Russia’s appeals to North Korea for military manpower have taken on new urgency with Sergey Lavrov’s weekend trip to Pyongyang. The Russian foreign minister’s visit, his first to the North Korean capital since 2009, signalled Moscow’s growing reliance on its neighbour for troops and engineering support, analysts say – suggesting that Kim Jong-un’s regime could now send more sold...

Back to April 2016, at the Qingfeng steamed bun restaurant in Beijing’s bustling Xicheng district, Jin Liqun lunched with the Asia editor of the Financial Times to introduce himself and China’s newly created Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). Beijing’s decision to establish a development bank reflected in part a deep frustration with the reluctance of the world’s leadi...

Southeast Asian leaders on Friday called on the United States and others to bring a swift end to the Gaza war, accusing Israel of “openly committing genocide” in its assaults on the Palestinian enclave with little consequence. More than 56,000 people, mostly women and children, have reportedly been killed so far under aerial bombings and ground assaults by Israel in its nearly t...

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said on Wednesday that US tariffs would be at the forefront of his agenda when he meets US Secretary of State Marco Rubio this week, as the Southeast Asian nation strives to negotiate a reprieve from punitive levies threatening to stifle economic growth and devastate export-reliant industries. The urgency stems from a move made on Monday b...

A new survey of citizens in 25 middle- and high-income countries has found that the US is more likely than China to be seen as their most important ally – and their greatest threat. In the survey it released on Tuesday, the Pew Research Centre polled nearly 40,000 adults from the world’s six populated continents – including those in the US and the four Asian nations of India, In...