Wondeuk Cho

Director, Center for ASEAN-Indian Studies.IFANS( KoreaNat’lDiplomaticAcademy(@mofa_knda)/Indo-Pacific & ASEAN/SouthAsia/India

[Amitav Acharya @AmitavAcharya]

Look forward to making my first visit to Sri Lanka and take part in a roundtable on my book. It has taken so long for for @isanet SAWP to have its own first conference as the Section was approved during my presidency in 2014-15. And it has taken me so long to make my first visit to a country which I grew up knowing about, and admiring from legends, ancient migration from my home region of Kalinga (now Odisha) and its central role in the spread of Buddhism and the Bandung Conference - both being major themes of my ongoing book projects.

[Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy]

Middle powers can change global order—but to do so, they must all work together. https://t.co/OF10RL6bDV

[Derek J. Grossman @DerekJGrossman]

Trump 2.0 has basically ignored the Pacific Islands region--a stark departure from recent past administrations, to include his first. This will have significant geopolitical consequences for US-China competition. I explain for @ForeignPolicy in my latest.
https://t.co/A0krGIrlpg

[Nikkei Asia @NikkeiAsia]

Vietnam's Vingroup broadens empire with rail, energy expansion https://t.co/GajHy2t2re

[Milan Vaishnav @MilanV]

New in @ForeignPolicy: @CChivvis, @rohan_mukh & I address the troubling fact that many middle powers--and the right-wing populists who run them--find Donald Trump’s vision for the world more compelling than Mark Carney’s. https://t.co/SXtBoekbkk

[Aaron-Matthew Lariosa @AaronMatthew_L]

MANILA, PHILIPPINES – The U.S. pledged to fund the expansion of a Coast Guard base used for operations in the South China Sea and increase foreign military financing for Manila last week.
https://t.co/VaOFxzl6Nk

[ASPI @ASPI_org]

'Without a clearer trade-off between external modernisation and domestic deployment, [Indonesia] risks stretching the defence agenda too widely and weakening the overall coherence of its planning,' writes Jascha Ramba Santoso. https://t.co/5GgfAJxd2N

[9DASHLINE @9DashLine]

Contested and congested: Pacific regional architecture getting complex, security expert says https://t.co/cXI2sXkEeM

[Nikkei Asia @NikkeiAsia]

OPINION: A six-point plan to make the US-Japan alliance battle-ready

A partnership of equals needs joint planning, production and deterrence
https://t.co/RJgfF4WFRT

[Derek J. Grossman @DerekJGrossman]

“Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu has called for the revival of the long-dormant South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), offering his country as a mediator to help restart leaders’ summits after nearly a decade of inactivity.”
https://t.co/gmoUrXPufI

[Dr. Brahma Chellaney @Chellaney]

"America is in decline. And so is Pax America: the American-led world order. While there are many genuine dangers of American decline, there has never been a better chance to say clearly how much the unipolar order always left to be desired, and to imagine a multipolar world that might secure peace better than the old order ever did." https://t.co/ZaoahvGgpv

[Kyunghoon Kim @Kyunghoon_Kim_]

🚢Recap: India's Maritime Ambition 🎆

India aims to become a top 10 shipbuilder by 2030 and a top 5 shipbuilder by 2047 under MIV 2030 and MAKV 2047.

We may hear some major announcements this year.

Here's the rationale behind India's shipbuilding push.
@shipmin_india (1/n)

[Vijay Gokhale @VGokhale59]

A must-read piece by @ShashiTharoor on why the post-Galwan framework for relations with China must not tread on the earlier path of economic dependency, and a timely reminder that it will not pay political dividends. Hope is not a policy.

[India's World @IndiasWorld_mag]

#FromtheIvoryTower | For decades, conventional wisdom held that states become less committed to multilateralism as they grow more powerful.

New research by Hakan Mehmetcik challenges that assumption. While some Western middle powers appear to have reduced their commitment to peacekeeping and development assistance as their capabilities expanded, countries such as India, Indonesia, and South Africa continue to treat multilateral institutions as force multipliers rather than constraints.

As the UN faces growing financial and operational pressures, the question is no longer who supports multilateralism rhetorically but who is sustaining it in practice.

Read the full review: https://t.co/CpUzYKp72W

[과학기술정보통신부 @withmsit]

프랑스 카다라쉬에 건설 중인 국제핵융합실험로(ITER)에 우리나라가 제작을 주도한 마지막 진공용기 섹터 모듈의 설치가 성공적으로 완료됐습니다. 이는 세계 최대 핵융합 프로젝트의 핵심 이정표를 달성하는 동시에, 우리나라 핵융합 기술력을 전 세계에 다시 한번 입증한 성과입니다.

* ITER 공동개발사업 : 핵융합에너지의 실현 가능성을 시험·검증하기 위해 한국, 미국, 유럽연합(EU), 일본, 중국, 인도 및 러시아 총 7개국이 함께 추진하는 세계 최대 규모의 국제 과학기술 협력 사업

우리나라는 ITER 핵심 설비인 총 9개의 진공용기 섹터 모듈 중 당초 할당된 2개의 섹터 모듈뿐만 아니라 EU 할당량인 2개를 추가 수주함으로써 총 4개의 섹터 모듈 제작을 완수하는 성과를 달성했습니다. 진공용기 섹터 모듈은 높은 수준의 정밀도와 더불어, 엄격한 품질·안전 법령·기준을 모두 충족해야 하므로 제작 난이도가 매우 높다고 평가됩니다.

과기정통부는 ITER 사업을 통해 '30년대 핵융합에너지 조기 실현에 필요한 핵심기술을 신속하게 확보하고, 국내 산업 경쟁력을 강화할 수 있도록 지속적으로 지원해 나가겠습니다.

< 용어 설명 >

* 진공용기 : 핵융합 반응에 필수적인 1억도 이상의 초고온 플라즈마를 발생시키고 유지하기 위해 고진공 상태를 구현하는 ITER의 핵심 설비

* 섹터 모듈 : 핵융합로 내 거대한 도넛 형태의 진공용기를 9개로 나눈 각각의 조각

* 토카막 피트 : 진공용기 및 초전도 자석 등 핵융합로의 주요 장치가 조립·설치되는 건물 내부 공간

[Derek J. Grossman @DerekJGrossman]

You sure about that? There are very strong signs Myanmar is weaseling its way back into ASEAN’s good graces, in spite of Manila’s claim that reintegration is “far off.”
https://t.co/EUhLKe6els

[9DASHLINE @9DashLine]

Why Europe needs Pakistan now more than ever https://t.co/Qsb20hGtP4 From Iran war to Red Sea insecurity, shifting global risks are pushing EU to view Pakistan as much more than a trade partner.

[Hunter Marston @hmarston4]

"The challenge for the United States, therefore, is not to discourage middle power cooperation but to understand what is driving it. These networks are less a vote of no confidence in American leadership than an adaptation to strategic uncertainty." https://t.co/BvcERqDwto

[Foreign Policy @ForeignPolicy]

Last Thursday saw China launch its World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organization. Of the 29 founding members, five were from Southeast Asia: Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, and Myanmar. https://t.co/gXUvh3vCWd

[The Diplomat @Diplomat_APAC]

You've probably heard of the South China Sea disputes – a major flashpoint involving China, the Philippines, Vietnam, and others. But the South China Sea isn’t the only ongoing maritime dispute in Asia. 

https://t.co/7GIuR2xfZa