Welcome to the latest issue of Diplomat Brief. We’re back! This week our top story examines whether the presence of U.S. bases in the Indo-Pacific paint a “bullseye” on host countries. We also take a look at three territorial disputes in Southeast Asia that could kick off a conflict -- one of them already has -- and much more. |
|
|
|---|
|
 | | | The United States maintains the world’s largest overseas military basing presence, with as many as 750 installations in 80 countries. U.S. bases and bases to which the U.S. military has access in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates have come under attack by Iran in recent months.
But what does Iran’s targeting of U.S. bases and the resulting destruction mean for the rest of the 80 countries that host the U.S. military?
This is an especially salient question for the host countries in the Indo-Pacific, where the specter of a U.S.-China confrontation looms large and U.S. security partners in the region maintain some of the largest troop deployments in the world, with Japan and South Korea hosting the largest and third largest deployments, respectively. | Find out more |
|
|
|---|
|
| Videos |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | Our YouTube channel, Diplomat Asia, explains major topics and trends in the Asia-Pacific in video form. In our latest video, we explore three territorial disputes in Southeast Asia which all have the potential to trigger open conflict -- in fact, one of them did just last year. | |
|
|
|---|
|
 | | | China has become one of most technologically innovative countries in the world. Using a variety of metrics, including innovation “inputs” – educational investments, R&D spending, high-skilled human capital, etc. – as well as “outputs” – patenting, high-quality scientific research, value-added manufacturing – “Autocracy 2.0” by Jennifer Lind, an associate professor of government at Dartmouth College, shows that over the past decade China has caught up with or surpassed many of the countries that we think of the world’s most innovative, e.g., France, Germany, South Korea, the United Kingdom.
When you buy any book through our Bookshop.org shop, a portion of the proceeds come back to The Diplomat. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| Behind The News |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | This year, Mongolia will host the 17th Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) from August 17-28.
UNCCD Executive Secretary Dr. Yasmine Fouad told The Diplomat’s Bolor Lkhaajav that, “For Mongolia, hosting COP17 is an opportunity to place the challenges and opportunities facing drylands and pastoral communities higher on the global agenda, while strengthening international cooperation on land restoration and drought resilience.” | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | The reconstruction of the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) high command is underway, following extensive purges earlier this year. Officers from the PLA Air Force (PLAAF) have reportedly risen to senior leadership positions, prompting renewed discussions on the significance of China’s air force and what the rise in authority of PLAAF officers will mean for China’s military might. If current trends continue, the PLAAF is likely going to have a greater-than-usual presence on the next CMC, whose composition is expected to be confirmed at the 21st Party Congress in 2027. But there is no guarantee that the now favored PLAAF officers will not fall prey to the rolling corruption purges too. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | Six months ago, it was unclear whether trilateral discussions between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkiye would produce a formal agreement. On August 7, they did with the signing of the Mecca Pact. The pact’s main provision stipulates that an armed attack on one party will be regarded as an attack on all three. Yet the public account of the agreement leaves the resulting military obligations undefined. Nevertheless, for Pakistan the pact means taking on a more formal security role in the Gulf. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | Vietnam’s President To Lam this week embarked on a visit to Australia and New Zealand, during which he and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese pledged to deepen cooperation across a broad front. In a joint statement issued after a meeting in Canberra, the two leaders “reaffirmed the strength” of the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership established by Vietnam and Australia in 2024, which they said reflected “the increasing convergence of strategic interests” between the two nations, which are premised on complementary economic strengths and a shared concern about China’s rising power. Lam, who also serves as the general secretary of the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV), departed on August 12 for New Zealand, which also established a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with Vietnam last year. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| | In April 2026, the Tajik government sent a dossier to the Austrian government including files on 18 individuals who, in the words of the Tajik Interior Ministry’s own letter, “have sought refuge on the territory of the Republic of Austria.” Last week, a criminal court in Vienna reportedly refused to extradite a Tajik national (and his mother and brother), marking the fourth such refusal tied to the dossier. Europe has a checkered past when it comes to Tajik government requests, with several notable deportations from both Austria and Germany in recent years that resulted in immediate arrests upon return to Tajikistan, long prison sentences, and allegations of torture. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| Podcasts |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| | In this episode of Beyond the Mekong, Luke Hunt speaks with Sean Turnell, an Australian economist who worked with Myanmar’s jailed former leader Aung San Suu Kyi and then shared a prison with her after the military coup in 2021, in the wake of four photos released by the military-backed government in Myanmar of Suu Kyi. | |
|
|
|---|
|
| Visualizing APAC |  |
|
|
|
|---|
|
| |  |
| The United States State Department made permanent this month its pilot visa bond program, under which citizens of listed foreign countries seeking to obtain business or tourism visas to come to the United States may be required to pay a significant sum – a bond of up to $20,000 – to obtain a visa. | |
|
|
|---|
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment
Welcome to my geopolitics blog site. This is a Hawaii Island news site focusing on geopolitical news, analysis, information, and commentary. I will cite a variety of sources, ranging from all sides of the political spectrum.