Dear ST reader,
It is a tale of two pow-wows in two continents this week.
In Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta, foreign ministers from Asean are gathering to discuss a slew of matters to discuss a slew of matters ranging from how the bloc maintains its centrality while buffeted by big-power rivalry, to the situation in strife-ridden Myanmar over which Asean members are grappling to move together ahead on. Indonesia bureau chief Arlina Arshad and correspondent Hariz Baharudin are on the ground reporting on the latest.
Over in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, leaders from the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation also strove to reach consensus – over Ukraine’s bid to join the military alliance. Global affairs correspondent Jonathan Eyal notes that barbed comments and disagreements were aplenty, but ultimately, the outcome - a strengthened commitment to Ukraine in its battle against Russia’s invasion - underscores the organisation’s clout.
More talk across the Taiwan Strait is needed but there will be little to be had between students on both sides. Taiwan correspondent Yip Wai Yee reports that come the new school year in August, there will be a grand total of zero mainland Chinese undergraduates studying in Taiwan. As students and observers note, such lack of contact will only breed further misunderstanding and bias.
The sound of silence, meanwhile, echoes in the gleaming office spaces of America’s top cities. US bureau chief Nirmal Ghosh reports on the downtown doom loop, as office vacancy rates across America, from New York to Chicago to Detroit to San Francisco, hit 17.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2023 – the highest in 30 years.
No mainland Chinese undergraduates in Taiwan for new school year amid cross-strait tensions
American cities caught in downtown doom loop
Want to know if you’re pretty? See if street photographers in China zoom in on you
High tomato prices in India trigger thefts, fears of inflation spike
‘Why do people hate us?’: Sex workers in Seoul’s last red-light district fret over future
It’s a bug’s life: Insects buzz their way back into Japanese cuisine
