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Opinion

Original perspectives and fresh thinking on issues of concern to Asia from around the region, plus editorials and letters to the editor. Please contact us if you would like to submit a letter to be considered for publication.

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva hailed the New Development Bank as the "great bank of the Global South" in Shanghai in April. (Handout via Reuters)

Robert Dujarric

Japan need not save a place for the Global South at the G-7 summit

Community cannot be based simply on position outside the Global North

Robert Dujarric

John Poulos, chief executive of Dominion Voting Systems, second from left, leaves Delaware Superior Court with the company's lawyers after reaching a $787.5 million settlement with Fox News on April 18.

Chris Wallace

Murdochs' grip on Australian media can be unlocked

Impact of $787.5 million Fox News settlement felt half a world away

Chris Wallace

Michelle Obama at the White House in September 2022: The former U.S. first lady has spoken of her struggles with impostor syndrome.

Nobuko Kobayashi

Employers should encourage risk-taking to beat impostor syndrome

Fear of failure is sapping spirit of entrepreneurialism and innovation

Nobuko Kobayashi

Uzbeks cast ballots in Tashkent during the country's 2021 presidential election.

Nuriddin Ismoilov

Uzbekistan's revised constitution can support democratic transition

Citizens have come to expect protection of rights and freedoms

Nuriddin Ismoilov

Sen. Maria Imelda "Imee" Marcos, center, distributes free drinks to children in Malabon, Philippines, in November 2022. (Sipa via AP)

Richard Heydarian

Marcos is gaining fans, but the president's sister is not one

Philippine Senate foreign affairs chair a top critic of brother's foreign policy

Richard Heydarian

Highway bridge construction in Hanoi: ASEAN's demand for infrastructure financing is far beyond what governments alone can provide.

ASEAN+3 should unlock more capital for sustainable infrastructure

Governments need to ensure region's attractiveness as an investment destination

FDIC representatives speak with customers of Silicon Valley Bank outside its headquarters in Santa Clara, California on March 13.

Masaaki Shirakawa

Role of prolonged low rates in financial turmoil can't be ignored

Macrofinancial conditions prompted Silicon Valley Bank's strategy

Masaaki Shirakawa

Meng Wanzhou, rotating chairperson and chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, announces the company's annual results on March 31 in Shenzhen.

Andy Mok

Neither China nor Huawei will be held back by U.S. pressure

Both are proving resilient and making breakthroughs in face of hostility

Andy Mok

A robotic assembly line for Proton cars in Tanjung Malim, Malaysia in 2019: The government needs to put more focus on targeting high value-added manufacturing.

Guanie Lim and Aaron Pek

Malaysia needs to get smarter about foreign investment

Government should pursue high-end projects to boost upgrading of economy

Guanie Lim and Aaron Pek

Chinese demand for dining out and other services recovered in the January-March period, but spending on expensive goods like automobiles has been weak. (Photo by Iori Kawate)

Nikkei Editorial

China's Xi must avoid another policy-induced recession

Zero-COVID pain fading, but hard-line foreign policy threatens growth

Nikkei Editorial

Shinzo Abe, center, then Japan's prime minister, pushed his Data Free Flow with Trust plan at the 2019 Group of 20 leaders' summit in Osaka. (Kiyoshi Ota/Pool via Reuters)

Jeff Paine

G-7 can turn the tide on digital trade restrictions

Japan's DFFT plan can be foundation for trusted global data sharing

Jeff Paine

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha on the campaign trail in Bangkok on April 20: His United Thai Nation Party is trailing in the polls. (Photo by Kenya Akama)

Thitinan Pongsudhirak

Thai election offers chance to break through reform logjam

Machinations to preserve prerogatives of old order will only bring more decay

Thitinan Pongsudhirak

A Woodside Energy Group gas plant in Burrup, Australia: The fossil fuels company absorbed BHP's oil and gas business in 2022.

Hiromichi Mizuno and Sarah Keohane Williamson

Carbon-heavy assets cannot just be left to owners who do not care

Incentives needed to make 'gray-to-green' rewarding for investment managers

Hiromichi Mizuno and Sarah Keohane Williamson

A motorcyclist fills up in Mumbai in June 2022: Pump prices have fallen less in India than elsewhere in part due to high transport sector taxes.

Ritesh Kumar Singh

India will not win its inflation battle with Western weapons

Aligning fiscal and trade policy with monetary policy would reduce price pressure

Ritesh Kumar Singh

Japan's delegation steered the G-7 away from setting a hard deadline to phase out coal when energy, environment and climate ministers met in Sapporo on April 15 and 16.

G-7 is not paying enough heed to Japan's sensible stance on energy

While Tokyo won temporary reprieve for coal and gas, more realism still needed

The East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh on Nov. 13, 2022: Such mechanisms are now too polarized or too moribund to be effective.

Michael Vatikiotis

Southeast Asia must try to bring U.S. and China together

ASEAN can catalyze cooperation on urgent regional issues to help defuse rivalry

Michael Vatikiotis

The Yuan Wang 5, seen by India as a spy ship, is welcomed to Chinese-run Hambantota International Port in Sri Lanka on Aug. 16, 2022.

Brahma Chellaney

India now has to face strategic consequence of Myanmar's isolation

Signs suggest China has leveraged influence to put spy station on remote island

Brahma Chellaney

An Indonesian palm oil planation: The clearing of forest by palm oil companies is a significant contributor to carbon emissions.

Andrey Berdichevskiy and Paul Marriott

Southeast Asia companies must recognize climate change risks

Timely corporate action will yield tremendous growth opportunities

Andrey Berdichevskiy and Paul Marriott

The SMIC booth at the 2023 China IC Manufacturing Annual Conference in Guangzhou: China's largest contract chip producer appears to have achieved a key production breakthrough. (Photo by Shunsuke Tabeta)

Stanley Chao

U.S. sanctions will not halt rise of China's chip industry

Beijing still holds advantages while America struggles to boost domestic output

Stanley Chao

From left, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in San Diego, California on March 13.

Satyajit Das

AUKUS is a bad deal for Australia

Despite great cost, Canberra runs real risk of never getting its submarines

Satyajit Das

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Tiananmen Square on April 14: The Brazilian president was clearly out to capture economic opportunities. (Ricardo Stuckert/Brazil Presidency/Handout via Reuters)

Alicia Garcia-Herrero

Brazil is not a real middle power if it just takes China's side

Lula cannot show strategic autonomy by parroting Xi Jinping

Alicia Garcia-Herrero

Upcoming international meetings will give Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida an opportunity to bolster support against a reckless North Korea. (Photo by Suzu Takahashi)

Nikkei Editorial

Stronger international cooperation needed to halt North Korea's recklessness

Japan must improve public safety in face of repeated missile launches

Nikkei Editorial

For Japan, getting additional buy-in from Warren Buffett, the most celebrated living investor, matters.  (Photo by Shinya Sawai)

Kishida must seize the opening Buffett has given him

Getting investors to look past narrow sectors will take reform revival

A coal-fired power plant in Cilegon, Indonesia: The country's emissions trading system launched in February with mandatory participation by coal power plant operators.

Alistair Ritchie and Yi Chen

China's emissions trading system is in need of attention

Market development has stalled while other Asian nations accelerate efforts

Alistair Ritchie and Yi Chen

Japanese controllers instructed the H3 rocket to self-destruct after its second-stage engine failed to ignite after launch on March 7. (Photo by Tomoki Mera)

Kazuto Suzuki

Japan's rising space ambitions depend on getting H3 rocket to work

Reliable launch platform needed to achieve security and exploration goals

Kazuto Suzuki