In 2013, the Tasmanian government signed a memorandum of understanding with China’s State Oceanic Administration to provide support services for Chinese Antarctic expeditions. Under the agreement, Chinese vessels were given access to Hobart’s port and …
Covid-19 and China challenge Australia in the South Pacific. Add in the category-five severe tropical cyclone that’s just pounded Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji and Tonga. The pandemic and the aftermath of Cyclone Harold constitute the …
In this time of Covid-19, Australia marks Anzac Day without dawn services and marches. Instead, a private ceremony will be broadcast from the Australian War Memorial. It’s another change in a unique Australian commemoration that’s …
In this episode, we hear from Vicky Xu, Kelsey Munro and Nathan Ruser of ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre. They’re three of the authors of Uyghurs for sale, which was released last month and exposed …
When the US Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mark Milley announced, ‘We’re at war with Covid-19, we’re at war with terrorists, and we’re at war with drug cartels’, he articulated a fear shared by many …
Australia’s Pacific step-up, introduced in 2016 and significantly upgraded in November 2018, is widely seen as the spearhead of our response to China’s growing influence in our region. At its heart is a record $1.4 …
The Covid-19 pandemic has sent the world into perilous, uncharted territory from which no country will emerge unscathed. More than half of the global population is under some form of lockdown. All economies, rich and …
As the novel coronavirus has spread from its original epicentre of Wuhan into a global pandemic, China’s ruling communist party is pushing a new narrative. After some initial missteps by local officials, this narrative goes, …
Australia has so far managed the Covid-19 pandemic as well as anywhere else on the planet, except perhaps our near neighbour New Zealand or the vibrant techno-democracy of Taiwan. That’s lucky, because if our federal, …
The beat Lockdown demonstrations on the rise In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, police forces around the globe have been monitoring lockdown demonstrations, in countries as widely scattered as the United States, Chile, Russia …
The Covid-19 pandemic, much like a major war, is a defining moment for the world—one that demands major reforms of international institutions. The World Health Organization, whose credibility has taken a severe beating, is a …
The Covid-19 pandemic has given new and sharper emphasis to questions that were already being raised in the public debate. Why are Australians losing trust in public institutions? Are our security organisations striking the right …
Covid-19 is a crisis of globalisation, propagated by around 800,000 international flights carrying over 100 million people across borders every week, along with the cruise liners carrying half a million or so tourists in any …
International humanitarian law is designed for the exceptional situation of armed conflict. It remains relevant even in the face of this exceptional pandemic. In March, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appealed for a global ceasefire because …
During this pandemic, much of the world’s attention has been focused on China and on how Covid-19 outbreaks are being handled in various countries, notably Italy, Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, Singapore, South …
There have been claims in the media and by various commentators that the cost of Australia’s future submarine program has gone up. The Defence Department insists that it hasn’t. So, who’s right? Unfortunately, nothing is …
The coronavirus pandemic will affect the power of countries in different ways. The biggest impact will be reductions in the economic, and therefore military, strength and relative power of competing major states. The American historian …
Sea state Naval Group has reportedly refused requests from an independent senator to access documents that would show if it is honouring the terms of its contract for Australia’s $80 billion submarine fleet. Centre Alliance’s …
The history of coronaviruses is littered with environmental degradation, superstition, rampant illegal trading in wildlife, and complacency. Earlier this century, a global panic was triggered by one such virus, SARS, and there were what look …
In a break from the usual content of the daily White House press briefings on Covid-19, on 1 April the US defence secretary, Mark Esper, announced an increase in military assets assigned to US Southern …