Conflicts / Tensions
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Conflicts - Tensions
Illegal Catch
FORUM Staff The Marshall Islands advanced the battle against illegal fishing in June 2024 when the Pacific island nation of 82,000 people officially became a party to the international contract known as the Port State Measures Agreement (PSMA). The treaty, conceived and implemented by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), sets standards for regulating fishing vessels entering foreign…
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Features
Island Security
FORUM Staff Papua New Guinea (PNG) celebrates the 50th anniversary of its independence from Australia on September 16, 2025. Buildings will be draped in the national colors of red, black and gold and expect a ceremonial flag-raising; parades; sporting events; and cultural festivals with music, dances and costumes. Rehearsals began in 2023 when the country’s Department of Personnel Management urged…
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Features
Defending Taiwan
Dr. Shale Horowitz/University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Taiwan’s survival as a democracy and free society is under imminent threat. While invasion and blockade are the greatest dangers, economic and political threats also demand attention. All are interdependent, and all require close and continuing cooperation among Japan, Taiwan, the United States, and other Allies and Partners. Over the past decade, significant progress has…
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Features
Maritime Maneuvers
FORUM Staff Ukraine, in its fight against Russia’s illegal invasion, is showcasing a military asset that could benefit Taiwan. To maintain a Free and Open Indo-Pacific and to deter the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) military from invading the self-governed island, experts say Taiwan should track Ukraine’s use of uncrewed surface vessels (USV), called sea or maritime drones, and the damage…
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Features
Swarm Storm
FORUM Staff Great Britain and the United States developed the first pilotless vehicles during World War I. Britain tested its Aerial Target, a small radio-controlled aircraft, in March 1917 and the U.S. Kettering Bug, an aerial torpedo, flew its maiden voyage in October 1918, according to the London-based Imperial War Museums Institute. Both showed promise in tests, but neither flew…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Fit for Purpose
FORUM Staff | Photos by AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE DEPARTMENT The mission was critical; the timeline telling: Conduct a comprehensive review of Australia’s defense strategy and force posture — perhaps the nation’s most consequential such analysis in more than three decades — and issue recommendations within six months, rather than the 18 months typical for such an undertaking. “Now that’s a tall…
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Conflicts - Tensions
A Nuclear Shift
FORUM Staff During the past decade, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has doubled its combat missile brigades within the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF), unveiling missiles capable of launching conventional and nuclear warheads and touting technology to evade missile defense. “The technologies and deployment patterns of these weapons are important indications of the direction of China’s force posture,”…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Slippery Moves
FORUM STAFF A dearth of modern tanker ships willing to carry sanctioned Russian oil has given rise to a “shadow” fleet of more than 600 past-their-prime vessels that deliver crude and refined petroleum to receptive nations. The vessels elude detection by obscuring their ownership, turning off automatic identification system (AIS) devices, transferring cargo at sea and “spoofing,” or broadcasting a…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC’s global security initiative contradicts actions
Dr. Jinghao Zhou The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) foreign ministry released a paper in February 2023 addressing international security challenges and solutions. The Global Security Initiative (GSI) reflected a speech by Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping 10 months earlier in which he unveiled his GSI proposal. It is imperative that those who question recent CCP actions…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Sharp Edges
Dr. Jake Wallis/Australian Strategic Policy Institute Under an assertive Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is building a global propaganda system designed to reshape the international order. This is a more complex challenge than that posed by other authoritarian states in the information domain, even more so than Russia’s disruptive integration of…
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