Governance
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Conflicts - Tensions
Australian, island nations’ police to respond to Blue Pacific emergencies
FORUM Staff A new multinational police force based in Australia will provide security for Blue Pacific nations while also serving as a deterrent to the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) push to embed itself with law enforcement agencies in the region. The $271 million Pacific Policing Initiative, underwritten by Australia, includes a new training facility in Brisbane and up to…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Palau’s upcoming election triggers concern over PRC manipulated information
Jessica Caterson Palau, a Blue Pacific nation of 22,000 people, will hold its presidential election in November 2024. It comes amid increasing influence attempts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and a potential manipulated information campaign aimed at swaying results, a frequent strategy of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Palau, in conjunction with Taiwan and the United States, began…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Myanmar military on verge of falling from power, analysts say
Dr. Miemie Winn Byrd The Myanmar military junta faces imminent collapse, even though many analysts believed it was “too big to fail” at the start of the country’s armed resistance to restore democracy. The junta seized power in a February 2021 coup, but the resistance coalition’s ongoing Operation 1027, named for its launch date of October 27, 2023, has weakened…
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Conflicts - Tensions
PRC’s economic woes cast cloud on Xi’s policies
FORUM Staff The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) economy, currently the world’s second largest, continues to sputter, with growth slowing to 4.7% in the second quarter, a drop from 5.3% in the first quarter and lower than forecast, according to analysts. At the same, many analysts doubt the PRC can readily correct course to ease economic hardships for its citizens…
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Conflicts - Tensions
China changes Uyghur village names ‘to erase cultural and religious expression,’ group says
Radio Free Asia The People’s Republic of China (PRC) changed the names of about 630 Uyghur villages as part of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) campaign to stamp out ethnic diversity in Xinjiang, a human rights group found. The CCP aims “to erase the cultural and religious expression” of the more than 11 million predominantly Muslim Uyghurs living in the…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Taiwan’s new president affirms quest for peace, stability
FORUM Staff At his recent inauguration, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te affirmed his pledge to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait. Lai, elected in January 2024 after serving as vice president since 2020, again called for dialogue between the leaders of the self-governed island and the People’s Republic of China (PRC), which are separated by the 180-kilometer-wide Taiwan Strait. Lai urged…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Taiwan begins extended conscription in response to PRC threat
Reuters New recruits began serving one-year compulsory military service in Taiwan in late January 2024 after the conscription period was extended from four months over concerns about the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) rising military threat. Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen announced the extension in late 2022. The PRC has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure to assert its claims…
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Conflicts - Tensions
How Taiwan beat back disinformation and preserved election integrity
The Associated Press The rumors about vote fraud started swirling as the ballots in Taiwan’s presidential election were being tallied in mid-January 2024. There were baseless claims that people had fabricated votes and that officials had miscounted and skewed the results. In a widely shared video, a woman recording votes mistakenly enters one in the column for the wrong candidate.…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Experts: CCP’s military purge will escalate
FORUM Staff As 2023 waned, the purge of defense officials in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) intensified, especially among those associated with an elite missile unit. The state-run Xinhua News Agency reported the ouster of nine generals from the National People’s Congress, which is considered a “rubber-stamp parliament” for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Five of the generals were…
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