ISDP Voices

India’s growing power depends on its reliance on the seas for commerce. The Indian Navy has ambitiously planned to have a 175-ship force by 2035 where most platforms would be indigenized. The Indian Navy also seeks to be capable of operating in both the Indian and Pacific Ocean regions. The Philippines too is stealthily rising as a middle power, yet with so much to […]

In a world characterized by the increasing polarization between two giants, China and the U.S., as well as an apparently endless conflict in Eastern Europe, the BRICS, originally composed of Brazil, China, Russia, India, and South Africa, recently embarked on a bold expansion leading to the inclusion of six new members. This transformation of the […]

As U.S. influence declines worldwide, a battleground has emerged, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region, which is a crossroads of supply chains, geopolitical dynamics, and future wealth. The UK, U.S., and Australia are slowly cottoning on to this, and consequently devising new and adapting existing Indo-Pacific strategies. For example, the most recent G-7 meeting brought in […]

The momentum of Chinese investments in Afghanistan is picking pace as the Taliban courts Beijing to extend the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) to Kabul under the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). In May, Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang was in Islamabad, where he met Pakistan Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and the acting Minister for […]

The United States (U.S.) President Joe Biden hosted Japanese Prime Minister (PM) Fumio Kishida and Republic of Korea (ROK) President Yoon Suk Yeol at his Camp David retreat on August 18, 2023. It is important that this trilateral summit among the leaders of the U.S., Japan and Korea be held as an independent summit, and […]

On July 20, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres gave a speech in front of representatives of the UN member-states at the UN headquarters in New York. Guterres stated that the United Nations has been faced with new threats and challenges, such as violations of international law, inequities exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, and violations of human […]

China’s newly appointed Foreign Minister Wang Yi made his first official visit to Turkey (hereafter Turkiye) in the last week of July 2023 as part of his African tour, which included countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya following the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg. During the official visit to Ankara, many topics were discussed, ranging […]

As the great power rivalry of the 21st century is engulfing the South Pacific, French President Emmanuel Macron visited the region from July 24-29, 2023. His visit covered three important destinations – New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and Papua New Guinea – that carry a symbolic salience along with strategic significance for France, a resident power in […]

Predictions of a foreign policy reset following the upset of Thailand’s long-dominant conservative establishment in the May 2023 election have proved to be premature. The junta-appointed Senate, permitted by the Kingdom’s 2017 Constitution, has stonewalled Pita Limjaroenrat, the Move Forward Party’s candidate for Prime Minister. Pita, a businessman, and leading progressive reformer, had suggested a […]

The U.S. has been warning that a crisis on Taiwan is nearby. In 2021, the then-Chief of the United States Indo-Pacific Command, Philip Davidson, said that China may try to attack Taiwan by 2027. And in 2022, the Central Intelligence Agency Deputy Director, David Cohen, stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping wants the People’s Liberation […]