Asia Pacific

Beijing recently did an end run around Singapore to win the right to develop and operate Pakistan's western Gwadar deep-sea port on the Indian Ocean.

Burma was once the world's largest rice exporter, but it lost this dominance during half a century of military rule.

Domestic business leaders and foreign investors are applauding the economic road map set out by the governing military regime, which calls itself the National Council for Peace and Order.

Japan is easing its regulations on permanent resident status for foreigners to attract people with special work skills.

Australia's defence minister, David Johnston, is in hot water after barring local shipbuilders from bidding for the contracts to construct two new replenishment vessels for the navy.

Japan's fertility rate made a minor jump last year, but the size of the population is still shrinking. The number of children a Japanese woman might give birth to in her lifetime, known as the “total fertility rate,” rose to an average of 1.43, an increase of 0.02 over 2012.

Much to her own surprise, South Korean President Park Geun-hye's conservative Saenuri Party did well in local elections 10 days ago. The ruling party won eight of the 17 races for mayors of big cities and provincial governors.

Hong Kong Tourism Board chairman Peter Lam Kin-ngok is warning that the growing antipathy among the territory's people towards tourists from mainland China threatens the retail and catering sectors.

Getting money out of China to safe havens abroad consumes much time and ingenuity for many Chinese.

Canadians are losing interest in strengthening social and economic ties with Asian countries, concludes the Asia Pacific Foundation’s (APF) annual National Opinion Poll: Canadian Views on Asia published June 10.