On 9 January 2019, the director of the Asian Maritime Transparency Initiative (AMTI) at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Gregory B. Poling, reported on China’s undocumented fishing activities in the South China …
Following the first meeting in November 2017 of the resurrected Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or Quad, the US has been consistent in discussing the security objectives it seeks to promote through the consultations. However, US interactions …
Of all the credible contingencies facing Australia in the foreseeable future, the most challenging would undoubtedly be our involvement with the US in countering a major Chinese attack on Taiwan. For obvious reasons, our politicians …
After nine months of squabbling, Lebanon finally got a new unity government on 31 January with the reappointment of Sunni politician Saad Hariri as prime minister. It’s clear that the balance of power in the …
This is an exciting time for Australian naval shipbuilding. Two patrol vessel programs are underway, the Anzac-class frigate midlife capability assurance program (AMCAP) is completing the first of eight ships, and Hunter-class future frigates are …
Australia may be a sunburnt country, with droughts and flooding rains, but climate change is relentlessly ramping up our nation’s inherent vulnerabilities: January 2019 was Australia’s hottest month on record, and nine of the 10 …
The dysfunctional politics of Brexit in the United Kingdom, and the midterm election reaction against President Donald Trump in the United States, are generating second thoughts about the populist tide that has been sweeping the …
Sea state Royal Australian Navy frigate HMAS Ballarat, deployed in the Middle East as part of Operation Manitou, took part in a successful anti-narcotics operation in the Arabian Sea. More than 2 tonnes of hashish …
In January, at the Raisina Dialogue in New Delhi, Foreign Minister Marise Payne enunciated her government’s pitch to develop closer relations with India. Her speech was an attempt to reassure India and the broader region …
On 20 May 2018, the People’s Liberation Army Daily reported that the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN), the China Coast Guard (CCG) and local authorities had staged five days of joint patrols for the first time …
The stoush between Beijing and Washington over Chinese telco Huawei shows that countries no longer compete only by using military or economic might. ‘Law enforcement power’—the use of a country’s internal law and justice systems …
Japan has taken up the G20 presidency at a key time in global economic affairs and has the opportunity to shepherd the global economy through a period of greater uncertainty than there has been in …
The support from Italy’s populist leaders for the ‘Yellow Vest’ protests in France is a sad first in the history of the European Union. Never before has one of the six founding countries of the …
Part of a leader’s magic is to spin a few words into political gold, capturing the moment and proclaiming the future. Think Franklin D. Roosevelt’s ‘new deal’, Winston Churchill’s ‘iron curtain’, or Ben Chifley’s ‘light …
Whether or not one realises it, 2018 may have been a historic turning point. Poorly managed globalisation has led to nationalist take-back-control movements and a rising wave of protectionism that is undermining the 70-year-old American-led …
Welcome, dear readers, to our first ‘ASPI suggests’ for 2019. The world Fears of a no-deal Brexit continue to grip the UK. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt opened the year with a speech in Singapore filled …
When US President Donald Trump meets again with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the end of the month, he will be staging the second act in the comedy of manners that now passes for …
My previous post looked at the greater value for money Australia will derive from the program of continuous warship design and construction it is commencing compared with the stop–start method of the past. This part …
One of the proudest boasts of the Coalition government is that it takes national security seriously, and it does. Over the next 10 years, Australia will spend $200 billion on defence in the nation’s largest …
In our second episode for 2019, we hear from John Coyne about the recent drug fatalities at music festivals and what we should be doing about it. Danielle Cave and Tom Uren from our International …