Cybersecurity
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Indo-Pacific View
Dear Readers, Welcome to Indo-Pacific Defense FORUM’s issue on enduring partnerships. Partnerships come in many varieties. They can address special or broad interests, including economic, humanitarian, military and political concerns. They can be domestic, regional or global. They can involve governmental, nongovernmental and private sector entities. The United States and its Allies and Partners have built strong partnerships across the…
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Global Commons
U.S. monitoring, disrupting Cuba-PRC spy bases
FORUM Staff Expanded spy stations in Cuba suggest the People’s Republic of China (PRC) is attempting to monitor United States military activities and potentially intercept commercial communications, according to a July 2024 report from the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The study follows a 2023 report by The Wall Street Journal newspaper that the PRC was…
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Global Commons
How China, Russia hope AI will help manipulate information
FORUM Staff Malign actors in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Russia and elsewhere have used artificial intelligence (AI) — although with negligible effect — to enhance manipulated information schemes, according to researchers. OpenAI, the United States-based developer of the AI chatbot ChatGPT, reported in mid-2024 it had detected and disrupted at least five covert influence operations that used its…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC hackers increase aim at Taiwan targets, report says
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS A suspected People’s Republic of China (PRC)-sponsored hacking group has stepped up its targeting of organizations in Taiwan, particularly those in government, education, technology and diplomacy, according to cybersecurity intelligence company Recorded Future. In recent years, relations have deteriorated between the PRC and Taiwan, a self-governed island across the Taiwan Strait that Beijing claims as its territory…
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Features
Alliances and Partnerships
Dr. Alfred Oehlers/Daniel K. Inouye Asia-Pacific Center for Security Studies Photos by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS We often hear that alliances and partnerships are a vital asset. These relationships distinguish the United States from its competitors. They also confer decisive advantages, especially at crucial moments. As the U.S. faces future challenges, it likely will again turn to Allies and Partners for…
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Features
Persistent partnerships in cyberspace
FORUM Staff When Japan Ground Self-Defense Force Lt. Gen. Hiroe Jiro went to Ukraine in 2020, the nation’s sophisticated cyber defenses came as a surprise. It was six years after Russia seized Crimea and invaded eastern Ukraine, launching a yearslong cyber onslaught along the way. Russian-affiliated cyberattacks targeted Ukraine’s Central Election Commission, took down power grids and unleashed malware. Disruptive…
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Northeast Asia
U.N. report: North Korea financing weapons program with cybercrime
United States Strategic Command United Nations investigators say North Korea has stolen billions of dollars in cyberattacks to fund the regime’s weapons of mass destruction. The U.N. found 58 suspected North Korean cyberattacks between 2017 and 2023, valued at about $3 billion, The Associated Press (AP) reported in February 2024. Hacking groups reporting to Pyongyang’s primary foreign intelligence organization continue…
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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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Conflicts - Tensions
Exposing CCP Espionage
FORUM Staff A clearly visible high-altitude balloon traversing the continental United States in late January and early February 2023 — before a U.S. fighter jet shot down the surveillance system — alerted nations to the extent of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) espionage efforts. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has deployed this type of surveillance technology globally before to…
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Northeast Asia
Keen Edge 24 sharpens Australian, Japanese and U.S. defense skills
FORUM Staff Australian Defence Force (ADF), Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) and United States military personnel strengthened joint operational capabilities, refined command and control procedures, and enhanced interoperability during Keen Edge 24. Participants in the early February 2024 command post exercise, part of an annual bilateral series that alternates with Keen Sword field training exercises, used computer simulations to rehearse…
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