We check what companies, officials and partners say against what is actually happening on the ground.
Taunggyi, Shan State, MyanmarField visit
Registries, court records and customs data are where we start. In much of Southeast Asia they are incomplete, out of date or arranged to mislead, so we keep going.
Registries, filings, court and customs data, read in the original language.
Analysts visit the site and document what is actually there, with dated photographs.
Who really directs a business, behind its registered structure.
Discreet conversations with people who know. Their identities are never disclosed.
China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
Heavy rare earths for EV motors, wind turbines and defence systems flow out of a Chinese-operated cluster in Kachin State, Myanmar. No one had documented it at site level. Over eleven months, our analysts mapped its sites, operators and registered importer of record.
The data showed the disruption began nine months before it was reported, and that the widely covered 2025 “recovery” was mostly stock being sold down, not restored production.
Clients, entities and sources are protected.
Onsight brings together Cascade Asia’s local research, source inquiries and analysis to explain developments affecting businesses and investors across Asia. Our published study of Danantara, Indonesia’s sovereign wealth fund, ran to three issues in 2026.
“The licence holder and the operating company share one beneficial owner.”
| Corporate registry extract | A1 |
| Analyst field verification | A2 |
| Local-language press | C3 |
The letter rates the source (A to F). The number rates the information (1 to 6).
Short reads from our work in the region.
Tell us the decision and what you need to verify. We’ll reply in confidence with how we would approach it.
