As Indonesia prepared to play host this week to the various annual ASEAN-centred summits, culminating in the 18th East Asia Summit, President Joko Widodo warned, in terms familiar to ASEAN watchers, against the risk of …
Many tea leaves have been read on the implications of the ground-breaking Japan–South Korea–United States summit, held at Camp David earlier this month (for example, here, here and here). The first stand-alone meeting of the …
Paul Dibb’s Strategist post, in response to Sam Roggeveen’s recent Australian Foreign Affairs article, was on target. But I must quibble specifically with his assertion that no commentator in their right mind would recommend a …
The Philippine Coast Guard’s highlighting of China’s harassment of its vessels near Second Thomas Shoal has undoubtedly boosted sympathy for Manila in its David-versus-Goliath struggle to maintain jurisdiction and sovereignty in the South China Sea. …
Last weekend, China’s coastguard and maritime militia carried out dangerous and aggressive manoeuvres against a small Philippines boat, blocking and blasting it with a powerful water cannon. The vessel was trying to resupply a remote …
Last week, Lloyd Austin became the first US defence secretary to visit Papua New Guinea, en route to the AUSMIN conclave in Brisbane. Austin was the latest in a long line of VIP visitors to …
The pathway to Australia acquiring nuclear-powered submarines, under Pillar 1 of the AUKUS partnership, assigns a prominent role to the UK, as the designer and co-builder of the future SSN AUKUS for the British and …
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 …
In 2016, I wrote a report on Australia’s defence and security partnership with Singapore, a few months after bilateral ties were upgraded to a comprehensive strategic partnership. I concluded then that the ‘lion and kangaroo’ …
Geography influences the strategic choices of all countries, but Vietnam is an interesting case of a ‘swing’ state in comparative grand-strategy terms. The country occupies the eastern part of the Indochinese Peninsula, with an elongated …
Which country is Australia’s most important defence partner in Southeast Asia? I’m guessing not many readers of The Strategist would put the Philippines at the top of their lists. The correct answer, of course, is, …
Foreign Minister Penny Wong is visiting Vietnam and Malaysia this week on her second trip to Southeast Asia since taking office in late May. In opposition, Labor committed to deepening Australia’s engagement with Southeast Asia, …