When US President Joe Biden and his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, met in Bali last November, they agreed to hold high-level meetings to establish ‘guardrails’ for the Sino-American strategic competition. US Secretary of State Antony …
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made headlines over the weekend when his claim the Ukraine war was ‘launched against’ Russia provoked laughter from the audience during a forum in India. But I was in the room and …
The Chinese Communist Party is attempting to use the Pacific islands online information environment to undermine Pacific island democracies and relationships with other partners. Some of the CCP’s messaging occurs through routine diplomatic engagement, but …
The news that China was the fourth largest source of car imports to Australia in 2022 would have come as a surprise to all but the closest observers of the automotive industry. Behind only Japan, …
The World Bank will soon pick a new president. With the world facing a confluence of climate, debt, energy and security crises, the leadership change comes at a pivotal moment for the institution. A more …
Governments and industry are constantly innovating in the space domain, but as space becomes increasingly contested and congested, there is a need to ensure the domain is secure—something that will be central to discussions at …
Australia’s strength in its international relations with the South Pacific rests on shared history, common values and cultural affinities for sport, family and religion. Pursuing Australia’s interests in an increasingly contested post-pandemic environment will require …
Kim Beazley recalls the 1980s when he oversaw a restructuring of Australia’s military establishment comfortable in the knowledge that no major attack was likely in the coming decade. That luxury is gone, he says. Beazley, …
China’s growing influence in the Pacific islands region hasn’t ended, but there are signs that it’s slowed, especially on security issues. There’s been progress on the ground to withstand Chinese political warfare. Like-minded countries such as Australia, the …
Sea state The Royal Australian Navy has received the fourth of eight evolved Cape-class patrol boats built by Austal Australia at its Henderson shipyard in Western Australia. The vessels’ enhanced capabilities over the benchmark Cape-class …
The successful export of Australian company DroneShield’s counter-drone technology to Ukraine is testament to the innovative capacity of Australia’s defence industry to fill niche gaps in the global arms market. DroneShield’s success adds its products …
Over the past few years, Covid-19, climate change and Chinese economic coercion have catalysed rapid global economic, foreign relations and national security policy changes. In Australia, the public discourse on sovereignty, national capacity and secure …
Two months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year, Jürgen Habermas, perhaps Germany’s leading public intellectual, published a commentary that triggered one of the country’s most ferocious political debates in decades. Habermas asked how Germany …
Australians proudly display their resilience when they band together during a crisis and then stoically move on. In rural and remote communities, resilience is a required and highly prized commodity. However, the frequency and concurrency …
Australia needs to have a more honest conversation, with itself and its main ally, about the b-word. As a straight-talking country that prides itself on its closeness to the United States, Australia finds it curiously …
Governments are notoriously behind the curve when it comes to technology policy. But the AUKUS security agreement between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States is an opportunity for these like-minded partners to be …
Contrary to some media reports, Fijian opposition leader Frank Bainimarama’s three-year suspension from parliament was not for an act of sedition. Rather, he was excluded from service to the parliament for something more prosaic—using unparliamentary …
On 24 February, marking one year since Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine began, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs published China’s position on the political settlement of the Ukraine crisis. In theory, its 12 points form the basis …
The recent explosion in automation enabled by artificial intelligence, often dubbed the fourth industrial revolution, is fuelling expectations of a future of ‘phenomenal wealth’, including an economy in which the price of labour will be …
Russia’s war on Ukraine, with its images of helicopters trailing flames, has demonstrated their vulnerability to effective air defences and triggered debate on the future of crewed aircraft sent to penetrate enemy airspace. Former Australian …