China's Military
What should Australia be doing about the South China Sea?
It’s a mark of our turbulent times that China’s dangerous and illegal actions against the Philippines at the Second Thomas Shoal currently only sit in the second tier of…
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…
Australia, China, AUKUS and the squandered advantage
Australia suffers from a deficit of expertise on China’s military capabilities, and it is distorting the national debate about the threat China poses to Australia.
Under the…
Buying the wrong submarine
Nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) are technically incredible. They are akin to the Australian Navy’s conventionally powered Collins Class submarines but much faster, much…
The social media spectacle of China’s Taiwan military exercises
“The Old Witch has landed” was a much recurring phrase on Chinese social media on 2 August 2022. The so-called “Old Witch” was US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and for the entire…
When serious, careful US management of China–Taiwan policies … isn’t
It’s a weird crisis, if it can be called that. Foreign reactions, and even those in Taiwan, to China’s unprecedented military drills in recent days have been a collective yawn. It…
Of maritime security and a rules-based order
Maritime scholars and practitioners often wrestle with the question of what a “desirable” architecture for maritime security should be, and how must it be properly implemented?…
China – a lonely superpower
As the United States, United Kingdom and Australia move to form a new AUKUS grouping, various reports have emerged of a “new Quad” led by China and featuring Iran, Pakistan and…
Sharpening deterrence
“If you want peace, prepare for war.” The idea that states can avoid war by strengthening their military is attractively simple, and the advice, attributed to Roman author…
Australia’s seaborne trade: Essential but undefendable
Thomas Shugart’s excellent Lowy analysis Australia and the growing reach of China’s military is by far the best thing I’ve read on the specific defence implications for Australia…