Indo-Pacific Security Initiative

In the Philippines, China’s aggression is not in some shadowy, ill-defined “gray zone.” It’s a real and constant series of attacks on the country’s people and sovereignty.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is meeting with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol in Seoul September 6-7—likely their final summit before Kishida steps down. Atlantic Council experts share their insights on what’s next for Tokyo and Seoul.

Leaders from countries in the Pacific Islands will meet August 26-30, at a moment when the growing rivalry between the United States and China is reshaping the Indo-Pacific.

To better prepare Taiwan to defend itself, the United States needs more transparency into Taipei’s weapons integration challenges.

It is uncertain whether the next Japanese prime minister will follow through on the Kishida administration’s major shifts in defense policy.

The United States and its Indo-Pacific allies must work together across all levels and domains for their regional deterrence to be effective.

Economic security has emerged as a national security priority in Tokyo and Washington as both confront challenges posed by China’s civil-military fusion and economic coercion. The alignment of Tokyo and Washington on strategic views of China and the convergence of their economic security priorities has created a new era of alliance cooperation on these issues.

This next generation agenda proposes policy recommendations designed to improve security cooperation among the United States, South Korea, and European NATO countries in the context of current global security threats, diverging national security perspectives, and imminent leadership changes.

Resilience is a nation’s ability to understand, address, respond to, and recover from any type of national security risk. Given the scale of risk Taiwan faces from mainland China, domestic resilience should be front and center in Taiwan’s national security strategy, encompassing areas such as cybersecurity, energy security, and defense resilience.

Production diplomacy provides opportunities to protect supply chains, strengthen alliances and partnerships, enhance deterrence, and build defense readiness, though it is not without risks and challenges.

As the Pacific Islands’ relevance grows, there’s an influx of diplomatic attention and development assistance as external powers seek to curry favor with the sixteen countries. Australia, India, Japan, and the United States (the Quad) seeks to bolster regional engagement to address key regional issues including climate, connectivity, economic development, and maritime security.

Conventional wisdom in the United States holds that deterrence in Korea is strong, but this widespread confidence is based on a backward look at long-standing assumptions that are no longer tenable, along with rapidly shifting politico-military conditions. This report explains the urgent actions required to get ahead of these changes and maintain effective deterrence.