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- Exclusive coverage on Asia's business, economies and politics | Cancel anytime. Offer exclusive to the above link. Terms are subject to change. Above discount open to new subscribers only. | As party congress looms, Xi Jinping set to replace foreign policy leadership Xi Jinping is expected to win a third five-year term at a Chinese Communist Party conclave in Beijing later this year, a mark of the Chinese leader's ruthless determination to upend retirement conventions and rule for life. In foreign policy, a very different story will unfold, with the country's two most senior diplomats preparing to step down in what will be the largest turnover of top personnel in the sector for decades. After nine years as China's top diplomat, the 72-year-old Yang Jiechi is set to leave the Politburo and his post as director of the general office of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission (CFAC) at the 20th party congress, likely to convene in October or November. Read more. |  | One-party state's Cinema Law bans 'reactionary ideas and social evils' If conflict is at the heart of a good movie, then Vietnam's cinematic tussle is this: Can it attract Hollywood to make movies in the country while still censoring filmmakers? The Southeast Asian country last month revised its Cinema Law, detailing the hoops media companies must jump through to get permission for activities from shooting on location to screening films online. One of the aims is to attract production of more blockbusters like "Kong: Skull Island" and Spike Lee's "Da 5 Bloods," but some say Vietnam has lost the plot. The updated law also bans a wide catalog of content, including those deemed to contain "reactionary ideas and social evils." Observers ask whether the one-party state's controls could hamstring a local industry vying with Thailand and the Philippines for investment and trying to move beyond foreigners' obsession with Vietnam War storylines. Read more. |  | Recreational use still far-off prospect as taboos persist from ASEAN to Japan The monks of Wat Jantrawas, a Buddhist temple in Thailand's Phetchaburi Province, sat in a circle and passed around a small dark bottle. One by one they stirred a few drops of cannabis oil into their coffee cups, reminiscing about their youth when the plant, known in Thai as ganja, was commonplace. "In their free time, they used ganja when they talked with each other," said the temple's 71-year-old abbot. As a young man, he had used the plant much like MSG to enhance his cooking. Before Thailand strengthened its narcotics law in 1979, the monks say blue collar laborers regularly consumed cannabis after work. It was also used by artists and musicians to inspire creativity. The evidence can be seen on the walls of Wat Jantrawas and nearby temples. Murals dating back to the reign of King Rama V in the late 1800s depict monks, nobles, soldiers and ordinary people using cannabis to treat maladies, or smoking it with bamboo bongs. Until 1914, it was even an export, shipped in sacks bearing the garuda, the royal standard. Read more. | If you no longer wish to receive information like this, unsubscribe here by unchecking "Receive invites, events and offers from Nikkei Asia and the Nikkei Group" on the "Profile & Newsletters" tab. You need a password registered to log in to your account. Go to the log in window and click "Forgot password?" to register a password. 1-3-7, Otemachi, Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, 100-8066, Japan
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