Headlines

Taiwan president thanks US for help in strengthening defences

COPENHAGEN, May 12 - Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday expressed his thanks to the U.S. for its help in strengthening the island's defences and said Taipei would not give in to pressure, ahead of a summit between the U.S. and Chinese leaders in Beijing this week.

Asia

India-Vietnam BrahMos missile deal a hot shot at China

Vietnam’s interest in acquiring India’s BrahMos missile has the potential to transform a routine arms deal into a high-stakes procurement impacting power, deterrence and strategic influence across the Indo-Pacific. This month, multiple media outlets reported that Vietnam is

Asia

Gwadar’s moment has finally arrived for Pakistan

In April 2026, Gwadar Port processed around 11,000 standard shipping containers. For context, the same port handled roughly 8,300 containers throughout 2025. This is not a record broken by a whisker. It is a record shattered and behind it lies a story about geography, patience

Asia

London Metal Exchange must recognize Indonesia’s aluminum boom

There are a multitude of reasons why the London Metal Exchange should approve China’s Tsingshan Holding Group’s request to register aluminum produced in Indonesia. Not because markets owe Jakarta a favor, nor because China’s industrial champions deserve another victory lap, but

Asia

Seven killed in blast in northwest Pakistan market, police say

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan, May 12 - Seven people, including two police officers and five civilians, were killed and dozens wounded in a blast at a market in north-western Pakistan on Tuesday, a senior police officer said, the second deadly attack in the region in four days.

Asia

Trump-Xi summit will be no ‘Nixon in China’ moment

Meetings between Chinese and American leaders are not exactly routine, but few are historically groundbreaking. The exceptions include the very first visit by a sitting US president to China, when Richard Nixon met with Chairman Mao Zedong in Beijing in February 1972 – at a

Asia

US visas shouldn’t turn migrants into pawns against China

The latest warning from Washington that China could face visa restrictions over deportation cooperation points to a broader pattern: migration policy is increasingly being pulled into the orbit of geopolitical rivalry. While US officials frame the issue as a matter of

Asia

Duterte’s enforcer dodges ICC arrest in latest Philippine twist

MANILA – Detained ex-Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte’s chief drug war enforcer – Senator Ronald ‘Bato’ dela Rosa – has locked himself inside the country’s upper chamber, where on Tuesday he appealed for the government to intercede on his behalf. Dela Rosa, Duterte’s national

Asia