Economy

Daily wage workers wait for buses to transfer them to a shelter during a nationwide lockdown in the old quarters of Delhi in April 2020: those who will bear the brunt are the poorest.
Opinion

COVID-ravaged India will limit Biden's efforts to counter China

Increase in poverty just one example of the damage wrought by pandemic

20 January 2021
IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva takes part in a virtual roundtable discussion at the IMF headquarters in Washington. (Photo courtesy of the IMF)
Interview

IMF chief urges green and digital investment for post-virus recovery

Impressed by India's handling of COVID, Georgieva encourages further reforms

17 January 2021
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's gives a speech inaugurating the country's COVID-19 vaccination program via video link in New Delhi on Jan. 16. (Photo courtesy of Government of India)
Coronavirus

India's Modi kicks off world's largest COVID vaccination drive

Prime minister gives emotional tribute to health care and front-line workers

16 January 2021
Soldiers stand before a giant screen as Xi Jinping speaks at the military parade in October 2019: the prospect of a world dominated by the Chinese Communist Party looms large.
Opinion

Asia's rise and the steady decline of the West

The region's greatest challenge will be how to manage China

16 January 2021
A temporary vaccination center on the outskirts of Ahmedabad. India's goal is to vaccinate 300 million people by "July-August," health minister Harsh Vardhan says.
Coronavirus

India embarks on world's largest COVID vaccination drive

Modi plans to inoculate 300m with Oxford-AstraZeneca and Bharat Biotech vaccines

15 January 2021
A man reads a newspaper at a vegetable market in Islamabad: most people believe that journalists are performing a valuable public service.
Opinion

Controls tighten on Pakistan's media

Government using threats and advertising cuts to curb criticism

14 January 2021
A cutout of the Hindu goddess Lakshmi adorns an electronics store in Jaipur: India's goods imports from China dropped in 2020 amid fraying bilateral ties.
Trade

India's imports from China drop 20% as border tensions simmer

New Delhi pushes 'self-reliance' with focus on domestic industries

13 January 2021
Four years ago, the Trump administration vowed to bring back industrial jobs from Asia and revitalize American manufacturing. But things haven't worked out as planned. (Nikkei photo illustration)
The Big Story

The next wave of globalization: Asia in the cockpit

Don't worry about the future of globalization. Make sure you have a place in it

13 January 2021
Farmers participate in a tractor rally to protest against the newly passed farm bills, on a highway on the outskirts of New Delhi, India, Jan. 7.
Politics

India's Supreme Court puts contentious farm laws on hold

Judges to set up expert group to hear farmers' grievances after 'lesson' to Modi

12 January 2021
Narendra Modi's self-reliance strategy has had the effect of threatening to de-globalize India.
Opinion

India self-isolates as China's economic might enfeebles West

New Delhi shows little understanding of China's growing power

7 January 2021
Pakistan's rickety old rail network, much of it dating from British colonial times, is one of the stumbling blocks to better rail connections between West and East Asia. 
Belt and Road

Turkey, Iran, Pakistan rail link to China's Belt and Road

Oriental express service for the 21st century connecting West Asia to China

29 December 2020
Sri Lanka has borrowed heavily to fund the development of infrastructure, such as ports. 
International relations

Sri Lanka to scrap Japan-funded infrastructure projects

Some see pivot toward Beijing, even though Chinese loans are more expensive

29 December 2020
While the impact of the virus will be felt for decades to come, there are many reasons to be optimistic as we head into 2021.
Asia Insight

An optimist's guide to 2021 in Asia

The pandemic has been a catalyst for change in health, tech and working practices

29 December 2020
Cargo terminal of the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, which will be used as a vaccine handling center, pictured on Dec. 22: India does not have the necessary infrastructure such as extreme cold storage.
Opinion

India cannot vaccinate itself, let alone the rest of the world

Critical infrastructure and technology shortfalls hamper local production

25 December 2020
A wind turbine under construction in Yichang, China, pictured on May 10: COVID accelerated ongoing trends that may have been better served by gradual evolution.
Opinion

COVID aftershocks promise further oil market turmoil

Global energy road map deserves calmer rethink in 2021

24 December 2020
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and Indian counterpart Narendra Modi. India is arranging to inoculate 300 million of its people by August while also providing shots to nearby nations.
Coronavirus

Vaccine powerhouse India markets affordable COVID shots for Asia

Bangladesh, Bhutan and Qatar show interest as New Delhi looks beyond fellow nationals

24 December 2020
Haze over Bangkok, Thailand. Economists have predicted that while ASEAN's biggest economies will start to turn around in 2021, their recovery will be slow.
Economy

Asian economies to regain pre-COVID scale in 2022: JCER

Economists foresee slow recovery in 2021, with vaccines key to progress

21 December 2020
Vials of AstraZeneca's Covishield inside a lab at Serum Institute of India in Pune, pictured on Nov. 30: the COVID-19 vaccine is of particular value in developing nations.
Opinion

Indian-made COVID vaccines will save the world

China and US no match when it comes to manufacturing capacity and safety

14 December 2020
The provincial government of Balochistan plans to fence off 24 sq. km of the port city of Gwadar.
Belt and Road

Pakistan to fence off Gwadar to shield China's Belt and Road port

Separating part of city shows Beijing's impatience in face of insurgency

14 December 2020
A health care worker administers Covaxin, an Indian government-backed experimental COVID-19 vaccine, during trials in the country on Nov. 26.
Coronavirus

India gears up for massive vaccine distribution drive

COVID warriors among first in line to receive shots targeting 300 million people

13 December 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic will change many paradigms, with global implications.
Opinion

Road map for a strong Asia Pacific recovery

Creativity and innovation can turn the region's challenges into opportunities

11 December 2020
Beijing's central business district: China is poised to become a high-income country by 2023 and exceed the U.S. GDP later this decade.
Economy

China to overtake US economy by 2028-29 in COVID's wake: JCER

Forecasts chart next 15 years for India, Vietnam and other key economies

10 December 2020
A faster-than-expected recovery from the pandemic in China has helped to pull up the economic projection for the whole Asian region. 
Economy

ADB forecasts rapid growth for China and India in 2021

Expansions in the two large economies improve outlook for developing Asia

10 December 2020
Stream article image
Asia Insight

Cities after COVID: How Manila and others can 'build back better'

For Asian metropolises, crisis offers chance to emerge cleaner, greener and safer

8 December 2020
Studies show that global warming is increasing water vapor in the atmosphere, which increases precipitation in certain places. (Source photo from Japan Meteorological Agency)
Datawatch

Asia at risk of losing annual $8.5tn from climate change

China and India to be hit hardest; need for infrastructure investment grows

5 December 2020