Pakistan assembly approves expanded powers for strongman Asim Munir

Good morning and welcome back to FirstFT Asia. In today’s newsletter:

• Pakistan’s strongman secures expanded powers

• India says deadly New Delhi blast was ‘terrorist incident’

• Japan and China spar over Taiwan

• The ‘Squid Game stock market’

Pakistan’s lower house of parliament has approved a constitutional amendment giving strongman Field Marshal Asim Munir legal immunity for life and expanding his control over the military.

Munir’s new powers: The National assembly passed the proposed changes, which also strip Pakistan’s supreme court of influence over constitutional matters, with the required two-thirds majority during a raucous session yesterday. As the chief of army staff, Munir is already Pakistan’s most powerful figure, but the new amendment bestows upon him the title of “Chief of the Defence Forces”, handing him formal command of the air force and navy as well.

What it means: Analysts said the move gave Munir at least as much influence over the other branches of the military as was previously wielded in Pakistan by outright military dictators. The constitutional changes come as Pakistan faces surging militant violence and simmering border conflicts with India and Afghanistan, but also warming relations with US President Donald Trump, who has called Munir his “favourite field marshal”.

The constitutional amendment will now be referred back to the senate, which is widely expected to pass it again, and then requires the signature of Pakistan’s president Asif Ali Zardari, a step that is considered a formality. Read the full story.

Here’s what else we’re keeping tabs on today:

• Economic data: Australia publishes the October labour force survey and the US report inflation data for the month.

• China-Thailand relations: Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn begins a five-day state visit to China, the first by a Thai monarch since diplomatic relations were established in 1975. (Reuters)

• Results: Tencent and Disney report earnings.

Five more top stories

1. India’s government said a car explosion that killed at least eight people in New Delhi was a terrorist incident “perpetrated by anti-national forces”. Indian security officials said they were examining a possible connection between the explosion and an earlier seizure of bomb-making material near Delhi, which police in Kashmir have linked to Pakistan-based militants. Here are more details.

2. Jeffrey Epstein said Donald Trump “spent hours at my house” with a woman later identified as a victim of sex trafficking, according to email exchanges published yesterday by Democrats on the House oversight committee. The fresh disclosures raise new questions about the US president’s relationship with the disgraced financier.

3. Ride-hailing companies Grab and GoTo are in talks to offer Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund a “golden share” to gain approval for a potential merger that would create a $29bn south-east Asian tech giant. Merger discussions include a proposal to give the sovereign wealth fund Danantara a minority stake in the merged entity, with special rights over the Indonesian arm.

4. Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of Citigroup’s Russian business, as the US bank continues to wind down its exposure to the country in the wake of its war in Ukraine. The Wall Street bank first announced plans to exit the country’s retail market in April 2021 as part of a wider retreat from consumer banking outside the US.

5. The head of Warren Buffett-backed Marubeni has said it is “no longer a trading company” as Trump’s tariffs accelerate the Japanese group’s shift towards investments that are insulated from global trade. Chief executive Masayuki Omoto said a long-term shift towards a polarised global order would lead to an even stronger focus on businesses that operated within individual countries and regions.

News in-depth

Days after Japan’s prime minister and China’s leader promised a new era of co-operation at a leadership summit, blunt comments from Sanae Takaichi about Taiwan and a threatening Chinese response have plunged relations between the countries into turmoil. The row has deepened concerns about the relationship between the two regional heavyweights at a time when unpredictable US policy has changed the calculus in the region.

We’re also reading . . . 

• Business and politics: Trump has summoned some of Wall Street’s biggest names to a White House dinner as the administration faces pressure over US economic performance.

• Artificial intelligence: What if the AI race isn’t about chips at all? June Yoon explains the critical factor that will increasingly determine the pace of progress — and why China has an advantage.

• India’s ‘concert economy’: International artists are putting on big shows but the country needs less red tape and more venues, writes Chris Kay.

Chart of the day

South Korean retail investors are contributing to dramatic swings in the share prices of some US-listed companies, as they take aggressive trading strategies long used in their domestic market to a booming Wall Street. Read more about the “Squid Game” stock market trading behaviour.

Take a break from the news . . . 

Alex Bilmes, HTSI’s longevity correspondent, signs up to a variety of exercise classes to try to understand more about why physical exercise is so important in older age. Here’s what he learnt.