ISDP Voices

President Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka last month postponed the local government elections scheduled for March 9, 2023. “This is the height of absurdity,” explained senior parliamentarian M. A. Sumanthiran. Despite the executive decision to postpone, Sri Lanka’s top court ordered the government to proceed with the delayed local election, overruling President Wickremesinghe, who argued […]

The Indo-Pacific has rapidly become the global geopolitical and geo-economic epicenter, encompassing roughly two-thirds of the world’s population, global GDP, and international maritime trade, as well as some of the world’s most important strategic challenges. By Indo-Pacific, we generally refer to a macro-region stretching from East Africa to West America – thus decentralizing China’s strategic […]

“No partner is closer and more capable than Japan,” gushed NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg during his visit to Japan in early 2023. These words were welcomed in Japan, a country beset by multiple threats – from a potential war with China over Taiwan to an increasingly erratic, nuclear-armed North Korea. It is little surprise […]

On February 2, 2023, the U.S. got access to the four additional bases requested in the Philippines by fully implementing the signed Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA)  in 2014. Though it took time, this agreement gives American forces more extensive access to the region. The agreement states that the U.S. forces will be able to […]

In the event of February 24 marking a year to the Russia-Ukraine War, the People’s Republic of China (PRC), unlike any other country, released a position paper calling for the “Political Settlement of the Ukraine Crisis” suggesting that “dialogue and negotiation are the only viable solution to the Ukraine crisis”. China’s position paper on the […]

Prior to the occurrence of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched at the World Economic Forum (WEF) annual meeting at Davos in January 2017. CEPI was initiated as a “billion-dollar project” in order to develop and prepare necessary vaccines prior to the outbreak of endemics or pandemics. Japan, […]

South Korea’s political and strategic ties with Europe are on the ascendancy. In recent years, in particular, the countries of Northern and Central Europe have grown to become important customers for the South Korean arms industry. A number of factors have contributed to this, but with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, political reasons have come […]

Formal court proceedings in the Hong Kong Primaries Election Case began on February 6, 2023, and the trial is expected to last for at least 90 days. Media in Hong Kong have reported this trial in the mainstream newspapers and are expected to further report the same. The case has attracted considerable international media attention […]

The most important lesson of 2022 for all those who are interested in international politics was that nothing is impossible and no prediction even by the most famous of analysts can be taken for granted. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Zelensky’s resistance, and the Russian pushback were only part of the unpredictability of last year. The […]

The German government is in the midst of drafting its very first comprehensive China strategy. While Berlin’s China rhetoric seems to be getting slightly tougher, its ministries have largely avoided making explicit reference to the Taiwan question, a delicate topic while crafting a China strategy. A draft version of the government’s strategy paper merely notes […]