Drones for peace, not provocation: Asean’s path to a smarter security architecture
June 6, 2025MALAY MAILPhar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur IJUNE 6 — The call for Asean to establish a joint and comprehensive drone strategy — one[…]
Hopes for a Xi-Trump summit are naively misplaced
June 6, 2025ASIA TIMES Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s surprise phone call—marking the first direct communication[…]
Macron’s efforts to project France as a great power can still flounder
June 5, 2025New Straits Times Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur French President Emmanuel Macron’s foray into Southeast Asia, including his high-profile visits to Vietnam, Indonesia,[…]
Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’: False reforms with systemic repercussions across the world
June 5, 2025MALAY MAILPhar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur JUNE 5 — In the theater of American politics, which is becoming ever more bizarre, few spectacles[…]
Red flags rising over China’s trade surplus with Indonesia
June 5, 2025ASIA TIMES Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur Indonesia’s widening trade deficit with China has evolved into more than an economic concern—it now poses[…]
Dangerously unprepared Asean needs own nuclear ‘deterrence’
June 4, 2025The Jakarta Post Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur hen major global powers engage with regional blocs, there’s usually a strategic purpose. This applies[…]
Lee Jae-myung takes the helm of a fractured and unmoored Korea
June 4, 2025ASIA TIMES Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur As Lee Jae-myung assumes South Korea’s presidency after a decisive electoral victory, the left-leaning leader inherits[…]
An ASEAN that has to say no to Hegseth’s demands for higher defense spending
June 3, 2025New Straits Times Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur At the IISS Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered a message[…]
Asean must come up with mechanism for Indo-Pacific security
June 2, 2025New Straits Times Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur The anxieties of the Indo-Pacific came into full view at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.[…]
Malaysia’s bold diplomacy on Myanmar: From chair to catalyst of Asean peace
June 1, 2025MalayMail Phar Kim Beng, Kuala Lumpur As Chair of ASEAN 2025, Malaysia has taken a courageous and long-overdue step in addressing the most[…]