From 2017 to 2023, private equity and venture capital assets under management in Asia surged by 130%, significantly outpacing growth in Western markets.
Asia's level of digital banking infrastructure has enabled it to challenge and even surpass traditional Western players such as Citi and HSBC in key regional markets.
Trump's confrontational approach to China, while superficially aligned with concerns within ASEAN, is neither strategic nor consultative. It is built more on spectacle than substance, more on division than dialogue.
From energy security and trade disruptions to political polarisation and rising tensions among Muslim-majority nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and nuclear armed Pakistan, the consequences for Asia could reshape regional dynamics.
In the face of renewed US protectionism and the use of tariffs as economic weapons, RCEP offers the Indo-Pacific region something far more strategic: a framework for resilience, integration and independence.
Over the past five years Asia has witnessed unprecedented heatwaves, with countries like Bangladesh recording temperatures up to 43.8°C in 2024, leading to nationwide school closures affecting tens of millions of children
Although both nations have engaged with the region historically and continue to do so in the present day, their roles, influence, and staying power differ markedly.
Over the past 15 years, Europe’s trade frameworks have faltered, integration has stalled, and a number of its core political and economic ideas have failed under real-world pressure.