Good morning, and welcome to the Global Situation Report for Wednesday, 12 June 2024.
- PHILIPPINES FINDS PLA UNIFORMS CONNECTED WITH CRIMINALS: During a raid of a fraudulent “Philippines Offshore Gambling Operator” (POGO), Philippine police found several People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Army and Rocket Force uniforms. The POGO was raided to disrupt a criminal syndicate involved in “scamming activities.”
- The Philippine government asked the Chinese government to verify the authenticity of the uniforms.
- The Philippine government is proposing benign theories, such as “collector’s items,” to prevent public panic but is not ruling out PLA participation.
Why It Matters: The Philippine government appears to be worried about a backlash against the Chinese diaspora as there is high public support for military action against China. If the uniforms are verified, the Philippine government would likely discuss labeling the Chinese envoy as Persona Non-Grata, as the Philippines has done in the past. – J.V.
- Global Rollup
- Taiwan’s Coast Guard arrested a former PLA Navy Captain over the weekend after he used a speed boat to cross the Taiwan Strait, avoid detection, and enter a river delta leading to Taipei. Taiwan says the man could have been probing their defenses. China denies any official connection.
- Twelve countries outside of BRICS+ are attending the Foreign Ministers’ Meeting this week: Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Turkey, Mauritania, Cuba, Venezuela, and Bahrain. (Bahrain and Turkey stand out as key partners of the United States. A BRICS+ membership for Bahrain would bring their reliability into question as the host of the U.S. Navy’s 5th Fleet Headquarters. – J.V.)
- “As our president said, [the nuclear doctrine] is a working document. That means that it can be amended, and these amendments should first of all be geared to ensure our country’s security,” Andrey Kartapolov, Russian State Duma defense committee chairman, said in an interview with Russian media.
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.