🌐 From Taiwan’s Frontline to Future War: What the Shangri-La Dialogue Revealed
Shangri-La Dialogue 2025 Exclusive: Future Warfare Sees Innovation as Crucial to National Defense
By Silva Shih
On the eve of the conference, China’s Guangzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau took the unprecedented step of disclosing the personal information of 20 members of Taiwan’s Information, Communication and Electronic Force Command, alleging a coordinated cyberattack on the Chinese government and linchpin industries in Guangzhou, and issuing warrants for their arrests. This was the first time Beijing had disclosed details of cross-strait cyberwarfare on such a large scale, showing that the modern battlefield is fast expanding to encompass the virtual world.
Paparo: ‘Engagement in the Speed of Combat’
During a panel on future warfare, Paparo said in his opening statement that “we need engagement in the speed of combat, not committee.” This got a ripple of nods from defense officials representing different nations in the audience.
Paparo criticized how military operations are often slowed by reports, conferences, and committees, leading to the phenomenon of the “frozen middle,” where middle managers in the command chain are not given the room to come up with creative solutions but must bear too much risk. “A real leader must assume risk for their team,” he stresses. People in leadership roles must be ready to “eat risk” if they want to break through gridlock and get things moving.
Paparo cites the war in Ukraine as an example of how battles are not being won by whoever has the newest drones, but who can go through the decision-making process faster. He emphasizes that military innovation is not dependent on who holds the technology, but who has the ability to integrate the intelligence system so that frontline troops can observe, evaluate, deploy, and act more efficiently.
Read the full article:
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