Welcome to the Year of the Horse: Asia's Winners and Losers as Region Says Sayonara to 2025

Enter the Horse. Exit the Snake. As we have done for a decade now, we look back at Asia's winners and losers, as one year ends and another begins.

Breaking the ultimate glass ceiling to become Japan's first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi certainly had a good year, her popularity bolstered by year-end as she stood by her own words in a verbal battle with China.

*Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi holds a New Year press conference on January 5, Ise City, Mie Prefecture (©Sankei by Yasushi Kawamura).*

The World Expo 2025 held in Osaka, Kansai, also completed a six-month run that ultimately proved a resounding success in terms of attendance and finances. A record national defense budget and a record number of reported bear attacks also marked the year.

In 2024, we put the spotlight on the region's climate victims and on a pygmy hippo from Thailand gone viral, Moo Deng.

Welcome 2025: Sayonara and Good Riddance to 2024

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

Worst Year: Asia's Cyber Scam 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 are enticed to these nations with fake employment offers. Many transit via Thailand, and then are 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," stated United States 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 having the worst year in Asia, with sadly, far too little hope for escape and rescue in sight.

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. 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 through 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 Sri Lanka to Thailand to Indonesia to Vietnam to Malaysia and the Philippines, floods, mudslides, and typhoons combined to impact millions and kill more than 1,800 toward year's end.

*A massive fire also broke out, engulfing a high-rise apartment complex in northern Hong Kong on November 26. (©Kyodo)*

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 Nepal, Indonesia, the Philippines, the Maldives, and even in the new ASEAN member state, Timor-Leste. They protested 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. That followed their 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 Donald 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. It underscored 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.

It 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 has shown that "Made In China" could be a contender, with China joining the ranks of the United States and Korea as a soft-power powerhouse.

The year began with the January surprise: 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 it receives the distinction for best year in Asia.

Here's to a better, safer and more peaceful year for all in 2026 as the Year of the Horse begins.

Authors: Curtis S Chin & Jose B Collazo

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.