China, Russia and North Korea have formed a “triangle of troublemakers” that threatens to transform the Pacific region, a senior US commander has warned, even as President
Admiral Samuel Paparo, commander of Indo-Pacific Command, said the three countries have carried out joint naval exercises of increasing sophistication, alongside technology transfers and greater diplomatic cooperation. That threatens to transform the Pacific from free and open to controlled and contested, he said.
Admiral Samuel Paparo in 2024.
Photographer: Marco Garcia/AFP/Getty Images
“We witness an emerging axis of autocracy,” Paparo told the Honolulu Defense Forum on Thursday. He said the US ...