The landslide snap election gamble in Japan of the extremely popular 64-year-old Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, a hardline conservative and nationalist who came to power less than four months ago, has far greater foreign policy implications than economic ones, despite the focus on the impact on an already very weak yen.

Indonesia and Australia have formalised their security partnership through a binding Treaty on Common Security, signed during Prime Minister Albanese's visit in early February, alongside a non-binding economic cooperation memorandum. The security treaty, anchored in UNCLOS principles, provides legal clarity and deterrence mechanisms in the increasingly contested South China Sea maritime region, where water-cannon incidents and dangerous manoeuvres between vessels have become commonplace.

Bangladesh will seek to reboot democracy amid continuing sectarian violence that threatens February 12 polls to elect its Jatiya Sansad, the national parliament, with United Nations secretary-general António Guterres refusing to send election observers out of concerns over unrest.

Bhumjaithai, the royalist, business-oriented party headed by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, appears to have won the gamble it made last September via an alliance with the opposition, reform-oriented People’s Party, promising new elections within four months along with a commitment to reform the 2017 constitution drafted and adopted under the military-backed government.