Southeast Asia Insights

China has agreed to prioritize backchannel talks with the Philippines as confrontations in the West Philippine Sea continue to strain relations. The commitment came after a meeting between Chinese Ambassador Jing Quan and Philippine Senator Erwin Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.   Both sides signaled a preference for quieter diplomacy over public exchanges. The purpose of this is to reduce media escalation, reopen ...

Diabetes is one of the fastest growing diseases on the planet. Southeast Asia has not been immune and is now facing its own diabetes epidemic. Health experts warn that the crisis is no longer just about blood sugar levels, but about lives, livelihoods, and national economies.   Nearly 600 million adults now live with diabetes worldwide, and millions die each year from problems linked to the disease. Health systems are under pressure, espec...

The melting ice at the edge of Antarctica could reshape Southeast Asia far sooner than expected. New research shows that fast underwater turbulence is accelerating the loss of two of the world’s most fragile glaciers — and the consequences may hit the Philippines and its neighbors hard.   Underwater Storms Cutting Into Antarctica’s Ice Scientists have discovered that when warm and cold waters collide deep in the Southern...

Indonesia is preparing to operate its first aircraft carrier, accepting the decommissioned Italian vessel Giuseppe Garibaldi as a grant from Rome. The 180-meter warship, which served Italy from 1985 to 2024, is expected to arrive in Indonesia by October of this year.   If fully operational, Indonesia would become only the second Southeast Asian country after Thailand to field an aircraft carrier. In Asia, only China, India, and Japan curre...

Singapore is a small island with few natural resources and little room for mistakes. From the day it became independent, it learned that survival would depend not on size or power, but on discipline, flexibility, and a clear understanding of the world around it. This lesson from the uncertain 1960s still guides the country today as rivalry between the United States and China grows stronger, pushing Singapore to use the same approach to stay impor...