After an unseemly scramble that raised concerns about cronyism, economic nationalism and Sino-American tensions, it appears as though the Trump administration’s threat to ban TikTok in the US will result in a new ‘partnership’ with …
Amid the many political crises of 2020, progress towards the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership has attracted practically no attention. Yet this ‘mega-regional’ free trade agreement is of massive significance for the Indo-Pacific. On arrival, RCEP …
After the outbreak of Covid-19 earlier this year, some predicted that the pandemic’s economic reverberations in Sri Lanka would lead China to increase its already considerable funding to the island state. Indeed, as early as …
An open letter signed by 103 experts recently called for the US to re-embrace its Cold War strategy for dealing with Russia. It argued that competition should be balanced with diplomacy and identified arenas for …
Australia started the journalist war with China. Tit-for-tat logic made it inevitable that Australian journalists in China would pay the price. Hard questions should be asked about Canberra’s thinking on the costs and consequences of …
Watching mob violence in the streets of America, I recalled an encounter in Kosovo in 1999. Driving through the country one day in a UN vehicle, I stopped at the house of a man who, …
In this episode, ASPI’s Leanne Close and Elise Thomas discuss right-wing extremism, conspiracy theories and some of the different groups disseminating them. They consider the responses from social media companies and offer suggestions on how …
It’s true that Australia is underinvesting in diplomacy given the type of world we are living in. But it’s wrongheaded to blame MPs and ministers for not simply understanding the intrinsic value of the Department …
To most people, police are police, and it seems a no-brainer for them to save time, money and effort by collaborating and cooperating across jurisdictions. Police organisations all operate in the same way, don’t they? …
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s unexpected resignation last month for health reasons has raised many questions about the legacy of the country’s longest-serving premier. One of them is whether his successor, Yoshihide Suga, will be …
Scenes of Australian police, mostly Victorian, using physical force to deal with non-compliant citizens protesting against Covid-19 restrictions have become news fixtures. Breakfast television commentary swings between criticising police use of force and targeting the …
The United States has designed, built and flown a prototype of its latest jet fighter at startling speed. Using advanced manufacturing techniques, the US Air Force has taken its ‘next generation air dominance’, or NGAD, …
It’s in Australians’ DNA to go forth and conquer the world through international travel. Aussies are the long-haul experts. But now we’re not allowed to undertake outbound travel and inbound is challenging for those not …
Welcome to ‘The threat spectrum’, a twice-monthly update focusing on non-traditional security threats. It’s divided into five sections covering climate change (Planet A), trends in democracy and authoritarianism (Democracy watch), mis- and disinformation (Information operations), …
Earlier this month, six boats carrying Syrian and Lebanese migrants set sail from northern Lebanon and attempted to dock in Cyprus. That might not sound like much, yet it is six times more than the …
In what seems like another age, back in August 2018 in the midst of yet another change in prime ministers, Australia made a world-first decision to exclude high-risk vendors from its 5G networks. Others, such …
Although it has neither the desire nor the financial or military capacity to actually displace the United States in the Middle East, Russia has become adept at planting itself firmly in the middle of crises …
On 24 August, two explosions in Jolo, a city in Sulu province in the southern Philippines, killed 15 and injured 74—a chilling case of déjà vu in a region that has suffered repeated attacks in …
Japan’s parliament is scheduled to confirm Yoshihide Suga this week as the country’s new prime minister. He will replace Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation last month for health reasons, after almost eight years in …
Australia has enormous opportunities to influence the world for good, in ways that advance our wellbeing, security and prosperity. That’s the most striking message from ASPI’s new collection of ‘After Covid’ articles and policy proposals, …