Economy and commerce
U.S. ambassadors in Asia make final plea for dead Trans-Pacific trade pact
When hope of enacting the ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact ended in November, Max Baucus, the United States ambassador to China, was among the officials who had to grapple with disappointment. The partnership, called the TPP, was a hallmark of the Obama administration. It would ...
Indonesian government challenges another green group over freedom of information request
The Indonesian government is going to the Supreme Court over an NGO’s freedom of information request for detailed maps of land on which oil palm companies have been licensed to operate in Kalimantan, the country’s portion of Borneo island. Civil society groups have tried for ...
Yangon’s extreme poverty needs action: report
In a one-room hut in north Yangon, a middle-aged woman has a trick for those evenings when the children complain of hunger and she has run out of money and rice. “I ask them to drink extra water and go to bed,” said mother-of-seven Daw ...
Abe vows continued support for Jokowi and ASEAN
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on January 15 called for a peaceful resolution to the South China Sea conflict and pledged Japan’s continued support for ASEAN, as the grouping turns 50 this year. Speaking after bilateral meetings with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Bogor, West ...
Sugar yield quells ethanol shortage fear
Ethanol shortage concerns in Thailand have subsided on the good sugar yield from the latest sugar cane crop, providing abundant molasses for the ethanol industry, says a senior industrial official. Thai SugarMillers Corporation Ltd, which includes all Thai 52 sugar factories, said the current 2016/17 ...
China to buy 20,000 tonnes of organic rice from Laos
China has approved the purchase of 20,000 tonnes of organic rice a year from Laos, according to Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith. Mr Thongloun said in talks with Khong district authorities in Champassak province last week that Chinese premier Li Keqiang had agreed to the deal. The ...
Sleeker tax system nets more revenue
Efforts to introduce an effective, modern taxation system appear to be paying off as government coffers swelled last year, giving the state more revenue to use for development at a time when donor aid is drying up. Tax collection revenue grew by 15 percent to ...
Deconstructing China’s energy security strategy
Given continued American global naval supremacy, which is unlikely to be challenged successfully in the foreseeable future, Beijing’s highest strategic priority is to ensure energy security by connecting friendly major oil and gas producers to China via pipelines transiting through land routes beyond the effective ...
Honda idles Thai auto capacity amid weak sales
Honda Motor will halt one of its three automobile assembly lines in Thailand by the end of March, a move that amounts to a capacity reduction in a market short on growth. One of the two lines at the Japanese automaker’s plant in Ayutthaya Province, ...
Asia's smallest economies are among its fastest growing
Asia’s smallest economies are growing faster than giants like China, according to the World Bank. Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar will post the most rapid expansions in Asia after India from 2017 to 2019, sustaining growth rates of close to 7 percent, according to forecasts released this week. ...
