WORLD ROUNDUPThe Rich World Revolts Against Sky-High Immigration | China’s Nuclear Taboo Isn’t as Strong as It Seems | Another Uprising Has Started in Syria, and more
· Into the Minds of China’s Military AI Experts
Beijing faces challenges in deploying new technology
· A Palm Reading: Japan’s Navigation Plan for Pacific Waters
Japan’s presence in the Pacific region is expected to take on a markedly military tone
· Are We Seeing the End of ECOWAS?
The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, was originally set up to ensure the economic growth and stability of the subregion. But with some members leaving the bloc, is it slowly disintegrating?
The Economic Community of West African States, or ECOWAS, was originally set up to ensure the economic growth and stability of the subregion. But with some members leaving the bloc, is it slowly disintegrating?
· Flooding Drives Liberia to Mull Capital City Move
Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ivory Coast have also established as administrative capitals toward the end of the 20th century, with all three cities occupying geographically central positions in their respective countries
· China’s Nuclear Taboo Isn’t as Strong as It Seems
New research casts doubt on a long-standing theory
· It’s Time to Sideline Israel from International Sports
A boycott of Israeli soccer could accomplish what other BDS efforts have failed to do: dent the country’s own sense of legitimacy
· Another Uprising Has Started in Syria
Years after the country’s civil war supposedly ended, Assad’s control is again coming apart
Into the Minds of China’s Military AI Experts (Sam Bresnick, Foreign Policy)
The United States and China recently held their first official dialogue on artificial intelligence risks. Though a step in the right direction, the meeting is unlikely to resolve bilateral tensions over the development and deployment of AI-enabled military systems.
As China has developed into a scientific and technological powerhouse, former U.S. government officials and defense industry insiders have sounded the alarm that Washington risks falling behind, or is already irreparably trailing Beijing in the race to develop and deploy AI-enabled military systems.
Adding to simmering U.S. anxieties are concerns that China lacks sufficient testing and evaluation protocols to ensure responsible AI use and development. Some U.S. observers fret that Beijing takes a lax approach to guarding against AI accidents, which could lead to catastrophic consequences in both the civilian and military domains.
There is, however, little publicly available data that speaks to the state of the bilateral contest over developing and deploying military AI. U.S. intelligence analysts scour classified channels for evidence of Chinese breakthroughs, while think tank experts analyze the effects of export controls on China’s military technology machine. Few, if any, observers, however, have searched for clues to China’s military AI capabilities in the writings of Chinese experts themselves.
A Palm Reading: Japan’s Navigation Plan for Pacific Waters (Tess Newton Cain, RFA)
The triennial meeting of the Japanese Prime Minister with the leaders of the Pacific Islands Forum – referred to as PALM – is normally not much of an attention grabber. But this year’s meeting, which has just concluded in Tokyo, makes it clear that Japan is looking to significantly ramp up its presence in the region.
This comes on the back of increased bilateral engagement – think new embassies in Kiribati and Vanuatu – and a reinvigorated QUAD with a focus on resource and burden sharing among the membership of the strategic security partnership (Australia, India, Japan, USA).
The joint declaration from this their tenth meeting, known as PALM10, with its associated action plan sets out what we can expect from Japanese engagement with the Pacific over the next three years. The use of the seven pillars of the 2050 Strategy for the Blue Pacific Continent as a structure for future engagement is notable.
The Blue Pacific concept was developed by Pacific nations as a home-grown framing to address their challenges.
Other partners have inserted the term Blue Pacific
