Suchergebnisse

Taiwan and India have substantial converging economic and strategic interests. These can be optimised without necessarily antagonising China.

The fanfare surrounding the pioneering China-Europe container express train that completed a one-way journey between 1-18 January 2017 is only partially warranted. Frictions abound over issues of inter-operability of railway gauges and the diplomacy of connectivity as China pushes ahead with its massive One Belt, One Road (OBOR) initiative.

This policy report explores how the Fourth Industrial Revolution will impact Singapore in the years to come. Specifically, it attempts to identify what social, economic, political and security implications this profound shift will have for the city-state. It then discusses how Singapore can cope with this uncertain future. The Fourth Industrial Revolution refers to the convergence of a set of disruptive technologies that will transform the world in the coming decades. This assortment of novel technologies includes artificial intelligence (AI), robotics, the Internet-of-Things (IoT), 3D printing, drones and autonomous vehicles (AVs). While some of these technologies remain under development, the scientists, researchers and engineers working on them are on the verge of major breakthroughs so we may well see many of these technologies becoming a part of our daily lives in the not-too-distant future.

Military obsolescence affects the capability of all militaries as it relates to serviceability and performance when countering potential opponents, and more specifically in the case of developing countries lacking strong indigenous defence industries. The gradual nature of this military concern has not been studied systematically, in contrast to military modernisation. This paper presents a synthetic framework composed of several indicators to examine military obsolescence. Vietnam has been selected for the application of the framework for its large number of Cold War legacies and the strategic pressure from China. Hanoi's ageing assets would undermine its position vis-à-vis Beijing, and its defence investment policies face the dilemma of choosing to spend more on naval and aerial power, or ameliorating its army which is technologically lacking compared to its Chinese counterpart. (Pac Rev/GIGA)

The Tsai Ing-wen administration of Taiwan has taken a different approach in various defense policies compared to its predecessor. Several military build-up projects are aimed at strengthening Taiwan's defense in the context of China's rising military power, but they are unlikely to significantly ameliorate the island's inferior military status, due to several vulnerabilities.

In the past two decades, Vietnam's military investment has manifested a strategic shift of national interest from land to the maritime sphere, especially since 2000. This evolution reflects the country's altered external environment and its economic transformation. During the Cold War, Hanoi focused on land warfare. Despite the existence of a small navy since the 1960s, land warfare represented the main security issue for Vietnamese decision makers, whether it concerned the Vietnam War against the United States and its allies, military intervention in Cambodia, or border defense against China.