Australia
Shifting Quad relief operations from theory to practice
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to emphasise the “practical dimension” of the Quad grouping – working together in response to disasters, not only the four members, but…
Australia needs an open-source intelligence agency
Because people have been spying for most of history, it’s easy to forget that our intelligence bureaucracy was developed primarily to fight the Cold War. After the Cold War the…
The Beijing blowback should Australia get closer to Taiwan
Should Australia adopt a more assertive and, by definition, riskier policy on Taiwan?
Benjamin Herscovitch and Mark Harrison, of the Australian National University and the…
Indonesia ratifies nuclear weapons ban treaty. Australia should too.
Indonesia’s parliament last month agreed to ratify the United Nations Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This is an important political development, and it…
“Egregious stupidity”: The story of when Australia split with Kissinger over South Asia
Australian appraisals of Henry Kissinger and his statecraft have quickly recalled how his secret visit to Beijing in July 1971 embarrassed the government of Billy McMahon in…
How to stop any repeat of the Australia-China sonar incident
Soviet warships regularly sparred with Western navies during the Cold War years, conducting close-in ship-to-ship manoeuvres and pointing lasers against their foreign opponents at…
Ignoring those forgotten
After Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese shook hands with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing this month, much was made of Gough Whitlam’s historic visit to China in…
Southeast Asia's minerals: Opportunity knocks
Minerals produced in Southeast Asia play an important role in global supply and local manufacturing and infrastructure. The region is a large-scale producer of minerals required…
A delicate dance: latest India allegations test the rules
Extraordinary new allegations have been levelled against India over an alleged assassination plot in the United States, featured on the front page of today’s Financial Times. The…
Economic diplomacy: Hits and misses for Project Diversify
Trading places
Stabilisation has been word of the month in Australia’s international economic relations as the Albanese government has sought to unravel the remaining Chinese…