It features a northward shift of the WPSH resulting in an underestimation of rainfall along the monsoon rainfall band from southern China to Japan, and an overestimation of rainfall over the SCS and WNP. Moreover, the rainfall over north India and BOB is also underestimated in most CMIP5 models mainly due to the biases in reproducing the intensity of the cross-equatorial flow over the western Indian Ocean and the associated westerly winds along 10°–15°N. The rainfall maximum over two monsoon regions of northern India–BOB and from central China to Japan are missed in almost all the models, suggesting that simulation of the ASM rainfall remains a challenge for current climate models