Deja vu is a French phrase for the eerie phenomenon of feeling that you’ve experienced something that you know you haven’t. None of us has lived through 2025, yet as it dawns there’s a clear sense of familiarity – and trepidation.
A key trigger for this sense of deja vu is Donald Trump’s return to the U.S. presidency. Across Asia, governments and societies are holding their breath: What version of Trump will enter the White House on January 20? Where will his praise fall? Where will his ire find aim?
But that’s not all that dredges up memories of the pre-pandemic past: South Korea starts the year in political limbo, having once again impeached a president in December; and China is again in the midst of a corruption crackdown, this time targeted at the country’s military. Japan may be heading back toward the days when it changed prime ministers with alarming frequency. Tensions are flaring up in the South China Sea while militancy creeps back in Pakistan.
We’ve once again asked our authors what they’re paying attention to as 2025 dawns across the regions we cover. If there are any true throughlines, it’s these: Across the Asia-Pacific governments are wrestling with the known unknown of a second Trump presidency; meanwhile, they’re facing domestic upheaval, whether economic or social in character, that complicates and constrains their options.
The geopolitical atmosphere is charged – where will the lightning strike next?
Click through to read the full outlook.