News
Why India boycotted the Belt and Road Forum
After three years of uncertainty surrounding China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), the highly anticipated Belt and Road Forum (BRF) was finally held in May 2017 in Beijing. But India, Beijing’s most populous neighbour, was conspicuous in its absence.Despite earlier concerns over a lukewarm ...
How Cambodia’s record deforestation is driving crippling drought
Massive deforestation is playing a crucial role in the droughts that have devastated Cambodia. But despite an official ban on timber exports, forests continue to be cut down at a record rate. One of only two countries in the world to feature a building on its ...
FSC to investigate Korean conglomerate’s palm oil operations in Indonesia
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), one of the world’s most influential sustainable forestry certification bodies, has announced that it will investigate the Indonesian oil palm operations of Korean agribusiness conglomerate Korindo in response to a formal complaint submitted by environmental group Mighty Earth. The group ...
Indonesia’s plantation lobby challenges environmental law
Palm oil and paper lobby groups have asked Indonesia’s highest court to strike down rules holding plantation firms strictly liable for fires that occur on their land. The groups have also asked the Constitutional Court to eliminate a regulation letting small farmers practice slash-and-burn techniques, the ...
South China Sea agreement expected in November: official
Asian countries will likely agree on a code of conduct for the South China Sea when regional leaders meet for a summit in November, Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Enrique Manalo said Monday. Manalo spoke at a panel on the achievements and challenges of ...
Abe's belt and road pivot signals push to improve bilateral ties
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s conditional support for China’s Belt and Road infrastructure plan tells Beijing that Tokyo is ready to work toward warmer bilateral ties as the future of Asian security grows more uncertain. Abe praised the initiative’s “potential to connect East and West” in ...
Animal farms in Southeast Asia fuel an illegal trade in rare wildlife
The tiger paced back and forth in its cage, groaning mournfully. A second big cat slept soundly in the corner, while a third stared blankly at the bars. Next to this cage was another containing three more tigers, and after that three more cages: a ...
Canada beats U.S. in pork sales to China - feet, elbows and all
Canada has overtaken the United States as the top North American supplier of pork to China as farmers and meat packers in both nations battle for lucrative shares of the biggest global market. Canada’s pork sales to China, after a sharp rise last year, exceeded ...
Oil resumes slide on worries Middle East rift could sap drive to cut output
Oil prices on Tuesday resumed their slide from the previous session, hit by concerns that a political rift between Qatar and several Arab states would undermine an OPEC-led push to tighten the market. Persistent gains in U.S. production also dragged on benchmark crude prices, traders ...
One belt, one road: China’s grand enterprise
Dubbed by some as a modern-day Marshall Plan, China’s One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative will build roads, ports and railway tracks along ancient trading routes to Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Launched in 2013 by President Xi Jinping, OBOR is a China-backed ...
