Australian Diplomacy
The Translator: “Like-minded countries”
Heard diplomats or analysts using a new turn of phrase only to wonder, “What does that mean?” Today we ask …
What are “like-minded countries”?
Commentators and academics use…
Reflecting Australia as a career ambassador
After 29 years of service, last week I retired from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. I am an unlikely Australian diplomat, having joined DFAT as a graduate trainee in…
Economic diplomacy: Strategic funding comes in from the cold
Soft dollars
While the multiples of defence to aid and intelligence to diplomacy spending have received a lot of attention in recent years as they have relentlessly widened,…
Don’t let China veto Australia’s ties with Taiwan
Conflict over Taiwan would be calamitous. It risks sparking a US–China war, imperilling millions of lives on both sides of the Strait, and destroying Taiwan’s hard-won liberal…
Policy Briefs
Enhancing Australia's Taiwan ties
Australia has limited its economic and political engagements with Taiwan due to fears of upsetting China. Is now the right time for change?
Australian leadership in Indo‑Pacific nuclear diplomacy
Australia should again take a leadership role in nuclear diplomacy, working with regional neighbours, to reduce nuclear threats in the Indo-Pacific through confidence building and…
Pump up the volume: Music diplomacy as soft power
Last week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the US Global Music Diplomacy Initiative, aimed at strengthening peace, democracy and the promotion of US values through…
Amid great power visits, don’t underestimate middle power cooperation
This week, US President Joe Biden visited Vietnam as part of a trip “to strengthen alliances around the world to maintain stability”. One widely reported outcome is the…
Economic diplomacy: Spirit of Australia charts a fresh course
Guns AND butter
The release of Australia’s new development aid policy earlier this month has been mostly welcomed as the latest move in the Albanese government’s effort to…
Nobody ever teaches anyone how to be a Minister
Book review: Penny Wong: Passion and Principle, by Margaret Simons (Black Inc. Updated edition 2023)
Contemporary political biography is the art of working out how our leaders…