As the military modernisation the Asia Pacific continues, Taiwan is now looking at whether it can build its own submarine fleet.

If you’ve seen the movie Argo—the Hollywood version of the rescue of six US diplomats by the CIA and Canadian government—here’s the memoirs of CIA agent Tony Mendez (Ben Affleck’s character) (PDF) on how things really went down.

In the 21st century security corner for this week: An update on the PLA’s UAV program (PDF) from Project 2049, Study on Chinese UAVs, and CSIS’ Peter Singer looks at the growth in capabilities like drones and cyber, and says that Obama needs to take a greater role in articulating norms for their use.

From CSIS we have a report on the nuclear aspect of Sino-US relations. The dynamic, they say, is stable for the moment, but the US will need to accept a Chinese minimum deterrent to keep it that way.

To mark a decade since the Iraq War, Foreign Policy have published a photoessay that looks at an operations journal of a young American lieutenant. The photos and entries depict his perspective of a post-9/11 America and his deployment in Iraq (warning: it’s grittier than most links we suggest).

Events

Canberra: ASPI’s Andrew Davies and Ben Schreer will provide their thoughts on the 2013 Defence White Paper, hosted by RUSI tomorrow, Wednesday 20 March at 5pm at the R1 Theatrette at Defence’s Russell Offices.

Former DFAT Secretary, Mr Ric Smith AO PSM, will be speaking about Australia in a world of change, covering the global shifts in power, the Indian Ocean and other foreign policy issues. Hosted at AIIA ACT’s branch in Deakin, the event is on Monday 25 March at 5.30pm.

Sydney: Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, Kenneth Roth, will deliver a presentation on United Nations Security Council challenges for Australia at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, 22 March at 12.30pm.

Brisbane: Lieutenant Colonel Peter Monks (currently serving in the Australian Army) will address security challenges facing Afghanistan and future challenges for the Australian Army and ADF on Tuesday 26 March at 6pm.

Image courtesy of Flickr user The US Army.