Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks at the Munich Security Conference in Munich on Friday. Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi reiterated the importance of the rules-based global order during a speech at the Munich Security Conference while linking the security of the Indo-Pacific to the Euro-Atlantic, as Japan keeps a nervous eye on Chinese military moves in Asia. "The very foundations that have underpinned the international order are being tested by real world actions," Koizumi said Friday "Attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force must never be tolerated. That is why Japan does not view Ukraine as a distant European problem." Following the eruption of the war in Ukraine in February 2022, Japan began drawing a link between the two regions, with leaders repeatedly stressing that "Ukraine today could be East Asia tomorrow" -- a not-so-oblique hint at the possibility of a similar regional conflict in the Indo-Pacific, especially one involving China attacking democratic Taiwan.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is proving to be as much a security tool as an economic one in the Indo-Pacific, with the US and China attempting to expand their influence in the region. Because of AI's increasing role in military applications, the Indo-Pacific, rather than Silicon Valley, is now fast emerging as the principal AI market in the world. A new report from "Research and Markets" predicts that the radar simulator market alone in the Indo-Pacific will boom from $326.2 million in 2022 to $470.5 million by 2028 for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.3%. "Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) developed by various enterprises have modern capabilities and have extended their reach and operating boundaries," the report states, adding, "There has been a surge in the development of laser-guided missiles with higher accuracy to hit the locked target. To combat this threat in the future, there would be a rise in the development of radars and radar simulators to train operators to combat the rising modern warfare systems."

What is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data on societies in the Indo-Pacific?

What is the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and big data on societies in the Indo-Pacific? How are countries using AI and big data to enhance their national security and advance their national interests? And what are the major regulatory issues? For a perspective on these and other matters, Jongsoo Lee interviewed Simon Chesterman, dean and provost's chair professor of the National University of Singapore Faculty of Law and senior director of AI Governance at AI Singapore. What are nations in the Indo-Pacific doing to develop their artificial intelligence (AI) and big data capabilities?

The United States announced a new alliance Wednesday with Australia and Britain to strengthen military capabilities in the face of growing rivalry with China, including a new Australian nuclear submarine fleet and cruise missiles. The announcement of the alliance -- made in a video meeting by President Joe Biden, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his British counterpart Boris Johnson -- is sure to raise hackles in Beijing. It also met with swift pushback from France, which has been negotiating a multi-billion-dollar sale of conventional submarines to Australia. Biden said the work to enable Australia to build nuclear-powered submarines would ensure that they had "the most modern capabilities we need to maneuver and defend against rapidly evolving threats." The submarines, stressed Biden and the other leaders, will not be nuclear armed, only powered with nuclear reactors.

As even the most inattentive observer of contemporary international politics will attest, technological competition – mostly, but not always, between the U.S. and its allies on one hand, and China and Russia on the other – has once again risen to the fore. Analysts, so far, have approached this issue from various angles: what it means in terms of military balances, the possibility of international cooperation, what a technological edge implies for domestic policies, and so on. The outgoing Trump administration has made technological contestation with China a cornerstone of its strategic policy, emphasizing the need for the United States to maintain its edge when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI), quantum information science, and aerospace and other critical technologies, among others. Other Indo-Pacific powers, such as Australia, India, and Japan, have also joined the fray in pushing both new and emerging tech at home as well as promoting collaboration around it between "like-minded countries." In June this year, a Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence of 14 states along with the European Union was launched, to facilitate collective AI research as well as implementation.