Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 07 August 2024.
- Global Rollup
- The U.S. Marine Corps is deploying an air and surface search radar to the Japanese island closest to Taiwan for Exercise Resolute Dragon 2024. This year’s exercise focuses on “controlling and defending key maritime terrain.” (This is likely a permanent deployment under the guise of an exercise, similar to what the Commander of U.S. Army Pacific Forces revealed in January this year. – J.V.)
- The United States, Canada, Australia, and the Philippines are conducting a Multilateral Maritime Cooperative Activity (MMCA) to counter China’s presence in the South China Sea. The exercise will be on 07 and 08 August, involving two Filipino frigates, a Canadian frigate, a U.S. Navy cruiser, and an Australian P-8 in the Philippines’ Exclusive Economic Zone. (Last month, the Philippines was drafting a request for an exercise under the MMCA to reinforce their resupply mission to the Second Thomas Shoal. This may lead up to that resupply. – J.V.)
- A Chinese man in New York was convicted of spying for China’s Ministry of State Security on the pro-democracy Chinese diaspora. The spy set up a pro-democracy foundation in New York and was previously well-reputed as a pro-democracy activist himself.
THAT’S A WRAP: This does it for today’s edition. Thank you for reading. If you know folks who would also like to receive this email, would you please forward it to them? We appreciate you spreading the word. – M.S.