The Big Story

Chinese leader Xi Jinping, center, filled the Politburo Standing Committee with loyalists at last week's 20th Communist Party Congress in Beijing. (Photo by Yusuke Hinata)
The Big Story

Xi's clean sweep: China marks new era with loyalist lineup

New standing committee shows party and the world Xi will brook no dissent in third term

26 October 2022
The belching chimneys of Indonesia Morowali Industrial Park, a nickel processing complex in Central Sulawesi province, are powering the move to electric vehicles. (Photo by Dimas Ardian)
The Big Story

Dirty metals for clean cars: Indonesian nickel could be key to EV battery industry

Rich nickel reserves attract Chinese investment but environmental hurdles remain

19 October 2022
A medical worker in Shanghai's Lujiazui financial district, just after the city's lockdown was lifted in early June. China's anti-COVID measures remain among the world's strictest. 
The Big Story

Self-isolated: China's lonely zero-COVID battle in spotlight as Xi seeks third term

As 20th Party Congress approaches, China appears trapped by draconian anti-virus policies

12 October 2022
A combination of post-pandemic debt, inflation and currency fluctuations has thrown central banks throughout Asia into chaos this year. 
The Big Story

The money blizzard: Asia's central banks reckon with the aftermath of COVID-19

Governments from Japan to Thailand grapple with inflation, currency chaos and 'zombie companies' after biggest-ever bailout

5 October 2022
A customer hands over Sri Lankan rupee banknotes at an open market in the capital, Colombo. The country is currently experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades. 
The Big Story

Asia's ticking debt bomb: Sri Lanka crisis sounds alarm bells across region

Disaster looms in Laos, Bangladesh and elsewhere as China seems reluctant to take losses on Asian loans

3 October 2022
Inside a Manutronics Factory in Bac Ninh province, Vietnam. The country is trying to repeat the industrial success of Taiwan and South Korea but might be a few decades too late.
The Big Story

Vietnam's battle to climb the global value chain

The country earns global factory status but fears it will remain an 'assembly platform'

21 September 2022
After record rain during this year's monsoon season, much of Pakistan was overwhelmed by floods in late August. These submerged buildings are in Jafferabad, Balochistan.
The Big Story

Pakistan floods drive calls for climate justice

The rift between rich, carbon-emitting countries and the vulnerable, developing world is widening

14 September 2022
The assassination of Shinzo Abe in July exposed an intricate maze of links between the former Unification Church and Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.
The Big Story

Strings pulled: Dissecting Japan's Unification Church problem

LDP scandal exposes religion's potential role in gender policy and LGBTQ rights

7 September 2022
Flags fly outside a branch facility of the former Unification Church, known officially as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in Seoul, South Korea. 
The Big Story

The Unification Church in South Korea: a cautionary tale for the LDP

In the church's birth place, politicians with links to the group have not fared well

7 September 2022
With the Ukraine-Russia war threatening food security worldwide, China looks to expand its agricultural industry abroad to weather the storm. 
The Big Story

Farming out: China's overseas food security quest

As the Ukraine war sparks shortages, China looks to invest abroad to secure food supplies

31 August 2022
Nikkei research found that SoftBank Group, once Japan's most profitable company, faced corporate income tax four times over the last 15 years. 
The Big Story

The mystery of SoftBank's zero tax bill

Nikkei investigation reveals years of huge profits and no taxes for Japan's top tech investor

20 August 2022
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The Big Story

Confrontation to conflagration: Asia's six likeliest wars

A shifting balance of power may reignite frozen conflicts from North Korea to Pakistan

17 August 2022
Pakistani and Chinese flags fly above a construction site in Gwadar, Pakistan. Much of the construction associated with the Belt and Road Initiative in the town remains unfinished. 
The Big Story

Road to nowhere: China's Belt and Road Initiative at tipping point

Pakistan, Sri Lanka debt crises threaten Beijing's regional influence

10 August 2022
A scientist at Star Clinic, a regenerative medical center in Tokyo, transfers cells extracted from a patient to a container for use in stem cell therapy. (Photo by Yuki Kohara)
The Big Story

Defying death: Japan and Singapore lead Asia's stem cell research race

In the world's fastest-aging societies, regenerative therapies attract the rich and curious

3 August 2022
Chipmaking requires hundreds of machines, materials and chemicals. In this TSMC plant in Taiwan, an engineer in protective clothing holds a Front Opening Unified Pod (FOUP) for transferring the wafers used in chips safely between machines.
The Big Story

The resilience myth: Fatal flaws in the push to secure chip supply chains

From China to the U.S. to Europe, semiconductor makers are being showered with subsidies, but to what effect?

27 July 2022
Kamala Harris became the first-ever U.S. Vice President to visit Vietnam in August 2021, when she met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, in Hanoi.
The Big Story

Asia's odd couple: Vietnam and the U.S. find opposites attract

As China threat looms, Washington weighs up democracy with dominance in Pacific

20 July 2022
Shinzo Abe, photographed here for an exclusive interview with Nikkei in 2018, was Japan's longest-serving prime minister. His assassination shocked the nation and leaves the future of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party uncertain. (Photo by Takaki Kashiwabara)
The Big Story

Japan after Abe: Political stability under threat?

Leaderless conservatives, economic challenges and uncertain future for Kishida all loom

13 July 2022
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Shinzo Abe

In pictures: Shinzo Abe's most memorable moments

The events and relationships that defined Japan's longest-serving leader

13 July 2022
China's top two diplomats, Yang Jiechi, left, and Wang Yi, right, are set to leave their positions within the year. President Xi Jinping hopes to override retirement norms and rule for a third five-year term. 
The Big Story

The next wolf warriors: China readies new generation of tough diplomats

As party congress looms, Xi Jinping set to replace foreign policy leadership

6 July 2022
A quarter-century after Hong Kong was handed over to Chinese rule, the city's artists, educators and activists are leaving in droves, stifled by a crackdown on civil liberties and cultural expression.
The Big Story

Hong Kong's identity in crisis after 25 years of Beijing rule

Forced out of the city by China's crackdowns, the Hong Kong diaspora fight to save their culture from afar

29 June 2022
Barriers like these sprang up around Shanghai residential areas during a two-month lockdown that ended on June 1. The government's attempt to contain a COVID-19 outbreak cost many residents their mental and physical health. 
The Big Story

Inside Shanghai's COVID lockdown nightmare

China's zero-COVID policy devastated the commercial capital

22 June 2022
Abortion laws in Asia reflect demographic trends, the sway of religion and social traditions. In South Korea (pictured), abortion was illegal until 2019, when it was decriminalized despite opposition from the Christian community.
The Big Story

Abortion in Asia: The limits of choice

The overturning of Roe v. Wade could be a watershed for U.S. women's rights. Is the same true in Asia?

15 June 2022
The Metropolitan Outer Area Underground Discharge Channel in Saitama Prefecture, near Tokyo, is at the forefront of Japan's fight against flooding as extreme weather threatens the country's infrastructure. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
The Big Story

Japan battles flooding amid deepening climate crisis

Rising rainfall and frequent typhoons test the archipelago's flood defenses

8 June 2022
Outnumbered by Chinese forces in the South China Sea, the U.S. is working on its game plan for a potential invasion of Taiwan by Beijing in the near future. It hopes to call on treaty allies Japan and Australia for support.
The Big Story

All for one: U.S. enlists its Asian allies in defense of Taiwan

Washington fears a possible Chinese invasion by 2027. It will need all the help it can get

1 June 2022
Just eight months after taking office, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is faced with a new global order following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. He spoke to Nikkei about his new, 'realist' approach to diplomacy. (Photo by Hirofumi Yamamoto)
The Big Story

Getting real: Kishida marks 'new era' in diplomacy as Japan looks beyond pacifism

PM looks to 'radically' strengthen country's defenses in age of Ukraine war

25 May 2022