The Big Story

The reality of 2020 represented a wild departure from the tidy predictions made last year. Rather than a turning point, however, the pandemic was more akin to a time warp.
The Big Story

Asia in 2021: through a screen darkly

Travel bubbles, Zoom calls, Big Tech and vaccines. Is it possible to top 2020?

30 December 2020
Japan boasts the largest network of hydrogen filling stations in the world -- a symbol of the government's faith in the future of hydrogen, and its efforts to win the race to commercialize it.
The Big Story

Be water: Japan's big, lonely bet on hydrogen

The revolutionary fuel is costly -- and key to slowing climate change. Will it pay off?

23 December 2020
For years, Beijing encouraged runaway growth of the country's internet giants as a symbol of Chinese tech prowess. Now, though, they appear too sprawling and influential for comfort.
The Big Story

China rethinks the Jack Ma model

Alibaba, Tencent and a host of internet giants face new scrutiny from the Party

16 December 2020
Adrian Cheng, heir to the behemoth New World conglomerate. Hong Kong politics is moving one way, and society another; for the territory's third-generation business elite, straddling the divide is becoming increasingly precarious. (Photo by Paul Yeung)
The Big Story

China shadows the rise of Hong Kong's next tycoons

Avoid politics, build trust: One dynasty heir speaks on a generation's dilemma

9 December 2020
Under a Biden presidency, "America First" promises to cede to a more traditional kind of alliance-building. But, just as with previous administrations, democratic high ideals are about to meet messy reality.
The Big Story

Team Biden says America is back. But is Asia ready to welcome it?

As U.S. looks to repair old alliances, democracy faces a crisis of credibility

2 December 2020
In the famous cover engraving of Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan," the state is embodied in an authority-bearing figure presiding over a serene European landscape. But as the world tries to reimagine the state in the aftermath of COVID-19, it makes sense to look toward governments like South Korea and Taiwan, which have mixed high state capacity with plenty of technological innovation.
The Big Story

Coronavirus: Asia embraces big government to battle recession

Lavish spending, deep debt, high-tech surveillance. Is this the end of the small state tradition?

25 November 2020
Too visible, too wealthy: Tensions between the Chinese Communist Party and Alibaba's Jack Ma had been building even before the doomed Ant Group listing.   © Getty Images
Most read in 2020

Jack Ma vs. the Party: Inside the collapse of the world's biggest IPO

The charismatic founder has long clashed with China's leadership. It was only going to end one way

18 November 2020
Entertainment giant Nintendo announced record profits as millions turned to its games in quarantine. The pandemic ending, according to one analyst, would be a "horror story" for the company.
The Big Story

Exclusive: Nintendo chief plots post-Animal Crossing future

Pandemic gaming boom lifts profits, but console wars are set to intensify

11 November 2020
China has taken an early lead in developing vaccines against COVID-19. For many developing countries, these are the only way out of the crisis. 
The Big Story

Red Pill? Behind China's COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy

Southeast Asia bargains with Beijing for lifesaving drugs

4 November 2020
While presiding over a White House in chaos, Donald Trump has managed a once-in-a-generation overhaul of America's China policy. Beijing, by contrast, has amassed enormous state capacity which it expends in a disciplined, if brutal, fashion. 
28 October 2020
Thai protesters defiantly throw up a three-finger salute, their demonstrations part of a regional pattern of instability. The World Bank terms it a "third shock," coming on the heels of both the pandemic and the cost of containing it.
The Big Story

Thai protests build as pandemic fuels unrest across Southeast Asia

How COVID aggravated inequality and triggered political reckoning across the region

21 October 2020
Unlikely style icon who is avowedly anti-style: "Gone is the era when people strove wholeheartedly to enrich their material lives," says Tadashi Yanai, CEO of Uniqlo parent Fast Retailing. (Photo by Ken Kobayashi)
The Big Story

The man who clothes Asia: Uniqlo chief Tadashi Yanai

Japan's richest man on life, death and casual wear

14 October 2020
It started as U.S. government pressure on American companies to boycott specific Chinese entities. Now, that effort has widened to become a wholesale blockade of Chinese technology. 
The Big Story

Inside the US campaign to cut China out of the tech supply chain

Apple, Google and others shift production to prepare for 'decoupled' global market

7 October 2020
Today, Asia is in the same position as the U.S. at the beginning of the 20th century: an economic giant, but a political dwarf.
The Big Story

This is the Asian Century: Seven reasons to be optimistic about it

From dominance in the US-China tech war to the end of coronavirus, experts weigh in

30 September 2020
Many lawmakers, particularly those in Japan's ruling coalition, are anticipating an early election. (Photo by Hirofumi Yamamoto)
The Big Story

Caretaker or changemaker? Riddle of Japan's ambitious new leader

How feared backroom operator Yoshihide Suga intends to seize his moment

23 September 2020
The longer Jokowi has spent in the presidential palace, the more he has become deeply embedded in elite politics; calls for economic reform have been hamstrung by his nationalistic instincts and lack of implementation.
The Big Story

Dream state: Jokowi struggles to build his vision for Indonesia

President Widodo's infrastructure success has defined his presidency. But will the pandemic expose the flaws in his model?

16 September 2020
With his reputation on the line, Japan's most controversial tech investor needs a win with the PayPay app. (Illustration by Nakako Shiotsuki/Michael Tsang)
The Big Story

SoftBank wants to burn money

Masayoshi Son zeros in on Japan, where he is ready to lose billions in a battle to conquer cash

9 September 2020
Joyce Fan, a Beijing native, takes an online class at New York University law school (Photo by Ziyu Wu)
The Big Story

Trump and COVID force Chinese students to rethink the US

A generation that buoyed the country's $170bn university sector is leaving

2 September 2020
Some countries in Asia have banked on ever-rising tourism. Without it, a growth engine for the region is sputtering. (Nikkei photo illustration/Source photos by Lauren DeCicca and Reuters)
The Big Story

Travel bug: Why tourism in Asia will never be the same

Bali's empty resorts, Thai luxury quarantine and an industry in crisis

26 August 2020
Publicly, companies deny that their confidence in Hong Kong has been shaken. In private, they are beginning to make backup plans to diversify elsewhere.
The Big Story

Hong Kong security law sparks race for Asia's next financial capital

Singapore, Seoul, Tokyo are already luring disaffected businesses

19 August 2020
At its best, surrogacy can allow low-skilled Indian women a life-changing amount of income; at its worst, it can be exploitative and physically dangerous. Either way, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government is looking to shut down the industry almost entirely.
The Big Story

'Wombs for hire' mothers become pawns in Modi's culture war

A looming ban on surrogacy threatens to close a route out of poverty

12 August 2020
Costly, often delayed armaments were part of the price Tokyo paid for its U.S. alliance -- a relationship which has also helped support decades of pacifism and low defense expenditures.
The Big Story

The price of peace: Why Japan scrapped a $4.2bn US missile system

Washington and Tokyo have been allies for 60 years. Both agree they're spending too much

5 August 2020
Big game: For years, Southeast Asia's young companies were fueled by billions of dollars in venture capital from growth-chasing investors, including SoftBank Group's controversial $100 billion Vision Fund.
The Big Story

Coronavirus stalks Southeast Asia's once-thriving unicorns

For Gojek, Grab and more, quest for profit becomes struggle for survival

29 July 2020
Tokyo Olympic unease is spreading as hoteliers go unpaid and official sponsors wonder if there is any benefit to paying to extend their deals for another year.
The Big Story

Olympics postponement leaves Tokyo 2020 sponsors in the dark

Uncertainty over how or if the games will be held leaves partners in limbo

22 July 2020
For years, the growth of wealthy countries has relied on a supply of willing labor. The pandemic has called that into question.
The Big Story

Crucial yet forgotten: the Filipino workers stranded by coronavirus

What happens when the world's largest migrant workforce disappears?

15 July 2020