World News by Wild Rose

Cheap land clearing imposes costs across borders. ASEAN must change the incentives that keep the fires burning.

China’s export machine is accelerating as its domestic economy remains under strain. This comes amid growing trade friction as China’s partners question whether persistent surpluses can coexist with balanced and resilient regional growth. Last month, China’s exports rose 36.3 per cent year on year, while shipments to Southeast Asia jumped 52.3 per cent. The trade surplus reached US$133.5 billion, taking the nine-month total to US$938.1 billion. In contrast, retail sales grew just 0.4 per cent in...

Toxic haze from wildfires burning in Indonesia has spiked a demand for oxygen tanks and air purifiers across the region, manufacturers say, as they work the clock on equipment providing life-saving clean air. The months-long haze has blanketed parts of Southeast Asia, forcing school closures and fuelling a rise in respiratory complaints. Families are now rushing to buy devices to keep indoor air clean. At AA Alive, a medical equipment company based just outside Kuala Lumpur, employees were...

Tokyo, Oct. 11 (Jiji Press)--Honda Motor Co. plans to receive supplies of Mitsubishi Motors Corp.'s Triton pickup truck produced in Thailand for sale under its own brand, informed sources have said. Honda is expected to sell the Triton in Southeast Asian countries from 2028 while trying to strengthen its relations with Mitsubishi Motors and Nissan Motor Co. The three Japanese automakers a...

The Philippines is developing a national road map to combat child labour as part of a broader push across Southeast Asia, where poverty and insecure livelihoods continue to drive children into work despite government efforts to stamp out the practice. But analysts warn that policy commitments alone will not be enough without stronger support for vulnerable families, better access to education and more effective enforcement of child protection laws. On September 23 and 24, government officials,...

Southeast Asian governments are learning some hard truths about the data centre boom they spent years working to attract, analysts say – it promises jobs, digital infrastructure and a foothold in the AI economy, but the rapid buildout is also straining power grids, land and regulatory systems. “There is this enthusiasm to attract investments, but now it raises the question: at what cost and at what speed?” said policy researcher Mark Manantan, a research fellow for the Centre for Global Security...

For years, Chinese manufacturers have viewed Southeast Asia as a way to reduce exposure to higher US duties on goods made in China. But a new round of tariff cuts proposed by Washington and Beijing could weaken that incentive for some products, potentially changing the economics of the strategy. Under the new US-China Board of Trade, more than 90 per cent of Chinese products on a list of goods worth US$30 billion – mostly everyday consumer items, such as toys and household goods – would return...

A Singapore-based education financing programme is testing whether income-linked funding can widen access to higher education without an unmanageable debt burden, a model analysts say could help ease repayment pressure faced by graduates across Southeast Asia. Global Financing for Education’s (GFE) Pay It Forward scheme, publicly launched in September, provides students with funding for their education in return for 3 to 10 per cent of their subsequent income for one to 10 years. The...

The official opening of the Pinglu Canal on September 16 is a milestone in modern Chinese history. More than an infrastructural feat, it signals a strategic recalibration of how China’s inland economies connect with the sea and Southeast Asia, and augurs the next phase of regional growth. Designed for vessels of up to 5,000 tonnes, the 134.2km (83.4 mile) waterway stretches from the Xijin reservoir in Hengzhou, an emerging city in Guangxi, to the Gulf of Tonkin (known as the Beibu Gulf in...

Southeast Asia is welcoming the thaw in US-China ties continuing after the Xi-Trump summit, with analysts saying the region could feel less pressure alongside fewer open frictions between the two over the South China Sea. Yet, caution persists as the summit left deeper disputes unresolved. “Stable great-power relations – competitive but with sturdy guardrails – will create more legroom for third countries to navigate an increasingly complex world,” according to Lucio Blanco Pitlo III, a research...