India's BrahMos draws global interest, Philippine first family's feud: 7 Asia highlights
subscribing
India's BrahMos supersonic cruise missile system has reportedly drawn interest from at least 15 countries spanning from Asia to South America after its use in cross-border strikes against Pakistan enhanced the global profile of the Indian weapons industry.
Malaysian police arrested a 21-year-old Chinese national on Monday on suspicion of slashing his ex-girlfriend's neck with a knife at Taylor's University on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur.
Illustration: Mario Rivera
As Ferdinand Marcos Jnr touches down in Washington this weekend, his mind may well be half a world away, fixed not on the security and trade talks that await him but on the family feud back home: one born of betrayal, blind ambition and the wounds of history.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
AllAfrica
18 hours ago
- AllAfrica
Xi's charm offensive cuts both ways in the Global South
Chinese President Xi Jinping is on an economic charm offensive across the Global South's emerging markets. As tensions with the West escalate and economic headwinds gather at home, China's president has turned to emerging markets with promises of investment, infrastructure and deeper trade ties. From Southeast Asia to the Gulf, Chinese officials have been busy striking deals and hosting summits, pitching Beijing as a stable, pragmatic alternative to a more unpredictable United States. A notable example of this offensive is Chinese Premier Li Qiang's attendance at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)–ASEAN summit in May 2025, which aimed to 'offer vast opportunities to synergize our markets, deepen innovation, and promote cross-regional investment.' Notably, Beijing opted to attend the summit instead of the Asia-Pacific-focused Shangri-La Dialogue, where the US and its allies regularly criticize China over its security practices. This development underscores Beijing's policy preference shifting away from fighting the rhetoric about its territorial disputes to crafting a narrative about China as an alternative economic partner amid global disapproval of Washington's trade policies. Washington's ongoing tariff war has dented China's economic confidence, with metrics such as retail sales and fixed-asset investment both slightly underperforming in April 2025, according to Dutch bank ING. Amid this uncertainty, Xi's diplomatic appeals appear to be garnering a warm reception amongst emerging economies. A study by Australia's Griffith University and the Green Finance & Development Center in Beijing found that Chinese construction contracts and investments in Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) countries totalled US$124 billion in the first half of 2025, up slightly from $122 billion the previous year. The BRI is a program through which Beijing and Chinese firms fund or build infrastructure across the world. This new BRI activity will likely contribute to China's macroeconomic strength by helping improve its real GDP growth. For example, the initiative has shifted from sovereign lending to foreign direct investment (FDI), which may help ease concerns about China's mounting sovereign debt exposure. However, behind the diplomatic fanfare lies a more fragile reality. China's sluggish internal growth continues to weigh heavily on Beijing and will likely curtail any lasting benefits from Xi's charm offensive. Indeed, the BRI expansion was largely prompted by 'slow domestic growth and the need to diversify supply chains and markets due to the trade war sparked by Trump's tariffs.' However, China's cooling economy, rampant overcapacity concerns and faltering demand amongst domestic consumers paint a bleak picture for potential Chinese trading partners. According to 2025 second-quarter data released by Beijing, the country's real economic growth remained steady at 5.2% year-over-year (YoY). However, nominal growth, which reflects what companies actually receive in revenue and workers in wages, was significantly weaker at 3.9% YoY. This gap highlights a broader and persistent trend: the decline of China's middle class. China's middle class has historically served as both the driving force behind and primary beneficiary of the country's economic growth. But now, 40% of that group has seen their wealth decline in recent years, particularly among the younger generations. The traditional markers of a secure middle-class life, a stable job in the public sector or in industries like tech and finance, home ownership and upward mobility, are in decline. The free fall of China's property market has been especially damaging, given that most middle-class wealth is tied up in real estate. Coupled with the country's harsh 996 work culture, many young Chinese are now questioning the socio-economic values that once propelled China to global prominence. This generational shift has produced a 'tang ping' or 'lying flat' mentality. This mentality shift is marked by a retreat from conspicuous consumption and a preference for domestic over imported goods. This shift in consumer habits poses a challenge for Xi's efforts to deepen trade with emerging economies. On one hand, Chinese firms benefit from new markets to sell goods and services. On the other, China's shifting domestic market no longer offers its partners reciprocal opportunities. The one-sided nature of this emerging economic model may give countries like those in ASEAN pause. This will be particularly true as these emerging markets come under increased scrutiny from the US and EU for their deepening integration into Chinese supply chains. As a result, emerging economies are likely to remain cautious about further integration with China unless there are clear signs of an improving domestic outlook. Yet such signs are increasingly difficult to detect as Beijing continues to obscure information about its socio-economic health. Analyses of China's National Bureau of Statistics have discovered that the agency has ceased publishing several key indicators, including unemployment and land sales data. This deliberate suppression of information comes amid rising speculation that Beijing has overstated its actual economic performance. This question about China's socio-economic health was raised in December 2024 when Gao Shanwen, chief economist at state-owned State Development and Investment Corporation (SDIC) Securities, publicly stated that real economic growth in China 'might [have been] around 2%' in recent years. Gao's remarks – which contradicted China's official narrative – led to his being 'disciplined' by Xi and banned from making further public comments. The episode highlights two critical concerns for emerging markets considering deeper ties with China. First, while China remains the world's second-largest economy, the health of its domestic market is potentially far less robust than Beijing portrays. That makes China a less attractive long-term investment opportunity, particularly as Chinese consumers increasingly favour domestically made products over foreign imports. Second, the Gao incident underscores a broader trend: Beijing's readiness to suppress dissent. More worryingly for foreign businesses, this supression may not just be targeted at domestic citizens but potentially foreign investors as well. Historically, the aforementioned repression targeted Chinese nationals and local businesses. But recent signs suggest that foreign executives are no longer immune. In one recent high-profile case, a Japanese pharmaceutical executive was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on espionage charges. This executive spent more than two decades in China and was active in the Japanese Chamber of Commerce in China. Other Japanese citizens have been held on espionage charges prior to this incident. However, the timing of the arrest, amid US-spurred efforts for Tokyo to economically decouple from Beijing and China's own military provocations, raises alarms. It suggests that as geopolitical pressure mounts, China may increasingly use its opaque legal system as a tool of coercion to ensure new and old trading partners do not drift from China's sphere of influence. This presents a broader risk if, for example, Trump intensifies efforts to push emerging economies seen as enabling the sale of cheap Chinese goods into the US, like Vietnam, to distance themselves from Beijing. Trump could use his tariff diplomacy style to force these emerging economies to make economic choices that are not necessarily in their own interests. In turn, China may respond by targeting foreign businesspeople in retaliation, using its opaque legal system to reinforce political-economic loyalty and prevent strategic drift. Against this increasingly tense backdrop, Xi's charm offensive may generate photo ops and pledges of cooperation. But it does little to address the deeper weaknesses at the heart of China's economic and political system. A shrinking middle class and an increasingly politicized business environment all point to a system under strain. The trade and investment opportunities Beijing offers may look appealing on the surface, but they come with conditions and risks that emerging economies would be wise to scrutinize carefully. Unless China undertakes serious domestic reform and opens its economy in good faith, those enticed by its charm offensive may find themselves entangled in unequal and unstable partnerships with more to lose than to gain. Hans Horan is a strategic analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) think tank, specializing in the Indo-Pacific, cyber threat intelligence, and security and defense affairs. He previously worked for over seven years in the intelligence and security industry for both private and public sector organizations across the globe, where he served as their lead cyber intelligence and principal Asia-Pacific analyst.
South China Morning Post
18 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Does Chinese privilege exist in Singapore? Study finds views differ by age and race
Das still remembers an offhand remark from a former colleague who, upon seeing his hairy legs, said that they resembled a monkey's. Advertisement For the 30-year-old ethnic Indian Singaporean postgraduate student, who spoke to This Week in Asia under a pseudonym, the comment reflected a kind of casual insensitivity he said he had encountered as a racial minority in Singapore. 'I would ascribe the confidence of saying such things without having to endure a blowback or to blow it off as a joke to Chinese privilege,' he said, when asked about moments when he felt the majority Chinese population held an unspoken advantage. His experience aligns with sentiments expressed by some respondents in a new study by the Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, which sheds light on how Singaporeans of different ages and ethnicities perceive racial inequality – and the very idea of 'Chinese privilege' – in the multiracial city state. Released on Friday, the study surveyed 4,000 residents and found that while only 44.7 per cent of respondents overall said they believed Chinese privilege exists, younger Singaporeans were far more likely to hold the view. Among those aged 18 to 35, seven in 10 said it existed, compared with less than three in 10 of older respondents above 65 years of age, according to the study conducted between April and August last year. Advertisement Furthermore, six in 10 Malays and Indians said they believed Chinese Singaporeans enjoy certain advantages, while just four in 10 Chinese respondents held the view.
South China Morning Post
18 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
3 arrested for alleged theft worth HK$80,000 on flight from India to Hong Kong
Hong Kong police have arrested three men for stealing property worth more than HK$80,000 (US$10,190) during a flight from India to the city. The force said on Tuesday that the arrests the previous day were made after police received reports from three Indian nationals who had flown to Hong Kong from the country. The victims placed their backpacks on the overhead rack of the cabin, and subsequently found that cash and other property were lost, prompting them to seek help from the force. Three mainland Chinese men aged between 47 and 58 were arrested and detained after a preliminary investigation. The trio had allegedly stolen a pair of bracelets worth HK$50,000 and Hong Kong dollars and foreign currency cash valued at HK$34,400 from the victims. The case is being investigated by a criminal intelligence and support team at the force's airport division.
