August 14, 2025

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ASIA PACIFIC

Politics

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Military personnel in tanks participate in a parade in Naypyitaw, Myanmar, on March 27, 2021.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

Myanmar security forces involved in systematic torture, U.N. report says

By Emma Farge

Investigators said victims were subject to beatings, electric shocks, gang rape, strangulation and other forms of torture.

Flags from the Pacific Islands countries wave on the breeze in Yaren, Nauru, on the last day of the 2018 Pacific Islands Forum.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

China, U.S. pledge funds for Pacific Islands ahead of meet they are barred from

By Kirsty Needham

The Solomon Islands, which hosts an annual leaders meeting for the region blocked 21 donor countries from attending after pressure from Beijing to exclude Taiwan.

Senior diplomat Liu Jianchao, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department widely seen as China's next foreign minister, has been detained for unclear reasons, according to a Wall Street Journal report.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

Xi’s ‘probe’ of senior diplomat puts China foreign policy team in doubt

Liu Jianchao, the head of the Chinese Communist Party’s International Department, has been detained for unclear reasons.

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto (left) inspects troops from a vehicle during the Operational Troops and Military Honors ceremony at Suparlan Airfield, in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, on Sunday.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

Indonesia expands military as defense budget soars

By Chandra Asmara

The inauguration of new commands for the army, navy and air force marks the largest reorganization since the era of the authoritarian ruler Suharto.

Chief of Army Staff of Pakistan Asim Munir (second from left) during his visit at the Tilla Field Firing Ranges to witness the Exercise Hammer Strike, a high-intensity field training exercise conducted by the Pakistan Army's Mangla Strike Corps, in Mangla, Pakistan, on May 1

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 12, 2025

India decries 'saber rattling' after Pakistan army chief's reported nuclear remarks

Indian media reports quoted Pakistan's Field Marshal Asim Munir as saying: "We are a nuclear nation. If we think we are going down, we'll take half the world down with us."

Visitors have their photo taken by a portrait of President Xi Jinping at the Military Museum in Beijing on Oct. 20, 2023. The Chinese leader’s crackdown on military corruption reveals how deep his concerns run, not only about battlefield readiness, but about political survival, as well.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 11, 2025

Xi looks to tighten grip after scandals shake China’s military elite

By Chris Buckley

Outwardly, China’s military has never been stronger. Its naval ships venture farther across the oceans. Its nuclear force grows by about 100 warheads every year. Its military flights around Taiwan are increasingly frequent and intimidating. Every few months, China unveils new weapons, like a prototype...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung's government, which took office in June, has sought to show as much flexibility as possible when it comes to the U.S.

ASIA PACIFIC / Politics

Aug 11, 2025

South Korea’s winning strategy for Trump faces moment of truth

By Soo-hyang Choi and Heesu Lee

So far, South Korea has largely flown under the diplomatic radar, working mostly behind the scenes with the U.S. without some of the grand gestures seen from other leaders.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Koichi Tagawa’s diary entry from Aug. 9, 1945, describes the day of the atomic bombing of Nagasaki.

The horrors of Nagasaki, in first person

By Naoko Abe

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

Ishii Iron Works remakes self for workers, new energy

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