menu_open Columnists

South China Morning Post

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

South China Sea: 6 risks facing Philippines and China as conflict threshold lowers

South China Sea: 6 risks facing Philippines and China as conflict threshold lowers

Escalating clashes in the South China Sea between the Philippines and China have not only raised the urgency of a regional Code of Conduct but have...

previous day 4

South China Morning Post

Lucio Blanco Pitlo Iii

Forget China threat as real disruption is from Trump’s US: ‘old order not coming back’

Forget China threat as real disruption is from Trump’s US: ‘old order not coming back’

For decades, the defining debate in international relations centred on whether China, as it developed into the world’s second-largest economy, would...

saturday 3

South China Morning Post

Sophie Wushuang Yi

What’s in the president’s stomach? Marcos health problems call to mind past leaders’ woes

What’s in the president’s stomach? Marcos health problems call to mind past leaders’ woes

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr has revealed his struggle with an abdominal ailment all while grappling with a string of political woes that...

29.01.2026 3

South China Morning Post

Alan Robles

Malaysia’s PM term limits could backfire unless election cycles are set

Malaysia’s PM term limits could backfire unless election cycles are set

Anwar Ibrahim started this year with a spring in his step. On January 5, his “new year mandate” speech announced a raft of economic relief...

25.01.2026 49

South China Morning Post

Lee Hwok-Aun

What a US-China ‘grand bargain’ would mean for Southeast Asia

What a US-China ‘grand bargain’ would mean for Southeast Asia

The United States’ military operation in Venezuela, culminating in the capture and removal of President Nicolas Maduro, might at first have appeared...

24.01.2026 42

South China Morning Post

William Choong

China has a worthy blueprint to improve the UN system. Why is the West ignoring it?

China has a worthy blueprint to improve the UN system. Why is the West ignoring it?

Many around the world will recall the striking image of Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister...

18.01.2026 78

South China Morning Post

Chandran Nair

To win the future, Southeast Asia must rewrite its industrial rule book

To win the future, Southeast Asia must rewrite its industrial rule book

How can developing economies in Asia raise productivity, create jobs and align growth with decarbonisation and energy efficiency? According to the...

17.01.2026 66

South China Morning Post

Marco Kamiya

Indonesia’s digital 2045 ambition rests on a fragile seabed spine

Beneath the waves lies the infrastructure forming the backbone of global connectivity. Around 98 per cent of all international electronic...

11.01.2026 68

South China Morning Post

I Gusti Bagus Dharma Agastia

From memes to the streets: Gen Z’s fight back against corruption

In 2025, youth-led protests erupted everywhere from Morocco to Nepal, Madagascar and Europe. A generation refused to remain silent in the face of...

10.01.2026 67

South China Morning Post

Amani Braa

How uneven borders fuel Myanmar’s vast and resilient scam economy

Southeast Asia has become “ground zero” for the global online scamming industry, according to the UN, costing victims billions of US dollars each...

04.01.2026 73

South China Morning Post

Xu Peng

Bangladesh needs ‘structural’ change, but how will it get there?

Things had to change in Bangladesh. The brutality of an autocratic regime which tolerated little dissent gravely undermined its legitimacy. Its...

03.01.2026 70

South China Morning Post

Kamal Ahmad

Sabah’s election proves Malaysians want results, not slogans

Malaysia’s long-anticipated 17th state election in Sabah concluded last month with results that were at once expected and surprising. Heightened...

21.12.2025 65

South China Morning Post

Arnold Puyok

Greed and pork barrel politics fuel the Philippines’ fatal floods

The fact that the Philippines is at the receiving end of countless typhoons every year is undeniable. But a miserable mix of corruption and the...

20.12.2025 76

South China Morning Post

Jc Punongbayan

Is the new Philippines-Germany defence pact built to last?

The Philippines and Germany have entered a new chapter in their bilateral relations this year, placing special emphasis on tightening security and...

14.12.2025 68

South China Morning Post

Frances Mangosing

From Singapore to Taiwan, Japan must face its past for Asia’s future

The Imperial Japanese Navy destroyers Shigure, Isokaze, Hamakaze and Yukizake were assigned to escort duties when convoys were sent to Singapore to...

13.12.2025 77

South China Morning Post

Walter Woon

Vietnam’s anti-drug police are speaking Gen Z, and it’s working

In Vietnam, saying “I’ll call the police on you” is a familiar tease, shorthand for the authority everyone instinctively understands. Thus, it...

07.12.2025 79

South China Morning Post

Dien Nguyen An Luong

The Thai influencer bringing viral warfare to Cambodia’s border

When Malaysia brokered a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia in July, many hoped the guns would finally fall silent along the border. Instead, new...

06.12.2025 99

South China Morning Post

Surachanee Sriyai

Why China is succeeding in Myanmar while the West has been sidelined

Over the past year, China has increasingly wielded its economic leverage in Myanmar to tilt the scales towards the military’s State Security and...

30.11.2025 69

South China Morning Post

Jared Bissinger

The hidden domestic agenda behind Vietnam’s baffling foreign policy

Vietnam’s top leader, To Lam, has spent his first year on an unusually busy diplomatic circuit, but one visit has left analysts scratching their...

29.11.2025 58

South China Morning Post

Nguyen Khac Giang

Self-interest is now the main driver of Britain’s Asia policy

A recent government reshuffle has reopened questions about the depth of Britain’s commitment to Asia. The role of minister for the Indo-Pacific is...

24.11.2025 52

South China Morning Post

Bill Hayton

Reinventing Kaohsiung: Taiwan’s port city transcends its industrial past

Few cities have managed to shake off an industrial past as thoroughly as Kaohsiung. Once defined by its shipyards, heavy industry and petrochemicals,...

22.11.2025 59

South China Morning Post

Donald Low

The Philippines’ political chameleon: Juan Ponce Enrile’s complicated legacy

The death of Juan Ponce Enrile has brought an end to one of the most complicated lives in Philippine politics – a man I covered for decades, whose...

18.11.2025 47

South China Morning Post

Raissa Robles

Thailand’s youth mental health crisis is fuelled by neglect and legalised weed

When two young lives ended in suicide in Thailand earlier this year it cast a spotlight on a swelling mental health crisis among the nation’s youth....

16.11.2025 114

South China Morning Post

Eugene Mark

Nepal found out what Thailand already knew: digital repression is risky

When governments block or restrict access to social media, the backlash is often swift. Such actions rarely amount to mere censorship or content...

15.11.2025 88

South China Morning Post

Surachanee Sriyai

Malaysia is not Palestine. False equivalence fuels ethnic polarisation

Comparing Malaysia to Palestine, as a Malaysian MP did recently, illustrates a reframing of the siege mentality with which segments of the nation’s...

09.11.2025 83

South China Morning Post

Afra Alatas

Thailand’s ‘China plus one’ successes mask a middle-income quagmire

Thailand is often hailed as a poster child for the “China plus one” strategy, its industrial estates filled with new factories and its...

08.11.2025 105

South China Morning Post

Donald Low

Diplomacy in the age of populism is fast, fickle and unbound by the rules of old

In a world where the tools of formal diplomacy have been cast aside in favour of interest-driven deal-making, interactions between states have assumed...

02.11.2025 48

South China Morning Post

Michael Vatikiotis

What Syria’s post-war pivot to China reveals about the new world order

Early this month, Syria’s Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani is expected in Beijing for what both sides have billed as a “reset” in relations....

01.11.2025 50

South China Morning Post

Alessandro Arduino

Why Malaysia’s fuel subsidy reform is stuck in the slow lane

Malaysia’s Madani government has vowed to tackle its mounting budgetary pressures by phasing out blanket petrol subsidies. But despite initial...

26.10.2025 52

South China Morning Post

Lee Hwok-Aun

How China can anchor Southeast Asia’s future in an uncertain world

China has a unique opportunity to cast itself as an anchor of stability for Southeast Asia now that the United States is retreating from its position...

25.10.2025 59

South China Morning Post

Kevin Zongzhe Li

Caught in the crossfire: how Asean can survive a US-China economic cold war

The use of economic tools to serve national interests is hardly new. But in the 21st century, such instruments – ranging from unlawful economic...

19.10.2025 52

South China Morning Post

Maria Monica Wihardja

Safer than cash? The real risks cryptocurrency poses to Southeast Asia

One of the cryptocurrency industry’s most prominent figures, Zhao Changpeng, the former CEO of Binance, has claimed that crypto is safer than fiat...

18.10.2025 52

South China Morning Post

David Lam

Why New Zealand joining Brics makes sense in Trump’s ‘America-first’ era

With the old global order in a heightened state of flux, driven by US President Donald Trump’s attacks on free trade, international organisations...

12.10.2025 92

South China Morning Post

Chris Ogden

Asean’s newest prospective member confronts a Chinese triad threat

Two decades after East Timor gained its independence, the country is a complicated and qualified success story. Poverty and deep economic problems...

11.10.2025 100

South China Morning Post

Michael Rose

Gaza, Trump and New Zealand’s moment of truth on Palestinian statehood

The situation in the Middle East is moving exceptionally fast. New Zealand and the international community had barely digested the debate about...

05.10.2025 80

South China Morning Post

Alexander Gillespie

Malaysia’s politics is becoming an ageing ‘poster boy’ personality contest

Malaysia’s political system is not a presidential one and is instead based on the Westminster model; but there is an increasing tendency for its...

04.10.2025 56

South China Morning Post

Khairy Jamaluddin

False positive? Vietnam’s attempts to recruit influencers risk backfiring

Vietnam’s online playbook is shifting from deleting to diluting. After years of chasing “toxic” posts, authorities now aim to engineer...

28.09.2025 51

South China Morning Post

Dien Nguyen An Luong

TikTok Live blackout in Indonesia exposes fragility of digital freedoms

On August 31, TikTok temporarily suspended its “live” feature across Indonesia, citing safety concerns as nationwide protests escalated after...

27.09.2025 72

South China Morning Post

Nuurrianti Jalli

Thai politics is no longer orange, yellow and red. Anutin turned it blue

The ascent of Anutin Charnvirakul to the office of Thai prime minister must be a moment of personal celebration. Anutin is well known for piloting his...

21.09.2025 60

South China Morning Post

Duncan Mccargo

Will China’s marine reserve gambit push the Philippines to breaking point?

China’s plan to designate the disputed Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea as a national marine nature reserve has drawn strong objections from...

20.09.2025 62

South China Morning Post

Lucio Blanco Pitlo Iii

Can Indonesia’s new haj ministry fix its pilgrimage problems?

Last month, the Indonesian government created a new ministry to oversee both the annual haj, which is obligatory for Muslims to perform at least once,...

14.09.2025 77

South China Morning Post

Norshahril Saat

Malaysia’s 13th plan offers pocket-sized reforms for a middle-income quagmire

Development plans are rarely page-turners. But Malaysia’s latest, covering the years 2026 to 2030, carries unusual weight. Compact and rooted in two...

13.09.2025 53

South China Morning Post

Lee Hwok-Aun

The online radicalisation of Australia is here and Elon Musk is a part of it

Late last month, rallies were staged across various Australian cities under the branding “March for Australia”. The rallies, which were attended...

07.09.2025 85

South China Morning Post

Callum Jones

Anatomy of choice: why Southeast Asia is aligning with China

As the gulf between China and the United States hardens into strategic rivalry, the question of choice looms large over Southeast Asia. When...

06.09.2025 81

South China Morning Post

Joseph Chinyong Liow

Watering down Malaysia’s petrol subsidy reform will cost the country dearly

Malaysia is in a tough spot when it comes to reforming RON95 fuel subsidies to reduce the country’s financial burden. The country needs more money:...

31.08.2025 64

South China Morning Post

Amalina Anuar

China, Southeast Asia and the shared legacy of anti-fascist struggle

Eighty years ago, after 14 years of bloody and unrelenting struggling, the Chinese people won a great victory in the War of Resistance Against...

30.08.2025 67

South China Morning Post

Hou Yanqi

Are Trump’s tariffs nudging India and China to mend their ties?

As India and China reconfigure their relationship, US President Donald Trump’s steep trade tariffs may prove to be a blessing in disguise and bring...

29.08.2025 66

South China Morning Post

Biman Mukherji

What can East Timor bring to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations?

East Timor’s application to join Asean has been described as harder than entering heaven. After 14 years of waiting, it may formally become the...

24.08.2025 64

South China Morning Post

Julia Lau

Arresting domestic workers won’t solve Hong Kong’s black market for dental care

The arrest of six Filipino domestic helpers for running an unlicensed dental clinic in Sham Shui Po has exposed a troubling reality about healthcare...

23.08.2025 67

South China Morning Post

Elisha M. Sonthra

Why Japan’s support for Ukraine boosts Nato’s plan for Tokyo office

A pledge by Japan this week to provide a security guarantee for Ukraine alongside other allies is a reminder that Tokyo may be Europe’s most...

22.08.2025 51

South China Morning Post

Maria Siow