Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's proposed cybersecurity law stipulates imprisonment of up to three years for use of a VPN. (Source photo by Reuters and Ken Kobayashi)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar renews plans to curb internet usage with VPN ban

Proposed cyberlaw would limit Facebook access and cash to democracy groups

21 January 2022
The NUG is letting citizens use Tether because its greater use could weaken the power of the military. (Source photo by Reuters and Tether website)
Cryptocurrencies

Myanmar's pro-democracy forces resist with cryptocurrency

Tether emerges as potential savior for people seeking freedom over their assets

16 January 2022
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, left, with Myanmar State Administration Council Chairman Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Jan. 7. His visit has provoked an angry backlash among critics, who say he is legitimizing the army's seizure of power. (An Khoun SamAun/National Television of Cambodia via AP)
Myanmar Crisis

Malaysia says Hun Sen's Myanmar visit did no good

Cambodian leader should have consulted ASEAN leaders: foreign minister

14 January 2022
Hun Sen waves from a plane before heading to Myanmar at Phnom Penh International Airport on Jan. 7: when it comes to Hun Sen's ASEAN leadership, it rhymes.
Opinion

Hun Sen readies ASEAN to do more of China's bidding

Cowboy diplomacy will further weaken the 10-member bloc's key principles

12 January 2022
Myanmar's ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, in 2018. 
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's Suu Kyi sentenced to 4 years in prison over walkie-talkies

Ousted leader is on trial in nearly a dozen cases; She denies all charges

10 January 2022
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing pose for photos in Naypyidaw on Jan. 7. 
Myanmar Crisis

Cambodian PM becomes 1st leader to meet Myanmar military chief

At odds with ASEAN approach, Hun Sen's trip sparks furious response from critics

8 January 2022
Ta'ang National Liberation army officers, pictured in Mar Wong in January 2015: fighting in northern Shan State over who controls lucrative narcotics trade routes close to the Chinese border has intensified.
Opinion

Myanmar the new front as U.S.-China tensions simmer on land

Struggle for primacy in Asia carries shades of Cold War

7 January 2022
Editors and writers of Nikkei Asia's Big Story take a look back at some of their favorite pieces from 2021.
The Big Story

Coups, couriers and COVID: The Big Story 2021 Hall of Fame

From the Tokyo Olympics to Myanmar, a year through the eyes of Nikkei Asia's cover story writers

5 January 2022
Linklusion stocks about 300 products at warehouses in rural villages surrounding Yangon. (Photo by Yuichi Nitta)
Myanmar Crisis

'We won't give up': Japan entrepreneurs bet on Myanmar's future

Troubled country poses problems, but some business owners tough it out

2 January 2022
Protesters march during a flash mob rally, making a three finger salute in Yangon on Dec. 1.
Myanmar Crisis

In pictures: A photographer's decision to quit Myanmar

Burmese photojournalist records his last three months on an iPhone

31 December 2021
Protesters march in support of ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi in Yangon on Dec. 6 in this still image obtained from a social media video.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar ends 'year in the darkness' bloodier and poorer

Violence continues and economy shrinks since February political upheaval

30 December 2021
As the pandemic continued in 2021, Myanmar military leader Min Aung Hlaing seized power, the U.S. and U.K. agreed to share nuclear submarine tech with Australia, Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai made an explosive revelation and BTS ruled the airwaves. 
Asia Insight

From Myanmar to AUKUS to BTS: Newsmakers that shaped Asia in 2021

As COVID raged, the security landscape shifted and superstars made their mark

28 December 2021
Thai military personnel secure an evacuation area for Myanmar villagers who fled across the border following clashes between troops and an ethnic Karen rebel group on Dec. 17 in Mae Tao, in northern Thailand's Tak Province.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar clashes fuel Thai border tensions, trading of artillery fire

Thousands cross frontier after security forces battle anti-regime Karen group

17 December 2021
Yoshinori Isozaki, Kirin's president and chief executive, told Nikkei Asia in a Dec. 15 interview that the best scenario for the Japanese company would be to continue its brewing business in Myanmar without its military partners. (Photo by Tetsuya Kitayama)
Interview

Kirin CEO: top priority is to continue brewing in Myanmar

Japanese company believes remaining will actually help human rights

15 December 2021
Myanmar's Investment and Foreign Economic Relations Minister Aung Naing Oo said in an Dec. 8 interview that he hopes Japan will restart aid. (Screenshot from the online news conference)
Interview

Myanmar to end Kirin row based on law: investment minister

Military regime says economic shrinkage to be smaller than outsiders predict

10 December 2021
Myanmar's military-appointed Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin, left, meets Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen at the Peace Palace in Phnom Penh on Tuesday.
Myanmar Crisis

Cambodia's Hun Sen announces trip to Myanmar next month

PM would be first national leader to visit country since military takeover

7 December 2021
A production line is seen at Myanmar Brewery, Kirin's joint venture with a Myanmar military-linked conglomerate.
Myanmar Crisis

Kirin says leaving Myanmar is 'last resort' as it tries arbitration

Japan brewer, military-linked partner both want control of lucrative beer venture

7 December 2021
Myanmar's ousted leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi could face more than 100 years in prison if convicted of all charges.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar cuts Suu Kyi's sentence to 2 years from 4

Partial pardon in 1st verdict against deposed leader, but more charges to come

6 December 2021
Kirin hopes to keep operating in Myanmar after dissolving its joint venture with the Myanmar military. (Source photo by AP and Reuters)
Myanmar Crisis

Kirin seeks arbitration to end venture with Myanmar military

Japanese company turns to Singapore body to pressure partner

6 December 2021
A man holds up a photo of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at a demonstration on Nov. 19 organized in New Delhi by the Chin Refugee Committee.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar troops' northwest push fuels humanitarian crisis

India caught between concern for Chin refugees, fear of angering neighbor

1 December 2021
Villagers near Yangon face huge losses of income because of the political turmoil.
Myanmar Crisis

Half of Myanmar will live on less than a dollar a day, says UNDP

Those in poverty seen doubling due to pandemic and political turmoil

1 December 2021
Japanese brewer Kirin Holdings has been looking to dissolve partnerships with the Myanmar military since it took control of the government in February.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military conglomerate files to dissolve Kirin beer venture

Japanese brewer had hoped to replace partner MEHL to stay in business

24 November 2021
Chinese President Xi Jinping, center, takes part in a virtual summit with ASEAN leaders on Nov. 22 -- with an empty space for Myanmar. (Courtesy of Thai government)
International relations

Xi courts ASEAN at summit as Duterte hits out over South China Sea

Myanmar missing as Chinese president vows more trade and vaccines

22 November 2021
In an online interview on Nov. 16, Myanmar Information Minister Maung Maung Ohn, claimed pro-democracy protesters are not subject to torture, calling such reports "fake news." (Source photo by AP) 
Interview

Myanmar minister says 'there is no torture' of protesters

Only state-run media report 'true' facts, Maung Maung Ohn claims

19 November 2021
Released American journalist Danny Fester writes on a document at the Naypyitaw International Airport on Nov. 15: Myanmar's judicial system has been taken over as a political instrument.
Opinion

Myanmar's release of U.S. journalist cannot erase sham conviction

Military regime's distortion of legal processes has wiped away a decade of reform

17 November 2021