Philip Sherwell

Bangkok

Asia Correspondent at The Sunday Times

Often covering Asia - news, analysis, research

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Articles

Trump and Musk just did Myanmar's brutal junta a huge favour

1 month ago | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell |Chiang Mai
I led Taiwan for eight years

2 months ago | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell
How Thailand broke the mould to legalise same-sex marriage

Jan 21, 2025 | nzherald.co.nz | Philip Sherwell

Home / WorldBy Philip SherwellThe Times·21 Jan, 2025 07:00 PM17 mins to readSaveShare this articleReminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read. This month the country becomes one of the few places in Asia to recognise same-sex unions. And among the first to get hitched will be one of its biggest TV stars. On Valentine’s Day, 2014, the Thai TV host Woody and his partner, Ote, invited close friends to a private gathering on a hotel rooftop on the holiday island of Phuket.
South Korea’s ruling MPs boycott impeachment vote to secure president

Dec 6, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell |Peter Stubley

MPs from the ruling party led by Yoon Suk-yeol, South Korea’s embattled president, have walked out of parliament amid raucous scenes to thwart an impeachment motion. Furious opposition legislators shouted “traitors, go back in” as People Power Party (PPP) representatives filed out of the national assembly building.
How ugly scenes at beauty pageant ignited ancient Asian rivalries

Nov 2, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

The judges had delivered their verdicts, the winners were adorned with their crowns and the closing music was playing when drama erupted at the Miss Grand International gala in Bangkok. Beauty contests are renowned for their highly orchestrated displays of glitz and glamour, but this show ended in unscripted turmoil — a finale that reflected not just the intense competition of the pageant world, but also deep Asian rivalries.
The policeman’s son who ‘runs a global hitman ring’ from jail

Oct 19, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

In northern India, followers of the Bishnoi faith gathered last month for their annual ceremony honouring the “forest martyrs” — ancestors massacred in 1730 trying to save revered trees from a rapacious prince who wanted wood for a new palace. The Hindu sect is famous for its commitment to wildlife conservation, following strict tenets laid down more than five centuries ago by its founding guru. But the community is now renowned for a very different association.
Thailand’s new prime minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is Asia’s youngest

Aug 15, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

Nearly 18 years after her father was ousted as Thailand’s prime minister in a coup, Paetongtarn Shinawatra has been appointed to the same role amid the country’s latest political convulsions. At 37, the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra has become the youngest head of government in Asia and joins a select band of female leaders with new families. For the mother of two young children and scion of the most famous clan in Thai politics, surviving in office will be among her main challenges.
Six guests found ‘poisoned’ in Bangkok luxury hotel

Jul 16, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

Six foreign visitors have been found dead of suspected poisoning in a suite at a luxury hotel in Bangkok. The victims, four Vietnamese citizens and two Americans of Vietnamese descent, had been staying in separate rooms at the Grand Hyatt Erawan, one of the Thai capital’s most prestigious hotels, close to several city landmarks and upmarket shopping malls.
‘It’s like prison’: my husband beat me but marriage is for life here

Jul 13, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

When Haidee was 19 she got married because she was pregnant. Her husband hit her and choked her. He slept with other women. He stole her money to buy drugs and to gamble. Nine years ago she left, taking their four children with her. Now 40, and a waitress, she wants nothing more to do with a man who was in prison the last that she heard of him. Except that Haidee lives in the only country apart from the Vatican where divorce is still illegal, so that man remains her husband.
Why Philippine wreck could drag US into showdown with China

Jun 22, 2024 | thetimes.com | Philip Sherwell

In May 1999, the Philippine Navy ran an ageing warship aground on a remote shoal in the South China Sea to fend off a maritime power grab by Beijing. Twenty-five years later, the hulk of the Sierra Madre is still there: a rusting military outpost that now has the potential to detonate a showdown between the world’s two superpowers.