Nareerat Wiriyapong
Acting Asia Focus Editor
Acting Asia Focus Editor
New era for entrepreneurs
The first three quarters of 2020 are history, and it is painfully clear that the Covid-19 pandemic has had pervasive and devastating effects on health, lifestyles, relationships and livelihoods of people all around the world.
Japanese women speak up
I'm not a mother and certainly not a good cook, but I can certainly identify with all the women who reacted to the "potato salad tweet" that went viral in Japan recently.
Making travel safe again
After seven months of being stuck on the ground, I took a flight recently from Bangkok to Khon Kaen, confident that Thailand had Covid-19 well under control, having gone 100 days without a locally transmitted case. During my stay in the Northeast, that streak was broken. But life goes on, I told myself. I had already embarked on a trip so I should make the most of it.
Shinzo Abe will be missed
Last Wednesday, India banned 118 Chinese mobile applications from its huge domestic market, including the popular video game PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, which has over 50 million players in India. Others, including Baidu, Alipay and some versions of the messaging app WeChat, are operated by Chinese internet giants like Tencent and Ant Financial.
Time to get the RCEP done
Ministers from 15 Asia Pacific countries resumed their negotiations to forge the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) last Thursday without the participation of India, which walked away from the sprawling free-trade agreement (FTA) last November.
Confident Taiwan moves ahead
In light of the severe health and economic crises the world is facing today, countries that manage to maintain internal stability will be the ones best positioned to survive and thrive faster than others.
Vietnam primed for revival
Vietnam is now racing to control a new coronavirus outbreak, which resurfaced late last month after three months of no domestic cases. Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said last Wednesday that the next 10 days would be "critical" in a country that has been widely praised for its earlier containment success.
Shaping our AI future
I've been wondering how far artificial intelligence (AI) can go to make human life easier and, amid the current pandemic, safer. A good place to start is Japan, where AI is gaining ground in fields from fashion to elder care.
More Covid fallout looms
Should I start to worry? Vietnam, hailed as a success story for its ability to stay almost coronavirus-free as the rest of the world struggles with the insidious disease, is back on high alert after more than three months of being Covid-free.
Don't sell Asean short
Like their peers all over the world, Southeast Asian nations have seen their economies hammered by the prolonged Covid-19 outbreak. Growth forecasts continue to be revised downward as exports plunge due to falling demand and supply chain disruption, while tourism income slumps as international travel slows to a trickle.