As the dog that barks regularly but never bites, ASEAN has been yapping at China for 15 years to get a Code of Conduct on the South China Sea. At last, China is throwing ASEAN …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Beijing’s great celebration of the Belt and Road Initiative was a lavish display of China’s promise and power. All those nations paying court to Xi Jinping’s celebratory circus confront the conflicting emotions captured by a …
To ponder 50 years of the Association of South East Asian Nations is to see the constant interplay of shadow and substance. On the shadow side, ASEAN always talks a good game and promises much. …
ASEAN is ever beset by existential angst. The ‘A’ in ASEAN stands for Angst as well as Association. Regard this as more description than criticism. The Angst-Association of South East Asian Nations always has lots …
Like the World War One 9.2-inch siege howitzer, Dennis Richardson has been a mobile weapon, deployed across many fields of battle, able to deliver a lot of ordnance with maximum elevation in a single shot. …
Pick the anomaly in this list of what Australia does and desires in the South Pacific: Australia wants a leadership role in the South Pacific, a fundamental foreign policy interest explicitly stated in 1901 in …
The decision of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation to end shortwave broadcasts to the South Pacific is a serious blunder, based on a shrinking, insular view of ABC responsibilities. The ABC should be embarrassed that 31 …
How does an independent Australia make its way in Asia? And can Australia have an Asian future while holding tight to the alliance with its great and powerful friend? The ‘great and powerful’ reference speaks …
In 2003, Solomon Islands stared into a national abyss—confronting ethnic conflict and state failure. The Melanesian nation appealed for help, prompting the largest, longest and most ambitious security effort ever mounted by the Pacific Islands …
Two visits to Australia by the Chinese leader Li Keqiang illustrate the China sweet-and-sour. The just-completed trip by Premier Li for the annual leaders’ summit was all about the sweet. Just the fact of the …
The descriptor ‘Asia’ attempts to identify so much that it delivers sparse meaning. So making a series of big bets on Asia will help define the many tasks and pressures confronting the Foreign Policy White …
The Foreign Policy White Paper to be produced this year must place big bets in Asia. The multi-purpose bets must imagine expanded interests and seek insurance against a protectionist US president who’s sceptical of alliances. In our …