China
China’s top legislature convenes standing committee session. China’s National People’s Congress Standing Committee opened its 21st session in Beijing with Zhao Leji presiding. Lawmakers reviewed drafts on social assistance, fire and rescue personnel, and amendments to the certified public accountants law. They also examined the standing committee work report, the agenda for the fourth session of the 14th NPC, deputy qualifications, and personnel bills. Xinhua, February 25
China hopes U.S. will view implementation of phase-one trade deal objectively, rationally. Commerce Ministry urged Washington to view the phase-one deal objectively after Jamieson Greer cited a Section 301 review and possible tariffs. It said China met obligations on intellectual property and market opening despite pandemic disruptions. It accused the U.S. of export controls and investment curbs and warned of countermeasures. Xinhua, February 25
China says it has met U.S. trade obligations, warns against more tariffs. China’s commerce ministry said Beijing met obligations under a 2020 agreement tied to the U.S. Section 301 statute. It responded after U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Section 301 probes could yield more tariffs. The ministry said China will defend its rights if the U.S. imposes restrictive measures. Liz Lee, Reuters, February 25
Exclusive: DeepSeek withholds latest AI model from U.S. chipmakers including Nvidia, sources say. DeepSeek did not share its upcoming V4 model with Nvidia or AMD for performance tuning, sources said. It instead gave Huawei and other domestic chipmakers weeks to optimize the software. A Trump administration official said the model was trained on Nvidia Blackwell chips despite U.S. export controls. Krystal Hu, Stephen Nellis and Fanny Potkin, Reuters, February 25
Germany’s Merz hails China ties as he seeks reset with Beijing. Merz told Xi Jinping he wants partnership and dialogue as he seeks to reset ties. He said the 90 billion euro trade deficit is not healthy and blamed Chinese overcapacity. Merz and Li Qiang signed five agreements on climate, animal health and sports. Andreas Rinke, Liz Lee, Colleen Howe, Xiuhao Chen, Yukun Zhang and James Mackenzie, Reuters, February 25
Japan
Takaichi dead set on Diet passing budget bill by March 31. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi urged opposition cooperation to pass the 122 trillion yen fiscal 2026 budget by March 31. Opposition leader Junya Ogawa warned against short deliberations and proposed an April-May budget. LDP officials eyed a March 13 Lower House vote, while opposition demanded at least 80 committee hours. Amane Sugawara and Takahiro Okubo, The Asahi Shimbun, February 25
LDP approves major change to allow lethal weapons exports. An LDP security panel approved recommendations to allow exports of lethal weapons and jointly developed arms to third countries. The plan scraps the five-category export limit and would permit sales to nations at war under special circumstances. Exports would be limited to 17 partner countries, with first-time cases reviewed by the National Security Council. Mizuki Sato, The Asahi Shimbun, February 25
South Korea
Nat’l Assembly passes revised Commercial Act after main opposition’s filibuster. South Korea’s National Assembly passed a Commercial Act revision requiring listed firms to cancel treasury shares. The vote followed a 24-hour filibuster by the People Power Party. The Democratic Party said it lifts shareholder returns, while the PPP warned of hostile takeovers. Yi Wonju, Yonhap News Agency, February 25
Defense minister makes pitch for S. Korea’s bid to secure Canada’s submarine project. Defense Minister Ahn Gyu-back urged Canada to pick South Korea for its patrol submarine project. He met Canadian Defense Minister David McGuinty in Ottawa ahead of “two-plus-two” talks. Canada plans to procure up to 12 submarines, and Seoul said the deal would deepen defense cooperation. Kim Hyun-soo, Yonhap News Agency, February 26
S. Korea, U.S. to stage annual military exercise next month, still in consultation over field training. South Korea and the U.S. scheduled Freedom Shield for March 9-19, with Warrior Shield field training. About 18,000 troops will join, but field drill details remain unsettled. Seoul sought to scale down drills for North Korea dialogue, and USFK said they would proceed. Kim Hyun-soo, Yonhap News Agency, February 25
North Korea
N. Korea’s Kim says willing to get along with U.S. if Washington drops hostile policy. Kim Jong Un said Pyongyang would get along with the United States if Washington drops hostile policy. He called South Korean outreach deceptive and vowed to exclude the South as “the same people.” He vowed to strengthen nuclear forces and expand weapons development. Park Boram, Yonhap News Agency, February 26
N. Korea market prices surge in February. Rice hit 19,600 won per kilogram in Pyongyang on Feb. 15, up nearly 30% in two weeks, while corn jumped 87% to 7,300 won. Dollar and yuan rates rebounded as trade restrictions and blocked border smuggling tightened foreign currency supplies. Fuel prices rose more than 20% and the report warned prices will keep climbing if controls persist. Seulkee Jang, Daily NK, February 25
Thailand
Thaksin eligible for parole on May 9. Thailand’s Department of Corrections confirmed that Thaksin Shinawatra becomes eligible for parole on May 9 after serving two-thirds of a one-year sentence. Parole requires approval from prison, corrections and Justice Ministry committees. A prison committee has not finalized the eligibility list, usually prepared one to two months in advance. Bangkok Post, February 26
EC files complaint over obstruction of re-count. Thailand's Election Commission filed a police complaint over conduct by civilians observing a Feb. 22 recount in Bangkok's Kannayao district. The commission said observers photographed ballots and recorded vote-counting codes and QR codes, compromising ballot secrecy. Deputy Secretary General Khanchit Charoen-in said the actions obstructed officials and will be pursued under election law. Wassayos Ngamkham, Bangkok Post, February 25
Poll results certified in 396 constituencies. Thailand’s Election Commission certified Feb. 8 results in 396 of 400 constituencies, leaving four seats pending revotes or recounts. The endorsement moved ahead amid legal challenges over barcode and QR code ballots that critics say could compromise vote secrecy. Party-list seats are expected next week, and parliament must convene within 15 days after at least 475 seats are certified. Bangkok Post, February 25
Laos
Laos-China Railway drives trade, tourism growth in 2026. Freight and passenger volumes continued rising, and exporters moved farm and processed goods to China faster with more stable charges. A train carried 85.5 tonnes of Lao bananas in five 40-foot containers from Vientiane to Chongqing via the Boten-Mohan crossing. Authorities forecast 5-6 million foreign tourists in 2026, including about 2 million Chinese visitors. Khonesavanh Latsaphao, Vientiane Times, February 26
Laos prioritizes self-reliant economy in next five years. Prime Minister Sonexay Siphandone set priorities for the 10th Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2026-2030, aiming to ease fiscal strain without heavy debt. Cabinet members reviewed a resolution update and a five-year action plan to modernize revenue collection and reduce external dependence. The meeting also reviewed tourism and draft rules on dangerous goods transport and international NGOs. Phoudasack Vongsay, The Laotian Times, February 25
Philippines
VP was incompetent too, Palace claps back. Malacañang press officer Claire Castro said Sara Duterte’s claim that some Marcos Cabinet members are incompetent also applied to Duterte when she led DepEd. Castro cited unresolved “ghost” students, vouchers, food packs, laptops and school materials from her tenure. Castro said these issues are being cleaned up by Education Secretary Sonny Angara after Duterte called governance messy. Catherine S. Valente, The Manila Times, February 25
Duterte waives appearance at ICC review of detention. Rodrigo Duterte filed a Feb. 23 waiver to skip the ICC’s Feb. 27 annual detention review. He said counsel explained the consequences and his ICC team will represent him. Duterte has been held at the Scheveningen facility since his March 11, 2025, arrest and also waived attendance at the confirmation hearing. Javier Joe Ismael, Allen Limos and Kristina Maralit, The Manila Times, February 25
Indonesia
President Prabowo holds bilateral talk in Abu Dhabi with UAE president. President Prabowo Subianto arrived in Abu Dhabi on Feb. 25 after finishing a visit to Jordan. He is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with UAE President Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to strengthen ties. The statement said the trip also included talks in Amman focused on Gaza and the West Bank. ANTARA News, February 26
Taiwan
TPP leader urges new talks on U.S.-Taiwan trade pact, expert disagrees. TPP chairman Huang Kuo-chang urged Taipei to reopen talks on the U.S.-Taiwan Reciprocal Trade Agreement. He said it does not block a 15% Section 122 tariff and sought a waiver pledge. CIER chief Lien Hsien-ming warned that renegotiation would amount to tearing up the deal and weakening Taiwan’s position. James Thompson, Tsao Ya-yen and Wen Kuei-hsiang, Focus Taiwan, February 25
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan and Afghanistan aim to boost trade to $5 billion. Deputy PM Jamshid Khodjaev held a Feb. 24 video call with Afghan trade minister Nuriddin Azizi. They agreed to accelerate a preferential trade agreement and expand cooperation in processing, construction materials, textiles and food security. Khodjaev said bilateral trade reached $1.7 billion in 2025 and set a $5 billion target. Sadokat Jalolova, The Times of Central Asia, February 25
Uzbekistan looks West for help in developing entrepreneurial spirit. Uzbekistan will involve Harvard, Stanford and the London School of Economics in a program called Next Generation Entrepreneurs. The Youth Affairs Agency plans training for 40,000 students and low-interest loans for the top 1,000. Officials put the annual new entrants at 600,000 and project about 1 million by 2030. Eurasianet, February 25
East Asia
Thanks to Trump, Xi Has Time on His Side With Taiwan. The near-term risk of a Chinese attack on Taiwan has eased, largely because Beijing can amplify pressure without paying the costs of an invasion while Washington’s politics appear permissive. A cross-strait war is described as a high-risk gamble amid PLA turmoil, new U.S.-Taiwan capabilities, and dangers of nuclear escalation and protracted conflict. Trump is depicted as treating Taiwan primarily through semiconductor leverage, signaling openness to negotiating future arms sales, and facing Chinese rare-earth coercion alongside Xi’s appeals to Trump’s “peacemaker” self-image. Taiwan’s divided legislature and opposition leader Cheng Li-wun’s warnings about U.S. reliability amplify Beijing’s advantage. China is presented as favoring incremental coercion, while triggers for invasion remain political shocks such as independence moves or a U.S. defensive pledge. Ali Wyne, Foreign Policy, February 25
Will China lead the agentic AI race with Qwen3.5? Alibaba released Qwen3.5 for the “agentic AI era,” adding visual capabilities that let the system observe activity on a phone or computer screen and act autonomously, from filling forms to automating spreadsheets. Cost and efficiency claims reflect a strategy to scale under U.S. GPU export controls. The open-weight Qwen3.5-397B-A17B uses a sparse Mixture-of-Experts design with 397B total parameters but 17B active per pass, plus linear-attention memory mechanisms, cutting memory use and boosting long-context throughput. Reported benchmarks show strong language, vision, and coding/GUI-agent performance, while safety, alignment, error compounding, and job displacement risks intensify regulatory stakes. Akhmad Hanan, ThinkChina, February 25
U.S.-China Competition in Africa is About Investment, Not Aid. U.S. policy toward Africa is moving from aid-led engagement to private sector–driven investment, development finance, and targeted commercial partnerships under Trump 2.0, alongside sharp cuts to USAID programs that create near-term gaps in health, education, and crisis response. China’s role is also changing as lending falls and Beijing prioritizes debt recovery and risk control, moving from megaprojects toward smaller, targeted deals. Washington is advancing “bankable” infrastructure and co-financing, highlighted by projects tied to the Lobito Corridor. A softer U.S. dollar can ease Africa’s debt servicing, while China’s focus tilts toward minerals such as copper and cobalt. David Okoronkwo, U.S.-China Perception Monitor, February 25
The human cost of Japan's immigration pivot. A surge in anti-immigration sentiment helped deliver Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s election win, moving policy toward public order and tighter controls. Japan raised Business Manager visa capital requirements from 5 million yen to 30 million yen, added a Japanese-language requirement, and mandated hiring at least one full-time Japanese national or permanent resident, targeting abuse linked to “paper companies” and minpaku in deregulated areas. As of June 2025, 44,760 foreigners held the visa, about half Chinese, and rejections rose, with 808 renewals denied between August and November and only 30 days typically granted to depart. Short notice, administrative tightening, and labor shortages leave legitimate operators scrambling, disrupting families, closing restaurants, and encouraging “name-lending” workarounds, while further restrictions on residency, naturalization, and foreign land ownership are signaled. Takehiro Masutomo, Nikkei Asia, February 25
Southeast Asia
Advancing Southeast Asia’s AI Future Through Sovereign AI Models. Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines temporarily banned xAI’s Grok after a feature enabled non-consensual sexualized images, highlighting Southeast Asia’s exposure when relying on foreign models amid limited U.S. regulation of Big Tech. The AI for Developing Countries Forum’s Bangkok Declaration framed AI sovereignty as control over data, compute, and models, supported by local talent so systems reflect national languages, cultures, and values. Singapore’s SEA-LION retrains open foundational models on 13 regional languages and has been reused as a base for Indonesia’s Sahabat-AI, while Malaysia’s ILMU was built from scratch by YTL and Universiti Malaya to reduce dependence on changing “open source” terms. Adoption, high-quality local data, and ASEAN interoperability are presented as decisive for sustaining sovereign models. David Lam, FULCRUM, February 25
Brunei’s stability rests on fragile foundations. Brunei remained a stable absolute monarchy in 2025, but governance and continuity are increasingly tied to Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, with his age and reported May 2025 hospitalization sharpening succession awareness. Policy focused on Wawasan Brunei 2035 priorities while growth stagnated as softer energy prices and maintenance disrupted oil and gas output; hydrocarbons still contributed about 45 percent of GDP. Subsidies and the Brunei–Singapore dollar parity helped produce slightly negative inflation. Regulatory initiatives included long-term residence passes, a Personal Data Protection Order, and a Sustainable Finance Roadmap to promote climate-resilient and Islamic green finance, with a cautious 2026 rebound tied to LNG recovery. Kerstin Steiner, East Asia Forum, February 25
South Asia
India’s labour reforms need stronger social protection and rapid upskilling. India’s November 2025 Labour Codes consolidate 29 central laws into four codes and extend coverage beyond formal manufacturing to reduce informality and support “China Plus One” supply-chain changes. Clearer rules for contract and gig work, written appointment letters, a minimum wage floor, and standardized safety norms aim to lower compliance costs and encourage firm growth. The Industrial Relations Code raises the layoff-approval threshold from 100 to 300 workers and legalizes fixed-term employment with equal benefits, increasing flexibility but risking dualism if enforcement is weak. The reforms lack national unemployment insurance, and the Reskilling Fund is limited without broader income support and rapid vocational upskilling. Priyaranjan Jha and Devashish Mitra, East Asia Forum, February 25
The Gen Z Movement and the Future of Nepal. Nepal’s March 5, 2026 snap elections follow a September 2025 Gen Z uprising triggered by a government ban on 26 major social media apps, which protesters saw as censorship and a blow to youth income from online work. Demonstrations spread nationwide, turned violent, and left more than 76 dead before Prime Minister K. P. Sharma Oli resigned. Gen Z organizers used Discord polls to back former Chief Justice Sushila Karki as interim prime minister, signaling participatory, media-driven politics. The movement channeled anger over nepotism (#NepoBaby), corruption, unemployment, and chronic government turnover, prompting party leadership shakeups and reshaping how India and China engaged Kathmandu as 915,119 first-time voters and new candidates prepared for the vote. Rishi Gupta, Asia Society, February 25