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Security Commentaries #016
June 10th, 2021

Asia Pacific

Adding Colors to the Gray-Zone—The Philippines' changing views on the South China Sea: The Philippines gradually finds its way back in asserting its rights to the disputed sea as more countries send their forces to patrol the area.

Around the World

BRICS and Quad—India’s Strategic Autonomy to balance China: A continued Beijing’s belligerence against India may further tilt New Delhi towards Quad, while not completely abandoning the BRICS space for Beijing.

Antarctica and Our Future: While Foreign Ministers met together in the Arctic Council Ministerial meeting last month, a growing concern about Antarctica climatic threshold raised on the other side of the planet.

Adding Colors to the Gray-Zone—The Philippines' Changing Views on the South China Sea

- Angelo Brian T. Castro, Taiwan Center for Security Studies

The month of May has been a rollercoaster ride to the watchers of the South China Sea and the disputed areas in regional maritime security. Earlier this month, the Department of Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro “Teddy Boy” Locsin posted an inflammatory tweet laden with flowerful language critiquing recent Chinese actions in the disputed waters... Read More

Forward

BRICS and Quad—India’s Strategic Autonomy to Balance China
- Veeresh Kanduri, MOFA Fellow, Taiwan Center for Security Studies

On June 1, the Foreign Ministers of BRICS—a grouping of five nations spread over four continents including Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—held the annual meeting virtually online, as it is now a pandemic norm for intergovernmental meetings. The group was established in 2006 as a bloc of five major emerging economies and marks its 15-year anniversary in 2021. The five leaders issued a joint statement espousing the need for “Strengthening and Reforming the Multilateral System”, while reaffirming the groups “shared values of peace, freedom and rule of law”... Read More

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Antarctica and Our Future
- Thuong Nguyen, Taiwan Center for Security Studies

Why is Antarctica critical? The Antarctic has long-time been known as Earth’s largest glacier, which is equivalent to 57.9 meters of global mean sea level (GMSL). For instance, Thwaites Glacier in West Antarctica has an open terminal in the Amundsen Sea. Its main trunk is about 120km wide, widening upstream into the heart of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet. Currently, the terminus is under the seawater too shallow, about 600 meters deep, that causes cliff faces to become unstable. The thawing process continues into deeper bedrock and thicker ice, with strained variability rates exceeding thresholds for brittle failure... Read More

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Editor’s Picks - Hot Off the Press

COVID-19 in Taiwan threatens chip manufacturers, amidst an ongoing global chip shortage... Read more

Kicking off his G-7 trip, Biden reiterated ties with alliance and shots fired towards Russian "harmful activities"... Read more

The Pentagon's China Task Force recommendations submitted to the Secretary of Defense after past few months of preparation... Read more

Russia labels Alexey Navalny's political party as "extremist". Dealing a further blow to opposition to President Vladamir Putin… Read more

Chinese investments in dam-building in Myanmar thwarted due to military coup, but will this still be the case in the days ahead... Read more

TCSS Projects & Initiatives

Dear Readers,

In spite of the ongoing pandemic, after months of review and preparation, it is our greatest pleasure to share this exciting news with you. TCSS is launching a new project with our partners from Japan and Thailand for the year ahead.

The Asian Technology Alliance Initiative, seeks to facilitate and bring together scholars and practitioners in the information technology and cybersecurity sphere from Taiwan, Thailand and Japan. Regional strategies in resilience and adaptability for spearheading a competitive technological edge is increasingly crucial to the security and stability in a rules-based global order.

We look forward to providing quality research and innovative solutions for our subscribers and key stakeholders in the tech & cyber industry as we move forward in this endeavor.

Director,
Dr. Fu-Kuo Liu
劉復國

Thank you for subscribing to the TCSS Security Commentaries email newsletter, a weekly publication aimed at providing independent and transparent analysis on key events around the world regarding international security and developments in the Asia-Pacific region.

Copyright 2021 - Taiwan Center for Security Studies

All views and articles in this periodical do not necessarily represent the views of either TCSS or the editors.

Editors : Richard Chen & Jaime Ocon
Image Sources: Getty Images, Office of the President of the Philippines, Climate Analytics and NewClimate Institute

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Security Commentaries #016 June 10th, 2021

Asia Pacific

Editor’s Picks - Hot Off the Press

TCSS Projects & Initiatives

Security Commentaries #016
June 10th, 2021