In Asian media this week: India and Russian are “dead economies”. Plus: Border clash ceasefire a test for ASEAN; Populist Right rising in Japan; Jakarta wants all nations to follow France’s Palestine lead; Pyongyang “not interested” in easing tensions; Kashmir pilgrimage a “river of humanity”

A sneering Donald Trump has hit India with a 25% tariff rate, plus an unspecified penalty for buying Russian energy and military equipment.

Trump said the US and India did little business together, The Hindu newspaper reported. He called India and Russia dead economies.

“I don’t care what India does with Russia,” Trump said. “They can take their dead economies down together, for all I care.”

Trump also announced a trade deal with Pakistan, including an agreement to develop what he called the country’s massive oil reserves. “Who knows, maybe they’ll be selling oil to India some day!” he said.

In a separate story, The Hindu reported Trump as saying the new tariffs and penalty would be imposed from 1 August. Trump also cited as factors in his decision India’s high tariffs and its “ strenuous and obnoxious” non-monetary barriers to trade.

But the paper quoted the Commerce Ministry as saying India and the US had been negotiating a bilateral trade deal for several months, separate from the “reciprocal” tariffs, and it remained committed to achieving a fair deal.

India had thought a bilateral trade deal would involve some give and take, The Indian Express reported.

India had thought the US would be aware of its traditional red lines, including concerns over GM food and its need to protect the country’s vast subsistence-level manufacturing base. But all of India’s assumptions were now under a cloud, it said.

India would keep on negotiating, the paper said. A deal needed to make sure a gap in tariffs between India and China was maintained. Current thinking was that talks might continue until October, but there was a sense that a final deal could come down to a call between Trump and Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Express said.

In Pakistan, Dawn newspaper said a deal on the tariff rate had been reached, but no figure had been announced. Pakistan was facing a “reciprocal” tariff of 29%, but officials expected the final rate to be lower.

A statement issued by the Pakistani embassy in Washington said the deal marked the beginning of a new era of economic collaboration  with the US, in energy, mines and minerals, IT and cryptocurrency.

Trump said he was in the process of choosing the oil company that would lead the new oil-development partnership.

Footnote: Asia Times, an online news site, carried a commentary that said the EU’s deal with Trump meant it had subordinated itself and was America’s largest-ever vassal state. The deal will impose a 15% tariff on EU exports to the US and see the EU imposing no tariffs on US imports. The EU would commit to buying US$750 billion in US energy products and investing US$600 billion in the US economy (including military purchases). The concessions meant the EU was further ceding its already-reduced sovereignty to the US, the commentary said.

Deep fears over loss of territory behind Thailand-Cambodia conflict

The immediate cause of the outbreak of fighting between Thailand and Cambodia on 24 July remains in doubt, but smouldering tensions flowing from nationalistic feelings in both countries over the historical loss of territory can easily be inflamed by either nation’s leaders.

A detailed and informative essay in The Diplomat, an Asian online magazine, says for many Cambodians and Thais the loss of territory, however small, is closely linked to deep-seated feelings of national loss and humiliation.

The article, by Southeast Asian editor Sebastian Strangio, cites historians to make the case that Cambodia’s loss of political territory since the heyday of the Angkorian empire meant fear of extinction was unusually central to the country’s national story.

Thais are proud of being the only southeast Asian nation to avoid colonisation, but the cost of survival included ceding large tracts of land to the French (Laos and western Cambodian provinces) and the British (northern Malay states). Thais are unnerved by contemporary Cambodia claims because of past humiliating capitulations to Western powers, the essay says.

Early 20th century treaties between the French and Siam (Thailand) set up a joint commission to define new boundaries between Siam and Cambodia. But it never finished its work, leaving large stretches of the border undemarcated.

When looking at the border areas, Thais and Cambodians use two different maps.

This week, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, the current ASEAN chair, negotiated a ceasefire between Thailand and Cambodia. It was no small achievement, as The Jakarta Post, said in an editorial.

To echo Anwar’s words, the editorial said, silencing the guns was a triumph for all of ASEAN.

A commentary in Singapore’s The Straits Times, said the agreement was a diplomatic victory for ASEAN, but it noted the talks came about following pressure from Donald Trump. China was also actively involved and representatives of both powers attended Anwar’s meeting.

“Analysts say the agreement reflects a successful case of ASEAN-led diplomacy, but also highlights the grouping’s reliance on external pressure and proactive chairmanship rather than robust institutional mechanisms,” the commentary said.

The analysis quoted Singapore academic Joanne Lin as saying the real test now lay in verifying the ceasefire and in ASEAN following through to implement its own peace mechanisms.

Ishiba hanging on after historic poll defeat

Japan’s governing coalition has lost control of both houses of parliament for the first time since 1955, as voters switch to populist parties.

In last week’s election for the upper house (the House of Councillors), the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner, Komeito, won 47 seats – three short of a majority. The LDP lost its majority in the House of Representatives in last October’s general election.

A right-wing, anti-immigrant party, Sanseito, won 14 seats in the upper house poll giving it 15 seats in total. The centrist Democratic Party for the People more than doubled its representation, to 22 seats.

An analysis in The Diplomat, the Asian online news magazine, said both were populist parties that capitalised on voters’ concerns about the cost of living.

The article said most of Japan’s neighbours expected Tokyo’s foreign policy to remain stable in the short term. But it said commentators in China saw the LDP’s loss as ushering in a period of turbulence and uncertainty. The rise of the right would lead to the government adopting more provocative policies, such as increasing naval patrols in disputed waters, boosting defence co-operation with Taiwan and cutting Chinese imports.

But an opinion piece in The Korea Herald said the upper house election showed that Japan, long noted for stable, consensus-driven politics, was not immune to the right-wing populist wave that had swept the UK, the US and much of Europe.

The article, written by Robert J. Fouser, an American academic with close ties to South Korea, said support for the Sanseito party came from young voters who felt the “Japanese dream” of good job, a house and a secure retirement was slipping away from them.

“To young voters in Japan, as elsewhere, the established mainstream parties represent the status quo and they want to change,” the article said.

Japan’s Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba faced a turbulent party meeting this week. The Japan Times said he encountered a rising tide of dissent and calls for his resignation – which he dodged.

But The Asahi Shimbun newspaper said its polling showed voters narrowly supported the view that Ishiba should stay in office.

He was backed by 47% of voters, while 41% said he should go, the paper said.

Macron ‘challenges Western diplomatic inertia’

France late last week became the first G7 nation to pledge to recognise the Palestinian state (to be followed, more tentatively, by the UK and Canada). A major country that almost immediately applauded France’s move was Indonesia.

The Indonesian Foreign Ministry welcomed French President Emmanuel Macron’s decision as a positive path to preserving the prospect of an independent state of Palestine.

The Jakarta Post reported that the ministry called on all countries to follow France's lead.

Indonesia recognised Palestine in 1988, the paper said.

In India, The Hindu newspaper said in an editorial Macron showed he was willing to adopt a constructive approach to finding a durable solution to the Gaza war.

It noted that 147 out of 193 UN members, including India, China and Russia, already recognised the Palestinian state.

“But powerful Western nations, with close ties to Israel, have always stopped short of granting official recognition even if professing support for a two-state solution,” the editorial said.

India and Pakistan are bitterly divided but they agree on Palestine. Dawn newspaper reported Pakistan’s Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar as saying the Palestinian question was a test case for the UN and the world.

“It is high time for credible and enforceable international action,” Dar told a UN conference, sponsored by Saudi Arabia and France, on the issue of a two-state solution.

Dawn said in an editorial France’s decision challenged the long-standing diplomatic inertia of Western powers. “France has signalled that the two-state solution is no longer just a talking point,” the editorial said.

The paper published a column by Australia-based commentator Mahir Ali, saying France’s decision exposed the blatant hypocrisy of countries such as Australia that occasionally expressed horror at Israel’s actions, but did not offer to take any steps that might halt the genocide.

North’s punch in the nose for South’s new leader

Lee Jae Myung, South Korea’s new president, began his term in office making overtures to Pyongyang, easing the previous administration’s hardline policies. But all it has produced is a metaphorical punch in the nose from North Korea’s leadership.

Kim Yo-jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said in a statement: “We are not interested in any policy or proposal put forward by Seoul.”

The Korea Times said her statement was the first North Korean pronouncement on the Lee administration, which took office in June.

Lee had sought to resume dialogue with Pyongyang to ease military tension and improve inter-Korean ties, the paper said.

He suspended military propaganda broadcasts near the North-South border, authorised the resumption of humanitarian outreach by several NGOs and called on civic groups to stop launching anti-North Korean leaflets.

His administration had also reportedly stopped radio and TV broadcasts by the country’s spy agency, The Japan Times said. Defectors had said the broadcasts were a key source of information about the outside world.

But Pyongyang was unimpressed, the paper said.

Kim said while Seoul had made sweet remarks about defusing tension and improving relations, South Korea’s blind trust in the US alliance showed the new government’s policies were much the same as their predecessor’s.

Kim also rejected speculation that her brother might attend an APEC meeting in Gyeongju, South Korea, later this year – a meeting US President Donald Trump might attend.

But Kim said Seoul was spinning a daydream with the idea.

The paper quoted South Korea’s Presidential Office as saying it continues to “consistently take actions for peace”.

Taxing trek a tribute to faith and resilience

In July and August every year, devotees take part in a pilgrimage through the rugged Kashmir mountains to a sacred cave that houses a 2.7-metre tall ice sheet they believe to be a symbol of Lord Shiva, a revered Hindu god.

The Amarnath cave, in the Himalayas, is almost 4000 metres above sea level. It is reached by a taxing trek, on foot for most, or on horseback for some, along rocky tracks that wind through the mountains.

The pilgrimage, known as the Amarnath Yatra, this year began on 3 July and will finish on 9 August. The Kashmir Observer said this week that so far almost 400,000 people had made the journey to worship at the holy shrine.

In normal years, the pilgrimage is a parade of devotion and camaraderie, ucanews.com, the Asian Catholic news site, said in a feature article.

“But this year, the mood is unmistakably sombre, the echoes of a tragedy still fresh,” the story said.

The tragedy was the ruthless terrorist attack in Pahalgam on 22 April. It claimed the lives of 26 tourists and pushed India and Pakistan into a brief conflict that had threatened to erupt into war.

This year, security convoys snaked their way along the twisting mountain roads, blue and red lights flashing. Pilgrims were stopped at checkpoints; their belongings were searched and IDs verified.

“Against this backdrop, the Amarnath Yatra — one of Hinduism’s holiest journeys — has become a tribute not just to faith but to human resilience and the yearning for peace,” the story said.

The pilgrimage started after a shepherd noticed a peculiar ice formation in the cave in the late 1700s. A Hindu priest declared the cave to be the mythical home of Lord Shiva.

This year, despite the shadows of fear and sadness, the Amarnath Yatra continues. In the words of the story, it is “a river of humanity flowing against the current of conflict”.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.