Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, won a better-than-expected mandate in Sunday’s election. The prime minister’s cabinet was largely appointed by faction leaders, but Kishida may now have more scope to pursue alternatives. His mandate could also allow him to push a reform-oriented agenda.

Although it was the Liberal Democratic …

The International Monetary Fund has warned that the pandemic has caused a “dangerous divergence” in the economic outlook of rich and developing countries.

In its latest World Economic Outlook report, the IMF suggests most rich countries will return to their pre-pandemic growth paths next year and will be ahead of them by 2024. By contrast, …

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has excluded Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing from its leaders’ summit this month, marking its first substantive action against the leaders of the military coup.

ASEAN announced the surprise decision last Friday night after a meeting of the group’s foreign ministers, saying that Myanmar had …

Australia’s biggest companies are putting pressure on the Morrison government to commit to reaching net zero by 2050 ahead of the UN climate change conference in November.

In a plan released on Friday, the Business Council of Australia said that using new technology to achieve the net-zero benchmark could improve employment and economic …

Japan’s new prime minister, Fumio Kishida, has called a snap election for 31 October, presumably to take advantage of a potentially brief increase in the government’s popularity since his appointment.

Kishida announced the election on Monday night, hours after he had assumed his role as Japan’s 100th prime minister and appointed a new …

The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue has announced it will begin holding an annual leaders’ summit in a move that will swiftly elevate the group’s significance.

The four members of the Quad – Japan, Australia, India and the United States – only revived the partnership in 2017, after an earlier attempt to create such a group foundered …

Australia’s decision to build a nuclear-powered submarine fleet was last week met with criticism from a spurned ally in France and a potential enemy in China.

Australia intends to use American and British technology to build the new fleet, scrapping plans to invest in up to twelve French-designed diesel-electric submarines.

The Morrison …

Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter Dutton have embarked on Australia’s most intensive streak of in-person diplomacy since COVID-19 began, attending meetings in four countries in one week.

The “two plus two” meetings with foreign and defence ministers in Indonesia, India, South Korea and the United States mark a …

Japanese prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced last week that he will resign to allow an open competition for the job on 29 September, ahead of a general election in November.

Suga only took office a year ago, when Shinzō Abe resigned due to ill health after an unusually lengthy eight-year term. Combined with Abe’s earlier stint as prime …

China has urged the United States to treat the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan, as the international community grapples with the future status of the new rulers of the war-torn country.

According to China, its foreign minister Wang Yi told US secretary of state Antony Blinken on Sunday that world leaders should be aiming …