Canada and the Philippines: A fast-rising security partnership reshaping Ottawa's Indo-Pacific posture

Written by Jonathan Berkshire Miller

For the first time in years, Ottawa is treating the Indo-Pacific not as a region of opportunities to sample but as a theatre in which it must choose where to invest.

Emerging Issues, Pacific9DLNovember 18, 2025Canada and the Philippines: A fast-rising security partnership reshaping Ottawa's Indo-Pacific posture, 9DASHLINE, Jonathan Berkshire Miller, Canada, Philippines, South China Sea, Indo-Pacific, Visiting Forces Agreement, Second Thomas Shoal, Manila, Ottawa, Japan, Australia, Squad, United States

The Navigator’s October issue — out now!

This month, we explore how Australia and Papua New Guinea’s Pukpuk Treaty is redefining defence cooperation through identity-based integration, while the IMF–World Bank meetings in Washington reveal how financial governance continues to constrain Global South autonomy.

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News9DLOctober 31, 20259DASHLINE, US, United States, Indo-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, South China Sea, India-Pakistan, India, Pakistan, France, New Caledonia, Cambodia, Pacific Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Pukpuk Treaty, PNG, Papua New Guinea, IMF, World Bank, Trump, Timor-Leste

The European Union needs a more pragmatic foreign policy in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Angelo M’BA

Perhaps counter-intuitively, only an approach less concerned with morals and more with pragmatic engagement can pave the way for the EU to spread its values in the Indo-Pacific.

Victory and sacrifice: The dual message behind China’s commemorations

Written by Vincent K.L. Chang

China and the United States should be willing to make concessions; treating compromises not as a sign of weakness, but as strategic wisdom. The rest of the world should ask what it can do to prevent escalation and avoid self-fulfilling threat perceptions, rather than contribute to them.

The Navigator’s October issue — out now!

This month, we spotlight the mounting pressures reshaping the Indo-Pacific: Beijing’s use of Martyrs’ Day as both a tool of domestic loyalty and an international signal of resolve highlights how nations are navigating turbulence on two fronts. Across the region, domestic instability — from popular protests to fragile governments — is constraining states’ ability to adapt to intensifying great power rivalry.

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News9DLSeptember 26, 20259DASHLINE, US, United States, Indo-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, South China Sea, India-Pakistan, India, Pakistan, France, New Caledonia, Cambodia, Pacific Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga, Pukpuk Treaty, PNG, Papua New Guinea, IMF, World Bank, Trump, Timor-Leste

Italy–Malaysia relations: A cornerstone of Rome’s Indo-Pacific engagement

Written by Emanuele Ballestracci

Italy cannot rival the hard-power presence of France or the UK, nor does it aspire to. Instead, it has constructed a pathway based on economic cooperation, private-sector activism, and steady institutional ties, which over time create the trust needed to expand into political and security spheres.

Discover the August issue of The Navigator – out now

This month, we spotlight India’s partnership with the Philippines, demonstrating sovereignty-sensitive maritime cooperation, while New Zealand’s expanding role in space highlights how smaller states assert strategic influence in high-tech domains.

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Drawing a new India-Philippines arc of maritime convergence

Written by Eerishika Pankaj and Rahul Karan Reddy

The concern Beijing has with an India-Philippines strategic partnership lies in its signalling of the rise of layered, maritime-centric, military cooperation emerging in China’s periphery — designed to reinforce a rules-based order and deter unilateral changes to the status quo in the global commons.

Japan and Cambodia: Partners in a diplomatic balancing act

Written by Shin Kawashima

Japan and other US allies must strengthen ties with Southeast Asian countries to address US retrenchment, positioning themselves as credible alternatives for countries seeking to avoid over-reliance on China.

Discover the July issue of The Navigator – out now

This month, we spotlight Taiwan’s sweeping drone procurement drive — a decisive shift in defence strategy that underscores its push for self-reliance and asymmetric deterrence. We also track shifting regional dynamics, from landmark defence exercises in Australia and a new AUKUS treaty, to South Asia’s turbulent politics, Southeast Asia’s evolving alignments, and Europe’s role in the Indo-Pacific.

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Diplomacy in an age of disruption: The EU-China summit

Written by Gunnar Wiegand

While major breakthroughs are unlikely, progress on economic issues is possible and could help restore a measure of stability and predictability for companies and citizens on both sides.

Impasse: Why losing the US still won’t bring Europe closer to China

Written by Nicholas Bequelin

The paradox of Sino-European relations is that, while they are fundamentally in poor shape and unlikely to find a way out of their current impasse, they are also remarkably stable.

Discover the June issue of The Navigator – out now

This month our briefs examine shifting US engagement: new Pacific travel restrictions threaten Washington’s influence, while South Korea’s pragmatic diplomacy may clash with a potential Trump foreign policy reset. Across the region, leaders face a volatile mix of economic strain, diplomatic frictions, and intensifying rivalries — from South Asia’s post-crisis diplomacy to renewed tensions in Southeast Asia and growing unease in East Asia.

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News9DLJune 27, 2025Trump, ASEAN, Taiwan, The Navigator, 9DASHLINE, US, United States, Indo-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, South China Sea, India-Pakistan, India, Pakistan, France, New Caledonia, Macron, Cambodia, Pacific Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Tonga

A superpower diminished: Trump’s chaotic foreign policy is undermining US credibility in Asia

Written by Dr Hunter Marston

Despite the opportunity presented by American retrenchment, China lacks the soft power to step in as a natural leader and its economic and political influence continue to be met with suspicion by regional elites.

Discover the May issue of The Navigator – out now

This month we cover the India-Pakistan flare-up that reignited nuclear concerns, followed by a burst of regional diplomacy. Our briefs examine how China and India are turning foreign policy into a tool of domestic control — through maritime coercion in Beijing’s case, and treaty-based pressure from New Delhi.

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News9DLMay 30, 2025Trump, ASEAN, Taiwan, The Navigator, 9DASHLINE, US, United States, Indo-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, Russia, tariffs, Indus Water Treaty, South China Sea, India-Pakistan, India, Pakistan, Kashmir, Nuclear, France, New Caledonia, Macron, Mu Sochua, Cambodia

Navigating the middle: Japan-Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition

Written by Dr Sophal Ear

Cambodia offers a litmus test: if Japan can sustain influence there, it may do so across mainland Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia9DLMay 29, 20259DASHLINE, Sophal Ear, Navigating the middle: Japan–Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition, Khmer Rouge, Cambodia, Japan, United States, China, diplomacy, development, peacebuilding, foreign policy, agency, Great power rivalry, Tokyo, liberal values, Southeast Asia, defense diplomacy, Cambodia’s Ream base, 1991 Paris Peace Agreements, United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), Official Development Assistance (ODA), aid, bilateral donor, Sihanoukville, soft infrastructure, authoritarianism, Phnom Penh, Strategic Partnership, international norms, rule of law, maritime security, ASEAN, South China Sea, Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) framework, Yōko Kamikawa, human resource development, digital connectivity, climate change, US tariffs, transhipment, public debt, United Nations Human Rights Council, debt trap, European Union, “Everything But Arms” scheme, sanctions, democratic backsliding, Hun Manet, “multi-vector” diplomacy, Beijing, alignment, national interest, liberal internationalism, Belt and Road Initiative, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), civil society, Cultural diplomacy, Japan-Cambodia Kizuna Festival, Japanese pop culture, ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute, State of Southeast Asia surveys, Ream Naval Base, Vietnamese People’s Navy, South China Sea (SCS), multilateralisation, Cold War, Soviet, balancing, non-alignment, middle power, FDI, The Asia Foundation, Cambodia-Japan Cooperation Center (CJCC), Navigating the middle: Japan-Cambodia relations and the challenge of geopolitical competition

Discover the April issue of The Navigator – out now

This month we explore rising economic tensions in Northeast Asia, as Japan and South Korea respond to a new wave of US tariffs. We also turn to Myanmar, where a devastating earthquake has worsened an already dire humanitarian crisis. Despite urgent calls for aid, the junta is blocking relief efforts while pushing ahead with its plans for elections amid ongoing conflict.

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News9DLApril 25, 2025Trump, ASEAN, Taiwan, The Navigator, 9DASHLINE, US, United States, Indo-Pacific, China, Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Cook Islands, Samoa, USAID, Myanmar, Russia, Myanmar earthquake, tariffs

Trump’s second chance to make a first impression in Asia

Written by Chris Estep

Trump should decisively establish his administration’s approach to competition with China by issuing his own Interim National Security Strategic Guidance document and endorsing it in a televised speech from the Oval Office.