Asian Legal Review

A US-Philippines troop agreement recently scrapped by President Rodrigo Duterte could still be salvaged, a senior diplomat said on Friday, boosting hopes in both countries of retaining one of Asia’s oldest military alliances.Talks were taking place to find a solution, but the alliance would prevail, recognising the importance of the United States as a global power, said Jose Manuel Romualdez, Philippine ambassador to Washington.“From what I’m told, the door is not totally shut,” he told a forum…

As Malaysia is plunged into a political impasse after Mahathir Mohamad unexpectedly resigned as prime minister, there are questions on whether a change in government will lead to yet another review of mega-projects, including the China-backed East Coast Rail Link (ECRL). The US$11 billion rail project, which is part of Beijing’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), was at first suspended, then reviewed and renegotiated, before being reinstated about a year later. The review came after the Pakatan…

Residential rents in Singapore rose to a three-year high in 2019, with prices boosted by strong overseas demand that signals the city state’s continuing appeal among expatriates.Rents climbed 1.4% last year, according to real estate agency OrangeTee & Tie Pte, using data from the Urban Redevelopment Authority.The number of leases signed reached a decade-high 93,920 units last year, said Christine Sun, head of research and consultancy at OrangeTee & Tie.Demand for rental flats in Singapore…

South Koreans have taken to the internet to spread rumours and express their frustrations and anger at the controversial Shincheonji Church of Jesus, which is linked to more than 50 per cent of the country’s confirmed coronavirus infections. This came as the South Korean government on Wednesday said it had finally received a directory of all 210,000 members of the religious group, after several days of discussions with its leaders. A member of a Shincheonji church in Daegu, 300km southeast of…

Mahathir Mohamad had looked all set to reclaim his position as prime minister of Malaysia – until his on-off rival Anwar Ibrahim claimed the position for himself on Wednesday, announcing he had the backing of Mathathir’s former ruling coalition.Under Malaysian convention, the prime minister is the individual who can command the majority of the 222-man lower parliamentary house. Until midday Wednesday, Mahathir had been the only man who looked likely to be able to do that. But in a dramatic…

The Chinese embassy in Singapore has rapped a former senior diplomat in the city state for an op-ed where he argued, among other things, that the coronavirus epidemic had dented the Chinese Communist Party’s credibility with its citizens.Bilahari Kausikan, who retired as permanent secretary of the Singapore Foreign Affairs Ministry in 2013, described China’s handling of the crisis as a consequence of its Leninist value system, where a vanguard party has absolute control of state and society.He…

Hundreds of people returning home to parts of Asia, the United States and Britain from the mainland Chinese province of Hubei and the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship are facing an additional two weeks in government quarantine.Health authorities want to isolate them in case they end up testing positive for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, which has sickened over 80,000 people and claimed more than 2,700 lives, mostly in mainland China.The conditions of their…

After a day of pomp and grandeur, which saw US President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi exchanging an embrace and praising each other at a stadium with some 125,000 fans, issues of geopolitics are expected to be high on the agenda when both meet on Tuesday morning.Ajit Pai, the US Federal Communications commission chief who is accompanying Trump, has made it clear he will be discussing the issue of 5G infrastructure and, potentially, the role of the Chinese telecom giant…

Malaysian leader Mahathir Mohamad’s appointment as interim prime minister just hours after he sent his resignation to the nation’s monarch will see him carry on his duties as per the status quo – and potentially ease him back into power, observers say.The purpose of an interim prime minister is to allow the king to gauge the mood of parliament to see who “truly commands the confidence of members of the house”, said the nation’s foremost constitutional law expert, Shad Saleem Faruqi. The…

Police used tear gas to disperse large crowds in India’s capital of New Delhi on Sunday in the latest eruption of violence at protests over a new citizenship law, police officials said.Hundreds of people supporting the new law clashed with those opposing it, with the two groups pelting each other with stones in the Maujpur area in the northeastern part of the city, according to television footage.“There must be some miscreants who want to spoil the peace in the area. We will identify them and…