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Flashpoints
Will China’s military rival the United States’ in the Pacific? Will Japan abandon the constitutional fetters on its own military? How will India respond to the String of Pearls strategy? The Diplomat has put together a team of leading analysts to offer must-read, regular commentary on the big defense and security issues in the Asia-Pacific.
September 24, 2021
What to Expect From the First In-Person Quad Summit
By Rupakjyoti Borah
A preview of the Australia-India-Japan-U.S. summit, and what it will mean for the Indo-Pacific region.
September 23, 2021
Does AUKUS Augment or Diminish the Quad?
By Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
AUKUS fits into a growing network of minilaterials crisscrossing the Indo-Pacific and rooted in shared strategic interests.
September 22, 2021
South Korea Commits to Combatting Increased Ransomware Attacks
By Jason Bartlett
Ransomware functions as an inexpensive tool to disrupt both major and minor network systems with potentially high financial gain.
September 21, 2021
Taiwanese Presidents Will Not and Can Not Unilaterally Change Taiwan’s Status
By Brian Hioe and Lev Nachman
A single leader cannot make Taiwan independent or unify it with the People Republic of China. Even trying either course would be political suicide.
September 21, 2021
France Seeks European Support After AUKUS Submarine Deal Surprise
By Angela Charlton
“It’s not just a Franco-Australian affair, but a rupture of trust in alliances,” France’s foreign minister declared.
September 20, 2021
What Do North Korea’s Latest Missile Launches Mean?
By Mitch Shin
Sometimes a missile test is just a missile test, without any grand diplomatic messaging.
September 18, 2021
AUKUS and Submarines: The Fallout for France
By Valerie Niquet and Marianne Peron-Doise
The less-than-strategic decision will discourage one of Europe’s most forward-leaning actors in the Indo-Pacific.
September 18, 2021
Afghanistan, Taiwan, and America’s ‘Fighting Spirit’
By Andrei Lungu
Long before the Afghanistan withdrawal, China had become convinced that the U.S. does not have the stomach for a protracted fight over Taiwan.
September 17, 2021
Chinese Disinformation Operations: What Central and Eastern Europe Can Learn From Taiwan
By Alicja Bachulska and Lin Pu
The Taiwanese government and civil society’s tough, yet successful, battle against Chinese propaganda can be a lesson for democracies in the CEE region.
September 16, 2021
Australia-India 2+2 Dialogue: Converging Interests
By Rajeswari Pillai Rajagopalan
New Delhi and Canberra have had to bear the brunt of increasingly belligerent Chinese behavior in the Indo-Pacific, pushing their bilateral relationship to new heights.
September 16, 2021
What Do Russians Think About the Relationship With China?
By Craig Kafura
U.S. policymakers want to split up Moscow and Beijing, but Russians see benefits to closer Sino-Russian ties.
September 11, 2021
Parsing Japan’s Support for Taiwan
By Pamela Kennedy
The Japan-Taiwan renaissance seen in 2021 may not last, but one element will certainly stay: the public acknowledgment that Taiwan and Japan’s security are linked.
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