Australia is Making a Risky Bet on the U.S.
Australia has thrust itself into a central role in America’s rivalry with China. Originally published in The New York Times
Sunday 26 Sep 2021 | 03:46 | SYDNEY
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What a new defence pact reveals about America
A deal between the United States, Britain, and Australia serves as a rebuttal of the argument that Washington is in retreat. First published in The Atlantic
AUKUS must walk and chew gum at the same time
Originally published in The Canberra Times
By Ben Scott
Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Australia’s Response to the Coup in Myanmar
The following Joint Submission to the Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia was made by the Lowy Institute’s Ben Bland and Hervé Lemahieu on Australia’s response to the coup in Myanmar. Their comments were cited in a report produced by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs,
This is America’s new foreign policy on show
The abandoning of Afghanistan is all about a shift to diplomacy and deal-making, not firepower and force.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Ben Scott
New man in Tehran aims for supreme power
Originally published in The Australian
How Biden's China doctrine can swing the pendulum back
A shift toward the center is more likely in coming months.
Originally published in Nikkei Asia Review
By Ben Scott
The trouble with Washington’s ‘Rules-Based Order’ gambit
Improved U.S. compliance with international norms would greatly enhance U.S. defense of the rules-based international order.
Originally published in The Diplomat
By Ben Scott
Why the US is quietly outshining China
Xi Jinping likes to say China owns the future and the West is in decline. But appearances can also deceive.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
China’s communists guard their future from the past
As they celebrate their party’s centenary, China’s leaders remain obsessed with the fate of the Soviet Union and its political reforms. They study history to avoid a repeat.
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Peter Cai
Australia and the Growing Reach of China’s Military
Beijing’s maritime and aerospace capabilities will have serious implications in the event of an Indo-Pacific power play
Xi's tech crackdown preserves socialism with Chinese characteristics
Protecting foreign investors has never been a top priority.
Originally published in Nikkei Asia Review
Bridging Papua New Guinea’s information divide
In the lead-up to the 2022 national election, Papua New Guinea must address its information gap by investing in the public broadcaster
By Shane McLeod
Xi Jinping reels in his tech titans
Private enterprise created China’s vaunted digital economy. But Big Brother is always in charge. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
China’s looming succession crisis
What will happen when Xi is gone?
Originally published in Foreign Affairs
Australia buying Digicel hits two birds with one stone
On top of staving off a China telco monopoly, underwriting the purchase would show the government is putting big money on the table to get ‘blue chip’ companies to invest in the Pacific. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
There is no wages case for a permanent cut to immigration
RBA governor Philip Lowe makes a reasonable point about the short-term suppression of wages in some industries. But long-run evidence shows migration lifts demand for workers. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
By Roland Rajah
Lowy Institute Poll 2021
In this its seventeenth year, the Lowy Institute Poll continues to chart how Australians feel about the world and its challenges, including COVID, China and climate change
Fear of military conflict on the rise in Australia
In an opinion piece originally published in The Australian newspaper, Lowy Institute director of public opinion and foreign policy Natasha Kassam and research director Alex Oliver describe how the pandemic, China’s behaviour, and a change in US leadership have catalysed some rapid shifts
Jagged sphere
China’s quest for infrastructure and influence in mainland Southeast Asia
By Greg Raymond
We only have a guest seat at G7 table
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review. Australia has been invited to this gathering of friends, but has no say in any decisions about how to get China to play by the rules. That’s a risk for the years ahead
Unrivalled Xi Jinping still has challenges
Originally published in the Australian Financial Review. China’s ruling party and its leader are now masters of everything they survey. But can the economy keep delivering when the private sector is cowed
Will Indonesia’s Omnibus reforms bolster recovery from COVID-19?
Originally published in East Asia Forum.
By Roland Rajah
Catching up in the space race isn’t a moon shot
China’s ‘God of Fire’ mission foreshadows a scramble for control of space — and Australia is being left behind. Originally published in The Australian
By Alan Dupont
Australians have never been so fearful and insular
How Australia has dealt with COVID-19 and the rift with China underscores changes in the national psyche. Originally published in The Australian Financial Review
Australia's South China Sea Challenges
Canberra needs to work with Southeast Asia to address looming South China Sea challenges from China and the US
By Malcolm Cook
Climate Poll 2021
Climate Poll 2021 by the Lowy Institute reports the results of a nationally representative survey on attitudes to climate change
Revealed: China’s plan to wean itself off Australian iron ore
For a China determined to punish Australia, the windfall gains delivered to Canberra from surging iron ore prices are intolerable. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
China, the West and Covid
It is hard to believe the world will easily forget China’s governing system allowed Covid to get out of hand and spread to the four corners of the Earth.
Originally published in The Australian
Countering China’s Adventurism over Taiwan: A Third Way
As America’s policy choices narrow to two extremes, a new proposal for a middle path
Evaluate the Ladakh crisis, keep China at bay
A critical assessment of the stand-off offers New Delhi key lessons in managing the strategic competition with China. Originally published by The Hindu
‘Fortress Australia’: what are the costs of closing ourselves off to the world?
Originally published in The Conversation.
Australians need clarity on war or peace
A formal annual threat assessment from the government is better than the shapeless war talk voters are getting at the moment. Originally published in The Australian Financial Review
By Ben Scott
The Crisis after the Crisis: How Ladakh will Shape India’s Competition with China
The border crisis in Ladakh may end in war or peace — or it may never end
GNET Survey on the Role of Technology in Violent Extremism and the State of Research Community-Tech Industry Engagement
Read and download the full report
By Lydia Khalil
Stoking fears of war could serve China’s goals. Australian policy needs rethinking
Tensions in the region are escalating, but trumpeting the coming threat of war plays into Beijing’s goals and risks undermining Taiwan further. Originally published in The Guardian
Biden and Xi talk of a clash of civilisations. But the real shared goal is dominance
The US president has challenged the idea that the ‘east is rising, the west declining’. Instead, he insists that America’s day is far from done. Originally published by The Guardian
COVIDpoll 2021
Lowy Institute polling on Australian attitudes to the COVID-19 pandemic
Extremism and clear terminology
New terminology introduced by ASIO to describe violent extremist groups carefully avoids ‘right- or left-wing’ descriptors. But in not calling out right-wing extremism, is the national security agency guilty of double standards and bowing to the conservative side of politics?
Originally
By Lydia Khalil
China strategy: Get a bigger stick with which to protect ourselves
Originally published in The Australian Financial Review
By Alan Dupont
The Pacific went a year without COVID. Now, it’s all under threat
Originally published by The Conversation
Is there life after Xi?
The Chinese president has rewritten the post-Mao rules, and the global implications could be profound. Originally published by Inside Story
Call us soldiers, sailors or aviators, but never warriors
Originally published in The Australian
Submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security: Inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia
On 19 February, Lowy Institute Research Fellow Lydia Khalil made a submission to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Intelligence and Security inquiry into extremist movements and radicalism in Australia.
By Lydia Khalil
Canberra clueless to China’s flexible diplomacy
Australia insists on viewing Beijing in black and white. But that’s ill-matched with China’s expertise in the grey zone. Originally published in The Australian Financial Review
Do Researchers Have an Obligation to Report Dangerous Actors?
Originally published on GNET Insights
By Lydia Khalil
Reading the Xi leaves: what’s next for the Chinese President
If Xi Jinping had followed the rules, he would be stepping down next year. The longer he stays in office without an anointed successor, the greater the risk of a power struggle. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review
Time for talk is over: Australia must take a greater role in tackling Myanmar crisis
Originally published in The Australian
Why our economy can afford to stand up to China with Belt and Road veto
Originally published in the Sydney Morning Herald.
By Roland Rajah
Yes, we can spend our way to recovery if we are careful
Australia has rightly lost its fear of big deficits. But we must walk back debt in lockstep with private sector expansion. Originally published in The Australian Financial Review
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