PRC / China
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Free and Open Indo-Pacific/FOIP
U.S., Allies, Partners look to confidence-building measures to protect sea routes, enhance security
FORUM Staff With Indo-Pacific tensions mounting over territorial disputes, increasing maritime incidents and expanding gray-zone activities, militaries are turning to confidence-building measures (CBMs) to maintain peace. CBMs are agreements among two or more entities on conducting information exchanges and verification processes that cover military forces, weapons and equipment. The measures, as described in military doctrine, strive to increase transparency and…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Taiwan urges PRC to stop ‘destructive’ military activities
Reuters Taiwan’s Defense Ministry urged the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to stop “destructive, unilateral action” after reporting a sharp rise in military activities near the self-governed island in mid-September 2023, warning that such behavior could spike tensions. The Chinese Communist Party, which claims Taiwan as its territory even though it has never been part of the PRC, has staged…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Allies, partners prepare to counter PRC maneuvers to block sea lines of communication
FORUM Staff The People’s Republic of China (PRC) continues to threaten sea lines of communication (SLOCs) worldwide, undermining international maritime security norms and laws. In 2023, for example, the PRC has repeatedly postured to potentially blockade the Taiwan Strait through which more than a trillion dollars in trade passes every year. In April, the PRC sent patrol vessels, sanctioned by…
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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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Conflicts - Tensions
Taiwan says CCP updating coastline military bases facing the self-governed island
The Associated Press The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is continuously bolstering its military bases along the coastline facing Taiwan, the island’s Defense Ministry reported in mid-September 2023, as Beijing steps up military activities around the self-governed territory it threatens to annex by force. Taiwan said it will continue monitoring the CCP’s activities around the island and strengthen its defenses in…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Vietnam, others oppose Chinese construction on Triton Island in South China Sea
FORUM Staff Recently obtained satellite imagery shows what analysts believe to be a runway or road being built by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Triton Island, part of the Paracel Island group, in the disputed South China Sea. What experts find significant about the discovery is that the Chinese-controlled island’s location is the closest to Vietnam in the disputed…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Malaysia, Philippines, Taiwan reject PRC’s latest South China Sea map
REUTERS The Philippines, Malaysia and Taiwan have rejected as baseless a map released by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) that denotes its claims to sovereignty including in the South China Sea. Beijing released the map in late August 2023 of its notorious U-shaped line covering about 90% of the South China Sea, a source of many of the disputes…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Countering China’s Cognitive Viruses
Maj. Ya-Chi Huang/Taiwan Army In recent years, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has conducted information operations and cognitive operations through “content farms” — websites and associated entities that churn out massive amounts of low-quality content for propaganda — to influence Taiwan’s people and provoke internal conflicts on the self-governed island, which the PRC claims must be unified with the…
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Global Commons
Nearly 2 million deaths followed PRC’s sudden end of COVID-19 curbs, study says
Reuters The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) abrupt move to dismantle its strict COVID-19 regime, which unleashed the virus on China’s 1.4 billion residents, could have led to nearly 2 million excess deaths in the following two months, a new study shows. The study by the United States-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center was taken from a sample of mortality data published…
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Conflicts - Tensions
Chinese citizens outraged at CCP’s diversion of floodwaters, lack of assistance
FORUM Staff Typhoon Doksuri caused record flooding in northern China in July and early August 2023, pushing reservoirs beyond their capacity, killing at least 60 people and displacing more than 1.5 million, according to news reports. The devastating flooding washed away cars, bridges, homes and livelihoods. Many residents contend that provincial Chinese Communist Party (CCP) authorities worsened the damage by…
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