Host: Yin Khvat Please note the 20 nations comprised the 19 nations of Talisman Sabre plus Taiwan’s Han Kuang Exercise, as indicated in the video title Military drills were held across the Indo-Pacific region this week with 19 nations participating in Australia’s Talisman Sabre exercise, the Philippines’ Cope Thunder aerial drills, and the U.S’s Resolute Force Pacific program. In Taiwan, its largest-ever Han Kuang exercise was doubled in length and included a record 22,000 reservists. Meanwhile, according to leaked details in the Financial Times, U.S. Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Elbridge Colby has been privately pushing Australia and Japan to clarify whether they would join the defense of Taiwan during a hypothetical invasion by China. Colby’s requests have reportedly irked Tokyo and Canberra officials, particularly given Washington’s policy of “strategic ambiguity”. Who leaked these details and why? In this episode, we discuss the leaked report, the latest military drills and what it all means for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait.
