East Asia
Through interviews and analysis, this section focuses on stories from East and Southeast Asia.
We write on the oppression and violence inflicted on Uyghur people in China and reflect on Fukushima following the nuclear disaster. Here, you will also find discussion of the region’s changing relationships internationally, including China’s growing influence in Africa and the power struggles over the South China sea.
It’s lonely on the Left in Hong Kong
Bennett Murray speaks to Avery Ng, the leader of Hong Kong’s most leftwing party within the democracy movement.
Hong Kong’s malaise runs deeper than an extradition bill
Mass protest and civil unrest have taken Hong Kong by storm. Evan Fowler gets to the root of the crisis
Cartoon History: The Incorruptible Macli-ing Dulag
The story of Filipino elder Macli-ing Dulag, who led the struggle against the Chico Dam, as told by ILYA (with Yohann Koshy).
European Commission gives boost to Vietnamese timber launderers
A treaty signed by the European Commission legitimized a Vietnamese government agency that facilitated the theft of roughly half a billion dollars of endangered species. Jack Davies reports.
‘Little Africa’ in China
Guangzhou is home to Asia’s largest African migrant population, who come to China chasing business opportunities, reputable universities and low living costs. Carlotta Dotto reports.
Networked but commodified: digital labour in the remote gig economy
Research by Alex J. Wood, Mark Graham and others shows how gig economy platforms commodify labour in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa.
Defiant Maria Ressa fights arrest
The harassment of a leading Filipina journalist is a bad sign for press freedom in the Philippines, writes Iris Gonzales
Vietnam’s clampdown on academic freedom
Under new rule, Vietnam is discrediting critics of the one-party state. Alexandre Sisophon reports from Hanoi on the academics and students resisting this campaign.
Japan’s firewall against populism
Despite populism being rife everywhere else, Japan has refused to succumb. Are there lessons to be learned? asks Tina Burrett.
Bangkok street sellers live to fry another day
Peter Yeung reports on the politics of street food in Bangkok - an informal industry currently under threat from the forces of gentrification.
Country Profile: Vietnam
The Vietnam of yesteryear that many Westerners use as a reference point for the nation is long outdated, writes Bennett Murray.
No more of your junk
Adam Liebman explains why we need a less rosy notion of what actually happens to our recycling.
Is China detaining a million Uyghur Muslims?
The country’s economic influence may be buying silence on a massive human rights violation. Nithin Coca reports.
Cambodia’s ‘one party state’ prepares for polls
Prime Minister Hun Sen has dissolved newspapers and the opposition. Becky and Simon Kenton-Lake report.
China: a post-neoliberal order?
For Martin Jacques, 2008 represented the end of the Western-dominated financial system and the beginning of a Chinese century.
One belt, one road
Wayne Ellwood looks at the scale of China’s ’Belt and Road’ juggernaut and its economic and political ramifications.
Fighting Mr Fake
How editor Maria Ressa took on the president of the Philippines. Iris Gonzales tells the story.
Jakarta's water woes
A civil society lawsuit has ended the city's water sell-off. But the fight isn't over. Febriana Firdaus reports.
Life after the Nauru detention centre
When Rashid first arrived in Cambodia, he warned other Nauru detainees not to come. Sally Hayden writes.
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Chinese pollution on Gambian coast
Residents from a coastal village in the Gambia are suing a Chinese-owned fishmeal plant accused of pollution, writes Nosmot Gbadamosi.
Sand dredgers defeated in Koh Kong, Cambodia
In Koh Kong province, Cambodia a band of Mother Nature activists have scored a victory in the battle against environmentally destructive sand dredging, writes Fran Lambrick.
A Q&A with Noam Chomsky
Noam Chomsky shares his views with Andy Heintz on America’s ‘free trade agreements’, North Korea and the dangers of a ‘charismatic demagogue’ as president.
Thailand’s intergenerational exiles
‘My mother said to me “this is just history repeating itself’.” Thai-British academic Giles Ji Ungpakorn speaks with Alexi Demetriadi.
Gina Lopez fights Philippine mining
The fiery Filipino environmentalist talks to Veronique Mistiaen.
Indonesia cracks down on organized labour
Unions face backlash after years of minimum wage increases. Fahmi Panimbang writes.
‘Curing’ homosexuality in China
LGBT+ people are subjected to forced confinement, medication and electric shocks to try to change their sexual orientation, writes Alessio Perrone.
Japan: building the future, living in the past?
How Japanese society and robots match up, by Christopher Simons.
Robots, not humans: official policy in China
Industrial robots are being put to work on a huge scale. Jenny Chan looks at the case of Foxconn.
Inside the jails of Duterte’s drug war
A glimpse of the lives of those sleeping in shifts in Manila's overcrowded jails.
Is the West complicit in the Rohingya crisis?
Britain has provided support to the Burmese military, writes Steve Shaw.
The West and Asian education: a fatal attraction
Why the West must stop copying China’s flawed education system, by Yong Zhao.
The story of Kian
A 17-year-old is another victim of Duterte’ war on drugs, writes Iris Gonzales.
Environmentalists are victors, not victims
Environmental defenders are dying, but winning important fights, writes Fran Lambrick.
