Thai beer heir opens up, Philippine ube’s ‘purple gold rush’: 7 Asia highlights

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. US touts regional ‘balance’ in missile sale to Singapore. What does it mean?

Washington has recently approved a proposed US$22.3 million sale of additional Hellfire missiles to Singapore, with the US State Department declaring that the transfer and associated arms support “will not alter the basic military balance in the region”.