One important message from the Ketagalan Forum was the address by President William Ching-te Lai. President Lai proposed a Four-Pillar Peace Action Plan that includes strengthening Taiwan’s national defense, ensuring economic security, promoting partnership with other democracies, and stabilizing the cross-Strait relationship.

As wariness about the strategic competition posed by the PRC continues to be one of the few issues that the two political parties agree upon, support for Taiwan is expected to remain strong regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. The question is how that rhetorical support will be translated into action by the incoming administration.

While Germany’s policy toward China has gradually become more assertive, the government has skillfully maintained room for maneuver. In recent discussions about whether German warships should pass through the Taiwan Strait, the German government has tried to downplay the controversy by claiming the Strait as a normal passage, akin to the right of innocent passage, rather than directly challenging China’s sovereignty claims over these waters.

Over the past decade, Chinese and Russian naval vessels have conducted joint maneuvers with greater frequency in Arctic and Arctic-adjacent waters, including as part of the 2022 Vostok multilateral exercises overseen by Russia, maritime maneuvers in the Baltic Sea in 2017, and joint transits near Alaska in 2022 and 2023.

NATO’s Washington Summit should be read in Asia as a cautionary tale about the difficulty of meeting geopolitical challenges posed by the PRC and the wider chaos caused by its collaborators Russia, North Korea, and Iran. Now is the time to prepare.

The Pacific region is grappling with a “polycrisis”. The region’s escalating threats — climate change, transnational crime, intense geopolitical competition, severe debt, and economic stress — are all converging to create a perfect storm of challenges.

So far, while China’s strategic moves in the Middle East have garnered public support and pose challenges to the U.S., the long-term impact of these maneuvers remains uncertain. The region’s complex dynamics and the still critical role of U.S. political and military power suggest that China’s influence may face significant limitations.

In the post-pandemic era, amid challenging internal and external circumstances, the long-delayed 20th Third Plenary Session of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Beijing on July 15, 2024. It was emphasized that China will continue to advance along the path of “Chinese-style modernization,” characterized by independence, self-reliance, and resilience — neither closed and rigid nor copying and blindly adopting foreign models.

The passing of Nguyễn Phú Trọng, General Secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam, on July 19, 2024, marks the end of an era for the party. His administration is notable for its vigorous anti-corruption initiatives, significant economic reforms, and the implementation of a strategic diplomatic approach termed “Bamboo Diplomacy.”