Canada
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Northeast Asia
Canada, South Korea expand defense industry collaboration, eye joint security initiatives
Felix Kim Canada and South Korea are advancing defense cooperation in line with their comprehensive strategic partnership and shared security concerns in the Indo-Pacific. During his September 2024 visit to Seoul, Canadian Defence Minister Bill Blair reaffirmed his nation’s long-standing commitment to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula. He noted that since the 1950-53 Korean War, in which more…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Human rights advocates, investigators document CCP’s transnational repression
FORUM Staff Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked intimidation, harassment and violence during CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco, California, sought to silence criticism of Beijing’s repressive policies. CCP supporters appeared to coordinate actions that ranged from stealing protest signs to beating demonstrators, according to investigations by The Washington Post newspaper, and the Hong Kong Democracy Council and Students…
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Features
Trained, Prepared, Forward
FORUM Staff A helicopter hovers within arm’s reach of a Soldier astride a howitzer. Dust and rain lash New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) and United States Army personnel under storm-darkened skies and thundering aircraft at Helemano Military Reservation, Hawaii. Sling load training, one facet of the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center (JPMRC) drills occurring across the archipelago’s eight main islands, demonstrates…
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Partnerships
France, Philippines deepen defense cooperation amid Indo-Pacific tensions
Maria T. Reyes A French Air and Space Force contingent on the Pegase 2024 mission stopped in the Philippines for the first time in July as part of France’s annual Indo-Pacific deployment to demonstrate combat power and air diplomacy. France and the Philippines have been steadily increasing their security engagements and deepening their defense ties. In recent months, the nations…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Beijing spreads manipulated message; Philippines, Allies and Partners strengthen security
FORUM Staff With the People’s Republic of China (PRC) facing international opposition to its coercion campaign in the South China Sea, its operatives are trying to change the narrative by amplifying a debunked deepfake video. The latest high-tech hoax targeting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. — a discredited clip that purports to show Marcos using an illicit drug — was…
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Northeast Asia
Allies, partners enhance all-domain readiness with military exercises across Indo-Pacific
FORUM Staff More than 30 allied and partner militaries deployed personnel, aircraft, ships, submarines, uncrewed vehicles and other assets across the Indo-Pacific in mid-2024. The multinational, near-simultaneous exercises Pitch Black, Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) and Valiant Shield stretched from Oceania and the Western Pacific to Northeast Asia. Tens of thousands of troops joined the all-domain training to build interoperability…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Expanded Valiant Shield 2024 highlights advanced warfighting capabilities in Indo-Pacific
FORUM Staff A series of firsts marked Valiant Shield 2024. The 12-day biennial exercise in Guam, Japan, the Northern Mariana Islands, Palau and other Indo-Pacific locations allowed the United States and Allies and Partners to focus on interoperability in a multidomain environment. The exercise prepared forces to rapidly respond to crises and contingencies across a spectrum of operations from humanitarian…
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Features
Transregional Commitments to the Indo-Pacific
Forum Staff With deepening power competition, population shifts and growing economies in the Indo-Pacific, global stakeholders are refining, and in many cases expanding, their strategic investments and presence in the region. Many now count a Free and Open Indo-Pacific as vital to their own geopolitical and economic success. “The vast majority of countries throughout the region have rallied around the…
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Northeast Asia
PLA’s dangerous moves seek to shield North Korea from sanctions enforcement
FORUM Staff The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) recent “unsafe and unprofessional” intercept of a Royal Australian Navy helicopter highlights a pattern of dangerous maneuvers aimed at sanctions enforcers. Beijing supported United Nations sanctions to deter North Korea’s destabilizing nuclear and weapons programs, but has undermined the international measures by allowing violators to use Chinese infrastructure and territorial waters to…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
PLA’s coordinated coercion aims to erode international law
FORUM Staff International leaders have for years denounced China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) for unsafe intercepts of military aircraft in international airspace and risky maneuvers on the high seas, as well as the Chinese coast guard and maritime militia’s aggressive tactics in the waters of sovereign nations. The coercive and dangerous moves are part of a concerted attempt to discourage…
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