Weekend catch-up: the race for 5G, US Ambassador swap, and Australia–China relations
The week that was on The Interpreter.
Deciphering symbols at the inter-Korean summit
The subtle messages of the historic meeting go well beyond the words on paper.
Temper expectations for Britain’s “Pacific pivot”
Australia and New Zealand have far more at stake in the region than dollars and cents.
Clamorous response to a Silent Invasion
Instead of generating a sense of common concern, Clive Hamilton’s book could spark discord, sow the seeds of suspicion, and feed ingrained paranoia.
Immigration links: atolls at risk, French asylum bill, and more
Links and updates from across the migration and border policy field.
Review: Safeguarding Australia’s security interests through closer Pacific ties
James Batley says more attention should be paid to the role Pacific island countries play in regional security.
Rehabilitating Marawi
More than bricks and mortar, the Philippines needs to rebuild relations between the local community and the state.
Economic diplomacy brief: security costs, Japanese investment, and Chinese business relations
Greg Earl with economic news from across the region.
Beyond scandal: Facebook and Indonesian politics
More than a million Indonesian profiles are said to have been compromised in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Australia’s Chinese ballistic missile problem
China’s new islands and missiles have changed our regional strategic balance.
Pacific links: UK diplomacy, China–Vanuatu relations, and more
Links and updates from across the Pacific islands.
Harry Harris and the ambassadorial absence
Alliance sentimentalists are wrong to judge the entire heath of the US–Australia relationship through one diplomatic appointment.
Anzac Day and the matter of meaning
In modern and multicultural Australia, sustaining a tangible connection to a national day of remembrance poses a challenge.
Attack of the Twitter bots
A surge in social media followers across Asia has raised questions about self-censorship.
Britain’s new Pacific presence
The UK announced three new diplomatic posts in the Pacific, bringing a new voice to regional strategic discussions.
Kim Jong-un made Donald Trump an offer he couldn’t refuse
Plenty of attention has been paid to the perils of the likely US–North Korea summit, but little has been said about the risks Trump would have faced had he declined Pyongyang’s offer.
Less is more? Employment rates and economic growth
Labour market participation is a key factor in determining monetary policy.
Aid links: laptop failures, Indian justice, and Australian parsimony
Links and stories from the aid and development sector.
North Korea’s nuclear test freeze: practical as much as political
But “satellite” launches could disguise more missile tests.
The Beijing way of trade punishment
China has a bigger adversary to contend with before picking fights with Australia.
Weekend catch-up: Syria strike (redux), Japanese rare earth, and climate geopolitics
The week that was on The Interpreter.
Australian warships challenged in South China Sea
Clearly, someone in Australia’s defence and security establishment wanted China’s challenge to be made public.
Immigration links: disputed Rohingya repatriations, sporting refugees, and more
Links and updates from across the migration and border policy field.
Will China’s new aid agency be effective?
China’s new approach to aid looks to be closely aligned to the Belt and Road Initiative.
The Rohingya question: determining who to hold to account
Who is responsible for the behaviour of troops in the field?
Drones level the battlefield for extremists
Non-state actors using drones that cost a couple of grand to build are now pitted against some of the world’s most expensive and sophisticated weaponry.
Digital Asia links: Weibo backflip, Facebook comeuppance, dancing grandpa, more
Sarah Logan’s links to digital news across Asia.
Why definitions will be crucial for North-South talks
“Denuclearisation” is fraught with ambiguity and means very different things to each side.
Europe: the movers and the shakers
The responses to the Syria strikes illustrate a troubling divide in Europe in defending Western principles.
China influence: in defence of parliamentary sovereignty
For a party with no interest in popular elections at home, the Chinese Communist Party shows remarkable curiosity about electoral democracies elsewhere.
Is Japan’s rare earth discovery fool’s gold?
It is one thing to be in possession of an unrivalled deposit of unmined ore, and quite another to unlock its vast potential.
Caught in a pincer
The biggest destabilising player in Melanesia over the past five years has not been China, but Indonesia.
Pacific islands links: Vanuatu’s China wharf, leaders in London, elections, and more
Links and stories from around the Pacific by The Interpreter team.
Climate change and shifting alliances
The Maldives’ experience suggests the need to adapt to global warming could in the future be manipulated for political leverage.
A new take on violence in Indonesian Papua
Violence outside the spectacle of insurgency continues, as mundane as it is pervasive.
As threats to Trump mount, allies must uphold the Iran deal
Perhaps France’s Emmanuel Macron can convince Trump he will retain far more leverage over Iran within the existing nuclear deal.
Employment as protection: complementary pathways for refugees
Refugees should have better access to labour migration schemes to reduce the pressure on humanitarian quotas.
Biding time: the G20 Eminent Persons Group on financial governance
The EPG says economic reforms proposed by the G20 are neither radical nor novel.
A new high: India–Japan defence links
A new deal for amphibious aircraft shows just how far ties between the two countries have come.
Is Trump ready to bear the cost of a trade war?
The test of US policy is not how much it can hurt others but how much pain it will withstand.
Aid links: Timor youth, India’s biometric ID test, and more
Links and stories from the aid and development sector.
Why poor countries won’t lose out from the US–China trade war
If anyone deserves protection at this increasingly protectionist time it is the least developed countries around the world.
Commonwealth Games: medals, babies, and nation-building
Pacific island countries, especially, win big in a breakthrough event.
Syria strikes: mission accomplished?
The US felt compelled to act, Bashar al-Assad has been punished, yet may not be deterred.
Weekend catch-up: Chinese influence in Vanuatu, Syrian crisis, and trade woes
The week that was on The Interpreter.
Boao Forum, through the eyes of China’s state media
“Confidence” was the message, reinforced in print and online.
In Syria, Trump must collude with Russia
Airstrikes aside, the US needs Moscow to influence the Assad regime and negotiate an end to this sordid conflict.