From scam cities to Labubu: Asia’s worst to best in 2025

From typhoons to tariffs and continued Chinese encroachments in the West Philippine Sea, the year 2025 brought significant challenges to the Philippines from abroad and at home. As the year ended, the hunt continues for justice for victims of extra-judicial killings during the rule of now detained-in-The-Hague former president Rodrigo Duterte and anger continues over endemic corruption and non-existent flood control projects that could well have saved hundreds of lives. 

What a year this has been. Understandably for many, it could not be over soon enough. 

As we have done for a decade now, we look back and see who had it bad and who had it good. In 2024, we put the spotlight on the region’s climate victims and on a pygmy hippo from Thailand gone viral, Moo Deng. 

Here’s one last look at Asia’s worst to best in 2025. 

Worst year: Asia’s cyberscam victims

The victims are both the scammers and the scammed in the still growing tsunami of cybercrime sweeping across the globe from Southeast Asia. Criminal gangs largely operating out of Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia — dateline “Scambodia” — have defrauded billions of dollars from victims worldwide.

The perpetrators? Hundreds of thousands of individuals — including from the Philippines — are enticed with fake employment offers to these nations, many transiting via Thailand, then held against their will, enslaved to work in these scam centers. The kidnapping of Chinese actor Wang Xing, who was lured by a fraudulent acting gig in early 2025, then forced to work in one operation, brought heightened attention to this growing crisis. Even the Trump Administration has taken notice. “The scam centers are creating a generational wealth transfer from Main Street America into the pockets of Chinese organized crime,” states US Attorney Jeanine Pirro. 

Weak governments and corruption allow these multi-billion dollar criminal enterprises to operate, despite high-profile efforts to free captives and close compounds that have operated with near impunity in Southeast Asia. Unless stopped, these operations will only grow more sophisticated as they begin to use AI and deepfakes to perpetrate their crimes. Criminals too often seem to call the shots in “scam cities.” Despite growing visibility, Asia’s enslaved cyber scam victims earn the distinction of worst year in Asia, with sadly far too little hope for escape and rescue in sight. 

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Bad year: Everyday casualties of earth, wind, water, and fire 

The death count across large swaths of Asia seemed to accelerate by year’s end — including in the Philippines as typhoons including Tino (Kalmaegi): Uwan (Fung-Wong) and Nando (Ragasa) battered the nation. Throughout all of 2025, too many people fell victim to not just natural disasters, but also the impact of earthquakes, typhoons and floods seemingly made worse by the hands of man, whether corruption or ineptness. 

A March 28 earthquake in Myanmar killed well over 3,600, displaced some 200,000 and even brought down a skyscraper under construction across the border in distant Bangkok, killing dozens more. From the Philippines to Sri Lanka to Thailand to Indonesia to Vietnam to Malaysia, floods, mudslides and typhoons combined to impact millions and kill more than 1,800 toward year’s end. 

Add fire to the mix. The year closed with the horrific Wang Fuk Court apartment complex fire in Tai Po, Hong Kong. Televised scenes of towering infernos seemingly from a disaster movie were seen worldwide. Inoperable fire alarms and below grade construction materials reportedly exacerbated the heartbreaking 2025 tragedy, which killed at least 160 people — making it one of the deadliest fires in the city’s history. 

Mixed Year: Region’s Gen Z uprisings

Armed with memes, hashtags, and reels and some waving the Jolly Roger Flag popularized by the Japanese anime and manga series One Piece, a Generation Z hungering for change had a mixed year in 2025.  Many in this cohort of young people born between 1997 and 2012 took to the streets — including in the Philippines, Nepal, Indonesia, the Maldives and even in new ASEAN member state Timor-Leste — to protest corruption, nepotism, and economic inequality. The results were decidedly mixed though their frustrations seemed all too common in Asia. 

These “digital natives” succeeded in bringing down Nepal’s government. This followed this generation’s role in 2024 helping bring down the government of Bangladesh. In other countries, small concessions were achieved in 2025. Yet, at year-end, the question remains whether Gen Z — the first generation to fully grow up in the internet era — is able to maintain momentum and turn these uprisings into a viable movement for constructive change. 

The shared hope remains for a political force that can reform entrenched and corrupt systems, alleviate youth’s deep frustration with the status quo and bring about more economic opportunities. To quote Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece, “If you don’t take risks, you can’t create a future.” 

Good Year: Asia’s ‘bamboo economic tactics’ 

Resilience was in full display across Asia’s slowing but still growing economies at year-end.  Leaders across Asia adopted flexible, adaptive strategies — akin to bamboo bending in high winds — to navigate Trump’s “liberation day” tariffs. Indeed. It proved a good year for this “bet” on  “bamboo economic tactics” as the region’s reputation for pragmatism held and countries were able to manage the new global economic reality. 

This approach led to reduced albeit still higher US tariffs — down from initial proposals for many — and revamped trade configurations and new economic strategies. One example is the India, Canada, and Australia cooperation agreement on technology and innovation, underscoring Asian nations’ own “Art of the Deal.” This recalibration allowed developing Asia overall to achieve growth hovering around 5% for the year, according to the Asian Development Bank. This also kept Asia on track overall as still the world’s fastest-growing region in the world. 

Best Year: Chinese Soft Power

If tech and creative content are the new soft power, this past year showed that “Made In China” could be a contender, with China joining the ranks of the United States and Korea as a soft powerhouse.  

The year began with the January surprise that was the launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek in a world once enamored by ChatGPT and American tech prowess. And by year-end, it was clear that the “elvish creature” and iconic Pop Mart collectible known as Labubu had taken the world by storm, even appearing in New York City’s iconic Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Labubu herself is part of a larger group of characters called “The Monsters,” created by Hong Kong artist and author Kasing Lung.

From BYD electric vehicles to the biggest animated film in the world ever — Ne Zha 2 (grossing some $1.9 billion) — to Li-Ning sneakers appearing on NBA courts and Luckin Coffee shops opening at a rapid pace throughout Asia and the United States, Chinese soft power was clearly on the rise in 2025, and so receives the distinction for best year in Asia. 

Here’s to a better, safer and more peaceful year for the Philippines and all around the region and world in 2026.  – Rappler.com

Curtis S. Chin, a former US ambassador to the Asian Development Bank, is managing director of advisory firm RiverPeak Group and chair, senior fellows at Milken Institute.

Jose B. Collazo is an analyst focusing on the Indo-Pacific region.

Follow them on X at @CurtisSChin and @JoseBCollazo.