Avoiding a Pacific Lost Decade: Financing the Pacific's COVID-19 Recovery
The Pacific's post-pandemic economic revival will rely on an internationalmulti-year recovery package of grants and loans led by Australia
Tuesday 26 Jan 2021 | 07:39 | SYDNEY
What's happening on 
China and the Rules‑Based Order
Seven experts debate China’s approach to the rules‑based international order
Brunei, ASEAN and the South China Sea
On 20 July, after a long period silence on the issue, the Brunei Darussalam Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a statement declaring that it “maintains its two-step approach in addressing the South China Sea”. As bland as this statement sounds, it represents a critical development in the tiny
By Joshua Espeña , Anne Uy
The Risks of China’s Ambitions in the South Pacific
Originally published by The Brookings Institution as part of its Global China series assessing China's growing role in the world.
China’s push into PNG has been surprisingly slow and ineffective. Why has Beijing found the going so tough?
Originally published in The Conversation
By Ian Kemish
Solomon Islands gets a lesson in Chinese diplomacy
China’s efforts to marginalise Taiwan and promote its “One China” policy has been a challenge for many countries. Some have diplomatic relations with Beijing while continuing to pursue trade and cultural links with Taiwan.
The US can do this because it is a global power. This was clearly
International Public Broadcasting: A Missed Opportunity For Projecting Australia’s Soft Power
Australia’s depleted international broadcasting is impairing the projection of Australia’s soft power at a time when government is seeking to increase its regional influence, particularly in the Pacific
China, the Pacific, and the “debt trap” question
“Debt trap” diplomacy has been a recurrent rallying cry for critics of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its overseas infrastructure lending activities. Over the past two years, this debate has taken centre stage in the Pacific, with China accused of drowning these tiny economies in
Ocean of debt? Belt and Road and debt diplomacy in the Pacific
China has not been engaged in debt trap diplomacy — at least not yet
Solomons and Kiribati snub Taiwan for China – does it matter?
After a public, protracted, and somewhat torturous process, the government of Solomon Islands last week decided to sever ties with Taiwan in favour of the People’s Republic of China. Days later, in sharp juxtaposition, Kiribati suddenly broke ties with Taiwan too, catching everyone by surprise.
A rising China and the future of the “Blue Pacific”
The focus of the Pacific Islands Forum and its Secretariat is securing the future prosperity and wellbeing of the “Blue Pacific”. The Forum seeks genuine partnerships with all actors who are willing to join us along the pathway towards that vision. Therefore, I reject the terms of the dilemma in
China's first overseas military base in Djibouti likely to be a taste of things to come
On 26 November, China confirmed it was in talks with Djibouti to construct its first overseas military base. This represents a major symbolic and practical step in China's emergence as a global military power.
According to a Chinese spokesman, the new military 'support facilities' will provide
Chinese worldviews and China’s foreign policy
Four key narratives help explain the way that China acts in and interprets the world, providing a more nuanced guide to China’s aims and ambitions and helping to shape more effective responses to China
Australia and the US: great allies but different agendas in the South China Sea
Several posts on The Interpreter have argued recently that Australia should join the US in conducting freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) in the South China Sea. This is not a good idea for several reasons, not least of all is how our involvement would be perceived in the region.
The
By Sam Bateman
Innocent passage: Did the US just fumble its South China Sea strategy?
The difference between freedom of navigation operations (FONOPs) and warships transiting under 'innocent passage' sounds arcane and legalistic. But this wonkish distinction is now central to understanding the nature of the US Navy’s activities in the South China Sea last week and going
By Euan Graham
Why Australia must send its navy to assert the freedom to operate in the South China Sea
After much internal debate and soul searching, the US has conducted its first 'Freedom of Navigation' operation in the South China Sea for several years. It will not be the last and we are fast approaching the point at which Australia needs to decide whether it will assert, with more than
US launches FoNOPS in the South China Sea: Better late than never?
So, the much-heralded US freedom of navigation (FoN) operation in the South China Sea has finally seen daylight. The designated lead, the USS Lassen, is a guided missile destroyer which has already been patrolling the South China Sea in recent weeks. After leaving port in East Malaysia this
By Euan Graham
South China Sea dispute: US challenge may fall into China trap
South China Sea dispute: US challenge may fall into China trap Euan Graham The Australian Financial Review 19 October 2015
By Euan Graham
The perception gap: reading China's maritime objectives in Indo-Pacific Asia
In this Lowy Institute Report Nonresident Fellows Linda Jakobson and Rory Medcalf identify both the real differences in interests between China and other powers in the Indo-Pacific, but also the sharp divergences in perceptions regarding China’s maritime strategic objectives
Chinese aid in the Pacific
In this interactive Lowy Institute map, Philippa Brant illustrates China’s growing foreign aid program in the Pacific Islands region
The Geopolitics of Chinese Aid
The Geopolitics of Chinese aid: Mapping Beijing’s Funding in the Pacific Dr Philippa Brant Foreign Affairs 4 March 2015 Please click here for the online text
Fiji grabs the limelight as leaders of China and India visit
Jenny Hayward-Jones is Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program and Philippa Brant is a Research Associate at the Lowy Institute.
Pacific Island leaders have had the rare opportunity to meet the international leader of the moment, Narendra Modi, and the president of the world's
Chinese aid in Fiji coming under new pressures
I was in Fiji last week to get an update on Chinese assistance to the country, as part of a larger project I'm doing mapping Chinese aid activities in the Pacific islands, to be launched in early 2015.
Navua Hospital, built with Chinese aid assistance, Fiji. (Author photo)
Fiji is becoming
Chinese Assistance in the Pacific: Agency, Effectiveness and the Role of Pacific Island Governments
Chinese Assistance in the Pacific: Agency, Effectiveness and the Role of Pacific Island Governments
Philippa Brant and Matthew Dornan
Asia & the Pacific Policy Studies
Please click here for full online text
Budget 2014: The end of an aid era?
By Jenny Hayward-Jones, Director of the Lowy Institute's Melanesia Program, and Philippa Brant, a Lowy Institute research associate.
The Abbott Government last night brought down the first annual aid budget since the integration of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) and AusAID
China's economic statecraft: turning wealth into power
China today is using economic statecraft more frequently, more assertively, and in more diverse fashion than ever before. Yet fears of Chinese economic coercion should not be overdrawn. In many cases, China’s use of economic statecraft has been counterproductive.
By James Reilly
Charity begins at home
Lowy Institute Research Associate Dr Philippa Brant writes for Foreign Affairs about why China's foreign aid won't replace the West's. The full article is available here
Judicious ambition: international policy priorities for the new Australian Government
In this new Lowy Institute Analysis, a number of Lowy Institute experts outline what they believe should be some key international priorities for the new Australian Government.
China no rival in the battle for island influence
In an opinion piece in The Australian, Jenny Hayward-Jones writes that instead of speculating on the hidden intentions of China’s growing engagement with the Pacific Islands region, Canberra's priority should be to assist Pacific Island countries maximise the economic benefits of China'