Briefing MONTHLY #98 | July 2026

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China’s dignitaries do not travel solo to international forums. Often others are obliged to flatten themselves along a wall to make way for the phalanx of sober-suited men and women that surround a Minister as they march to the next meeting. Every minute is scheduled. So, one must wonder about the ‘chance’ encounter between China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Japanese counterpart Toshimitsu Motegi in Manila.

Motegi told reporters the two men spoke when they and their entourages happened to pass each other. Sino-Japanese relations have deteriorated rapidly in recent months to the point where a formal bilateral meeting was not possible. A corridor encounter – whether coincidental or not – is the next best thing.

The rendezvous demonstrates why these forums are important. Getting powerful people in one place matters. This is the ‘convening power’ that ASEAN’s detractors often overlook. ASEAN’s operating clout, particularly in relation to Myanmar, is a whole other matter (see NEIGHBOURHOOD WATCH).

This month we also look at Japan’s problem with royal women, a tech commune that’s run into trouble in Malaysia, the shock resignation of Indonesia’s lead central banker, and what Foreign Minister Penny Wong worries about late at night.

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Emma Connors
Briefing MONTHLY editor

It was touted as the initiative that would bring the ghost metropolis of Forest City in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor to life. Until this month that is, when the self-described “tech-forward community” of Network School ran into its own problems. A pro-Palestinian group claimed Israeli citizens were among the 300 or so people living at Network School, and the reaction was swift. Malaysia does not recognise the state of Israel, meaning anyone travelling on an Israeli passport will be refused entry, unless special permission was obtained beforehand.

The furore is one more chapter in the frankly bizarre history of Forest City, which is built on mostly reclaimed land off the Johor coast. An estimated $100 billion was spent erecting high-rise buildings to house almost one million people about a 25-minute drive from Singapore's southwest coast. But the people didn’t arrive. There are plenty of YouTube videos that will walk you through deserted boulevards of the ghost metropolis.

Then in 2024 along came Balaji Srinivasan, a serial entrepreneur turned venture capitalist and very cashed-up cyber bro with a suitably ambitious agenda.

“My friend Bryan Johnson wants to live forever. Sam Altman wants to build a machine super intelligence. Elon wants to get to Mars. I just want to start a new country,” he told The Further Faster Podcast a couple of weeks ago.

His vision starts with Network School which, he says, competes with America’s tech powerhouse of “Stanford, Palo Alto, San Francisco and California.” On the podcast, he talks about getting 700,000 people to this locale, each paying upwards of $US1500 a month for catered accommodation with lots of shared workspaces and presumably pretty good broadband. The online promotions look a bit like a cult of permanently smiling 30-somethings (see here and below). This helps explain why Singapore and Malaysian media describe it as a tech commune. Still, there have many attempts to recreate Silicon Valley and the riches and life-altering tech it has produced. Perhaps this version is one that could take.

But it won’t be happening in Johor.