain, France and the United States’ other erstwhile allies ー large and small (except for the Poles and a couple others) ー

Danantara at one: promise, peril and vexing questions

This month’s celebration marking the first anniversary of the Daya Anagata Nusantara Investment Management Agency, better known as Danantara, became a stage for Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto to showcase a set of numbers that, at first glance, appeared revolutionary. In

Upside, downside for China’s tariff-free Africa deal

China’s President Xi Jinping announced in February 2026 that from May 1 China would be granting zero-tariff treatment to 53 African countries. (That is all of them, bar Eswatini, which supports Taiwan.) China-Africa trade reached US$348 billion in 2025, up 17.7% from 2024.