Asia Focus

Trump talks to Japanese PM hours after his overnight call with Chinas Xi

Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi confirmed “the close cooperation” between Tokyo and Washington in a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Tuesday, hours after Trump spoke by phone with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping. Takaichi said her conversation with Trump covered the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance along with the various challenges facing…

Takaichi said her conversation with Trump covered the strengthening of the Japan-US alliance along with the various challenges facing the Indo-Pacific region, according to the Fuji News Network.

The phone call came amid escalating tension between Beijing and Tokyo over Takaichi’s earlier remarks that suggested Tokyo could deploy its military forces in the event of a conflict in the Taiwan Strait – seen by Beijing as a violation of its one-China policy and an intervention in its internal affairs.

“During the conversation, President Trump explained the current state of US-China relations, including the US-China leaders’ phone call held last night,” Takaichi said, adding that the two also exchanged views on a wide range of topics.

“I believe we were able to confirm the close cooperation between Japan and the US, following President Trump’s recent visit to Japan, under the current international circumstances,” Takaichi was quoted as saying.

“President Trump said that I am a very close friend of his and that I should feel free to call him any time,” she added.

Asia Focus

Revisiting disastrous 2006 ban on extracting Bangladeshs coal
Posted onDecember 10, 2025 3:51 pmDecember 10, 2025 5:25 pm

Recent Facebook posts by the Bangladesh chief adviser’s press secretary, Shafiqul Alam, attempt to argue that Bangladesh’s 2006 decision to scrap the Phulbari coal-mining project stands as one of the most economically self-sabotaging choices in the country’s history. What was celebrated as a victory for the people and the environment has, almost two decades later,…

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Asia Focus

Tim Walz, Democrats 2024 VP candidate, exits Minnesota governor race
Posted onJanuary 6, 2026 2:16 am

Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Democrats’ 2024 candidate for vice-president, is ending his bid for a third term amid President Donald Trump’s relentless focus on a fraud investigation into the state’s child care programmes and its Somali community. Less than four months after announcing his re-election campaign, Walz said Monday that negative attention and Republican attacks…

Read More Tim Walz, Democrats 2024 VP candidate, exits Minnesota governor race
Asia Focus

Trump gets Gaza ceasefire trophy at beginning of game
Posted onOctober 16, 2025 10:34 pm

Israel and Hamas are blaming the other for failing to keep Gaza Strip ceasefire agreements negotiated by US President Donald Trump, putting both the flow of humanitarian aid as well as the relative calm in the enclave at risk. The disputes are coming as no surprise to observers who have begun to parse details of…

Read More Trump gets Gaza ceasefire trophy at beginning of game
Asia Focus

Will China’s next 5-year plan rewrite its infrastructure playbook?
Posted onOctober 12, 2025 10:23 am

As China drafts its 15th five-year plan – the next entry in a line of expansive blueprints that have set the tone for the country’s development over more than seven decades – we examine how these documents inform and reflect high-level policy priorities, what to expect in the coming iteration and how infrastructure spending and…

Read More Will China’s next 5-year plan rewrite its infrastructure playbook?
Asia Focus

Toothpaste without China? EU firms must stop Beijing, US overreliance: report
Posted onDecember 10, 2025 3:06 pm

A new report recommends European companies avoid an overreliance on China or the US in their supply chains, as companies find themselves squeezed between Beijing’s preferential policies for local companies and Washington’s trade volatility. The European Union Chamber of Commerce in China advised companies to “eliminate single-source dependencies on both China and the United States…

Read More Toothpaste without China? EU firms must stop Beijing, US overreliance: report
Asia Focus

As China, US race for critical minerals, Africa needs to make rules
Posted onOctober 15, 2025 7:32 pm

Critical minerals such as lithium, cobalt, nickel, copper, rare earth elements, and platinum group metals are essential for modern technologies. They are key to industries ranging from electronics and telecommunications to renewable energy, defence, and aerospace systems. The global demand for these minerals has been growing, as has the competition for them. The supply and…

Read More As China, US race for critical minerals, Africa needs to make rules

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