Hugh White seems seized by anxiety in his latest and arguably most pessimistic assessment of US–China tensions over Taiwan and the strategic choices facing Australia. White argues that the risk of war between the US …
Articles by: "Geoffrey Barker"
French anger over Australia’s decision to dump the diesel–electric submarine project is entirely justified and understandable. Even if, as some argue, the project’s inadequacies were increasingly apparent, there seems little doubt that Australia seriously misled …
Australia’s bold decision to acquire a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines is a revolutionary strategic policy shift prompted entirely by China’s unrelenting military aggression and political coercion throughout the Indo-Pacific region. The question is no longer …
The defiant words of that old rabble-rouser Thomas Paine provide a fitting rallying cry for Western leaders after the US-led retreat from Afghanistan and the return to power of the Taliban. The West now faces …
Donald Trump’s mulish refusal to accept defeat in the US presidential election is alarming observers of American politics. Their concerns are heightened by public demonstrations supporting Trump’s demagogic populism, his reactionary political attitudes, and his …
The accelerating velocity and seriousness of the strategic challenges confronting Australia have forced political leaders to think very hard indeed about the US alliance and about relations with China. These challenges involve, as often noted, …
Occasionally Australian strategic defence policy has moments of enlightenment when it breaks free from the evasions, platitudes and niceties of normal diplomatic discourse. Such a moment occurred last week when Prime Minister Scott Morrison released …
Hugh White sees the US–Australia military alliance weakening, possibly disappearing, as China’s rise undermines US hegemony in East Asia and as US relative power wanes. ‘We will really be on our own’, he observes in …
Managing relations with China is the most challenging foreign and security policy problem facing Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his re-elected government. It will demand a rigorous whole-of-government response coordinated by the prime minister’s department …
‘Friends with both; allies with one.’ Thus the Richardson doctrine seeks to define Australia’s most appropriate relationship with the United States and China. We can be sure that Dennis Richardson, one of Australia’s great public …
Australia’s decision to spend $50 billion on 12 French diesel-electric Shortfin Barracuda submarines reflects a long-established government preference for non-nuclear submarine forces. But will this preference remain strategically credible in future years if our strategic …
The prospect of huge financial and currency collapses inevitably dominated initial concerns over Britain’s decision to leave the EU. But greater stability now seems likely as world markets adjust to the changed circumstances. More worrying …