East China Sea (ECS)
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Japan, Philippines deepen defense cooperation amid shared security concerns
FORUM Staff When Japan announced an unprecedented plan in early 2023 to help bolster defense and security in like-minded countries, the Philippines was high on its list. Tokyo’s Official Security Assistance program is expected to provide Manila with radar and satellite communications to strengthen maritime security, Reuters news agency reported, including defending its primary routes in the disputed South China…
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Departments
Japan launching defense tech research agency, advancing railgun project
FORUM Staff Japan plans to create a research agency by 2024 to accelerate defense technology development. The agency will be modeled after the United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and its Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), according to Shigenori Mishima, vice commissioner and chief technology officer at Japan’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency. DARPA is the U.S. Defense Department’s…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC delaying dialogue, improved relations with U.S. through vague, conflicted messaging
FORUM Staff The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) recent ambiguous, contradictory and confused statements on its relations with the United States have left many in the international community questioning the motives behind Beijing’s messaging campaign. The PRC’s newly appointed defense minister, Gen. Li Shangfu, for example, called for peace but threatened war during his speech at the prestigious Shangri-La Dialogue,…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
Defense leaders at Shangri-La Dialogue call for discourse, upholding international law
FORUM Staff Communication and coordination were major themes at the 20th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore in early June 2023. More than 600 delegates from 49 nations attended the security forum, which draws defense officials, senior military officers, diplomats and analysts from around the world. Opening the summit, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese described dialogue as a crucial guardrail among nations and…
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Global Commons
Drones, lasers central to Japan’s defense plans
Marc Jacob Prosser A 10-kilowatt laser targets a drone more than a kilometer away. Within seconds, the drone is downed. The event, captured on video, highlighted Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ anti-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) laser during the Defence and Security Equipment International 2023 exposition in Japan. The defense manufacturer expects to deliver a prototype to Japan’s Ministry of Defense (MoD) in…
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Features
Maritime Transparency
James McAden/HawkEye 360 Radio frequency (RF) space-based technologies aid in maritime domain awareness (MDA) and in the detection of dark vessels or dark ships. At sea, such vessels have disabled their automatic identification system (AIS) responders to avoid the tracking of their location, identity, course and speed, potentially to carry out nefarious activities. MDA poses a challenge, particularly given nations’…
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Features
Defining Sovereignty
Dr. John Hemmings/PACIFIC FORUM INTERNATIONAL Sovereignty is one of the most important concepts in international relations — perhaps as important as power for its central role in guiding state relations and setting the baseline for a rules-based order. The Treaty of Westphalia, signed in Europe in 1648 after the Thirty Years’ War, established the concept of the sovereign state. In…
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Features
Security Action
Fumio Kishida/Prime Minister, Japan | PHOTOS BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida delivered this opening keynote address at the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on June 10, 2022. It has been edited to fit FORUM’s format. With the very foundations of the international order being shaken by Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, the international community stands at…
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
CCP’s ‘second navy’ an increasing menace in East China, South China seas
FORUM Staff The burgeoning and assertive Chinese coast guard (CCG) is becoming more visible, and troublesome, in disputed waters of the Indo-Pacific. From Indonesia and Vietnam to Japan and the Philippines, the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) fleet of about 150 coast guard ships increasingly lurks off neighboring states’ shores, sometimes clashing with vessels pursuing fish, oil and gas, and minerals.…
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Asymmetric Threats
Pulling Back the Curtain
A revealing analysis of Chinese maritime militia
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