A leaked phone call between Thailand and Cambodia has spiraled into a regional scandal—fracturing coalitions, halting trade, and exposing ASEAN’s crisis blind spots. This in-depth analysis unpacks the scandal’s roots, economic shockwaves, and strategic implications for Southeast Asia’s future.
Author: Jay Nguyen
ASEAN rules-based order faces a pivotal test in Manila as delegates debate a bloc-wide protest tool against China’s water-cannon tactics. Read the intel drop.
The Indo-Pacific alignment crisis threatens ASEAN’s future. Explore how competing empires and internal fractures force urgent institutional reinvention.
Vietnam free trade push ramps up new FTAs to offset looming U.S. tariffs, reshape ASEAN trade dynamics, and secure export-led growth.
The US–China tariff pause suspends duties for 90 days on $600 billion in goods, stabilizing ASEAN supply chains and boosting regional exporters.
In the quiet hours before dawn, I often find myself reaching back—through the whisper of bamboo leaves, the scent of incense drifting across courtyard walls—to touch moments I thought I had lost forever. Yet memory has its own logic, and when I forget, it’s not simply a loss; it’s a transformation. The residue of what slips through our fingers shapes our fractured identity, carving out spaces of longing where once there was unbroken selfhood. As I sit at my desk in Ho Chi Minh City, pen in hand and heart tethered between past and present, I realize that forgetting is…
As Southeast Asia digitizes, the battle for digital sovereignty intensifies. This essay examines China’s digital entrenchment, U.S. countermeasures, and ASEAN’s fragile autonomy in the infrastructure wars.
Philippines China Naval Standoff – Geo Pulse | Strategic Dispatches from Southeast Asia Key Takeaways Philippines China Naval Standoff: The 5 May Incident At 07 : 48 local time, PS-35 was escorting a fisheries patrol near Bajo de Masinloc when PLAN frigate 554 darted 800 m across her bow. A sister ship shadowed within 700 m astern, while China Coast Guard 5403 blocked a starboard turn. Drone footage later showed closure speeds of roughly 15 knots—well inside safe-distance limits under the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea. This frontline view of the Philippines China naval standoff demonstrates how quickly…
Strategic Dispatches from Southeast Asia Malaysia Joint Military Exercise Johor: Special Forces and Royal Troops Mobilized From May 1 to May 13, 2025, Malaysia’s elite 21st Special Forces Group is conducting Exercise Thunderstorm Series 1/2025 in joint operations with the Johor Military Force (JMF) — a historic, tightly coordinated security drill across Johor’s coastal zones in Johor: Pengerang, Tanjung Pengelih, Teluk Ramunia, and Desaru. In a region facing maritime tension and asymmetric threats, this is more than training. It’s quiet calibration. Details of the Operation According to official statements by Malaysia’s Armed Forces: This is not just a readiness check…
Vietnam enacts a sweeping digital sovereignty law, introducing a National Data Centre and strict data localization controls.