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

Approach with caution: blockchain experimentation in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn and Francesco Giumelli

The Indo-Pacific region has become a key site for informal attempts to create “crypto-utopias” and formal pilots of Central Bank Digital Currencies (CBDCs).

Pacific9DLApril 26, 20229DashLine, Malcolm Campbell-Verduyn, Francesco Giumelli, blockchain, Bitcoin, NFTs, databases, digital transactions, sanctions, permissionless, permissioned, Financial Times, Tonga, Vanuatu, Central Bank Digital Currencies, CBDCs, South Africa, Japan, India, Vietnam, Chainalysis, Global Crypto Adoption Index, Global South, crypto-colonialism, Ukraine, Russia, China, Sputnik, America, USA, US, Eurasian Economic Union, FinTech Association, e-ruble, Putin, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications, SWIFT, Cross-Border International Payments System, CIPS, Digital Currency/Electric Payment, DCEP, digital yuan, People's Bank of China, PBoC, financial sovereignty, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Universal Digital Payments Network, UDPN, Multiple Central Bank Digital Currency Bridge, m-CBDC, Thailand, UAE, United Arab Emirates, Global North, OFAC, US Office of Foreign Assets Control, Suex, New York State's Department of Financial Services, Coinbase, Accenture, Digital Dollar Project, European Central Bank, ECB, Bahamas, Caribbean, Philippines, Approach with caution: blockchain experimentation in the Indo-Pacific, CBDC, Crypto, Indo-Pacific, CIA, Masterchain, FinTech, Asia, Europe, Africa, South America, Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication, ross-Border International Payments System, People’s Bank of China, Digital yuan, European Union, EU

Cope North 2022: Deepening security cooperation in the Indo-Pacific

Written by Bec Strating

Both the 2022 Cope North exercise and the Tonga example highlight concerns that hard and soft security are not so easily distinguishable.

COVID is forcing millions of girls out of school in Southeast Asia and the Pacific

Written by Katrina Lee-Koo

Building resilient communities is essential, as COVID sits among climate change, political instability, regional forced migration and other crises that will continue to challenge the region. Women and girls will be at the forefront of addressing all of these crises.