ASEAN News

Hong Kong is under pressure to reign down spending as it announces its annual budget on Wednesday, February 22. This is due to its massive fiscal deficits accrued during the COVID-19 epidemic, as well as its efforts to stimulate the economy and reclaim its financial luster. After spending over HK$600 billion on limiting the spread of illnesses and giving economic …

South Korea’s rent-free renting system, which landlords and renters alike benefitted from over a lengthy period of rising residential property prices, is suffering as a result of a drop in housing values. With the “jeonse” arrangement, renters pay a deposit of up to 70 percent of the home’s value, then live rent-free for two years until the landlord returns the …

Addressing a prestigious security conference in Munich, Germany, Filipino Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo called attention to China’s escalating harassment of Philippine warships in the South China Sea, characterizing it as a “daily occurrence” in the dangerous waterway. “On a daily basis, there are still numerous events taking place in the South China Sea, and there are daily occurrences of harassment …

In an effort to better confront North Korea’s threats, South Korea and the United States will conduct tabletop drills in Washington, D.C., the week after next, according to Seoul’s defense ministry on February 17. Nuclear-armed North Korea launched a record number of missiles in 2018, including intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) capable of striking anyplace in the United States, and resumed …

Air France-CEO KLM’s has warned that European airlines forced to take longer flights to Asia to avoid Russia will struggle to compete with Chinese rivals if travel picks up following the Covid-19 shutdowns. Ben Smith stated that Chinese airlines had a “unfair edge” over European airlines that have been prohibited from Russian airspace since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine about …

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Wednesday urged all countries to warn the People’s Republic of China (PRC) against conflict over Taiwan, adding Beijing should not use any visits by US lawmakers to the island nation as a pretext for military action. US-China relations experienced a major blow last August during a visit by then speaker of the …

Thursday, February 16 was the first time in six years that South Korea has referred to North Korea as its “enemy” and reported an increase in Pyongyang’s stockpile of weapons-grade plutonium. The yearly white paper provides a peek of the secretive North’s expanding nuclear and conventional military arsenals. The North Korean dictatorship and military were referred to as “our adversary” …

On Thursday, February 16, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) confirmed that the Philippines and China made use of their newly implemented communication mechanism to address the recent deployment of a military-grade vessel against a Philippine Coast Guard ship in the West Philippine Sea by the Chinese Coast Guard. The incident occurred in the West Philippine Sea. The Chinese Coast …

Uncrewed surveillance balloons violating Japan’s airspace are absolutely unacceptable, the Japanese government said on Wednesday. A further investigation of specific balloon-shaped flying objects confirmed in Japan’s airspace in the past has led to the strong suspicion that they were Chinese unmanned surveillance balloons, according to Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno. According to the Kyodo news agency, Japan is considering relaxing …

According to China’s top anti-corruption body, Chen Xuyuan, the president of the Chinese Football Association, is being investigated for possible discipline and legal infractions. A disciplinary inspection and supervision team from the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and the National Commission of Supervision of the Communist Party of China is looking into Chen at the General Administration of Sport of …