Geo Politics

Monday, Hong Kong’s highest court ruled that a British attorney can defend pro-democracy tycoon Jimmy Lai in a national security trial, rejecting a government appeal to prohibit foreign counsel from such cases. Hong Kong’s Department of Justice made repeated attempts to prevent British attorney Timothy Owen from representing Lai, arguably Hong Kong’s most outspoken opponent of Chinese Communist Party leaders …

Public support for Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has reached a new low, according to a poll released on Sunday, November 27. A string of cabinet resignations has exacerbated outrage over the ruling party’s ties to a controversial religious group. In a Kyodo news poll conducted one month ago, support for Kishida’s cabinet dropped from 37.6% to 33.1%, his lowest …

Saturday, November 26 marked the beginning of municipal elections in Taiwan, which President Tsai Ing-wen has framed as a statement to the world about the island’s will to maintain its democracy in the face of China’s growing bellicosity. The elections for mayors, county heads, and local council men are nominally about internal matters like as the COVID-19 epidemic and criminality, …

The Philippines addressed a letter verbale to China requesting “clarification” over a recent incident in which Chinese coast guard personnel “forcibly collected” debris from Philippine Navy personnel in the West Philippine Sea. In an interview with CNN Philippines on Thursday, November 24, Foreign Secretary Enrique Manalo confirmed the move, stating that the Marcos administration wanted to hear about the conflict …

The office of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in western Hiroshima prefecture discovered mistakes in receipts linked to a campaign expenditure report on Thursday, November 24, after a magazine highlighted suspected violations of election funding laws. The claims are a further setback for the prime minister, who has seen three cabinet ministers resign in the past month and whose public …

Friday, November 18th, Trend Micro revealed that they had found a worldwide spear-phishing effort conducted by a China-based threat actor, with a particular focus on Asia Pacific nations including Myanmar, Australia, the Philippines, Japan, and Taiwan. Spear-phishing is a sort of phishing that is highly targeted. According to Trend Micro’s definition, whereas phishing strategies may rely on technologies that transmit …

The search for a new Malaysian prime minister reached its fourth day on Wednesday, November 23, after the top two candidates failed to achieve a majority and break a hung parliament following the election last weekend. After opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin failed to create a coalition with other parties by Tuesday afternoon, the monarch of …

A few days after Severe Tropical Cyclone Paeng almost completely consumed the Philippines, the 27th Conference of the Parties (COP) convened. The unfolding of these events have a dystopian quality. In Egypt, world leaders, primarily men, gathered for a “family photo” during what appeared to be a brief pause between political maneuvering and unsuccessful negotiations, as our nation reels from …

Three days after an election resulted in a hung parliament, opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim and former premier Muhyiddin Yassin attempted to break a stalemate in creating a government on Tuesday, November 22. King Al-Sultan Abdullah has given political parties till Tuesday at 2:00 p.m. (0600 GMT) to form majority-required alliances. The election and following unrest prolong political instability in the …

In March 2022, Singapore and Cambodia issued their condemnation of Russia. Singapore criticized and implemented sanctions against Russia on March 5, 2022, while Cambodia’s Prime Minister Hun Sen condemned Russia on March 28, 2022, according to a Reuters report. The ASEAN foreign ministers also published a statement on March 3, 2022, advocating for a ceasefire in Ukraine. The United Nations …