Day: December 11, 2025

The 2025 film Nuremberg ends with a sober line from British historian R.G. Collingwood: “The only clue to what man can do is what man has done” – a stark reminder that history repeats when justice does not. While the crimes of Nazi Germany were brought before an international tribunal 80 years ago, the atrocities committed by Japan’s secret Unit 731 in northeast China’s Heilongjiang province during the second world war – have never faced a comparable legal reckoning. The covert unit conducted lethal human experiments that killed at least…

China is on track to slash its reliance on imported soybeans to less than 30 per cent within a decade, from the current 90 per cent, research from Goldman Sachs suggests, as Beijing accelerates efforts to shore up self-sufficiency – including inoculating its food supply against trade shocks. Demand-management strategies for the crop – a vital source of cooking oil and animal feed, as well as a key commodity at the centre of Beijing’s trade relations with Washington – reduced annual consumption by 15 million tonnes between 2021 and 2024,…

US and Japanese defence chiefs spoke on the phone on Friday about the recent confrontation between Chinese and Japan Self-Defence Force fighter jets, as Tokyo said it did not seek to escalate the tensions. During the call, Japan’s defence minister Shinjiro Koizumi and his US counterpart Pete Hegseth engaged in a “candid exchange” of views on the “rapidly deteriorating” security situation in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a Japanese defence ministry release. “The two sides stated serious concerns about any actions that heighten tensions in the region, expressing that China’s…

An inherent “asymmetry” of power poses a challenge to resolving South China Sea disputes via the quiet diplomacy traditionally favoured by Southeast Asian nations, a leading Malaysian security expert has said. Chinese analysts said Beijing supported the “Asean way” too, so long as sovereignty claims were resolved bilaterally. They also warned against external interference and “power politics” standing in the way of consensus within the bloc. Ruhanas Harun, an international relations professor at the National Defence University of Malaysia, said that Asean member states had turned to “quiet diplomacy” to…

Global investors should shift their focus from Asia’s dominant AI hardware “titans” to a growing group of mid-cap “battleground” sectors that offer stronger growth potential amid intensifying competition, according to BofA Securities. In a report, analysts from the Bank of America investment banking arm mapped more than 330 Asian stocks across 22 subsectors in the artificial intelligence technology layer – representing market capitalisation of nearly US$6 trillion. The most compelling opportunities in the region were in a growing group of under-covered “battleground” sectors that had more mid-cap stocks and relatively…

Rising tensions in the Middle East despite the fragile ceasefire agreement in Gaza are continuing to fuel demands for arms in a region where China has emerged as a major supplier. As well as supplying drones and missiles, China is looking to expand its offering into advanced weapons systems, such as fighter jets, but is facing increasing competition from a near neighbour: South Korea. While both have opportunities to expand arms exports, analysts said South Korea was relatively better positioned because prospective customers had to take into account political concerns…