The fifth icy age has descended on China–Australia relations—cooling business, frosting diplomacy and chilling strategic perspectives. China has put Australia into diplomatic ‘deep freeze’. China speaks of ‘a growing lack of mutual trust’, accusing Australia …
Australia’s reaction to the idea of a China getting ‘a full military base’ in Vanuatu ranged from aghast to agog. Coming amid what’s already a big chill in Canberra–Beijing relations, the base brouhaha is a …
Australia’s embrace of the Indo-Pacific concept over the past five years drew mild interest from the region and curious discussion. The US adoption of the Indo-Pacific in both its national security strategy and national defence strategy …
Mahathir Mohamad thinks Australia might earn the right to join ASEAN. Indeed, Dr M. thinks Australia could be ‘entitled’ to ASEAN membership. Pause for a moment of amazement. This is Dr Mahathir, the Malaysian leader …
An Australia fully embracing Southeast Asia will be seeking to join the ASEAN Community, not Suharto’s ASEAN. The glimpse Australia has of its future in Southeast Asia—framed by Indonesia—is the opportunity offered by Jokowi rather …
Southeast Asia is where Australia’s geography collides with our future. And Southeast Asia acts as the threshold for what Australia faces in the Asian century. The ASEAN summit in Sydney was the first on Australian …
ASEAN comes to Sydney this week. The harbour city hosts Southeast Asia as Malcolm Turnbull does summitry with ASEAN’s leaders. Just back from the Washington DC celebration of 100 years of US–Australia mateship, the prime …
Australian politics is the art of riding a bicycle along a tightrope, pedalling furiously, using one hand to alternatively whisper into a phone and scream into a megaphone, while the other hand is used to …
Japan faces a choice. Will it decide on a hard or a comfortable future? Decisions—political, strategic and social—don’t come much bigger. What Japan’s leaders and people pick will say much about our times and the …
Ahead of the ASEAN–Australia summit in Sydney next month, ASPI today publishes my report Australia as an ASEAN Community partner. The report discusses how and why Australia should join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations …
Australia’s four foreign policy white papers are windows on their moments, offering a 20-year narrative of shifting times. The arc is across four stepping stones aligned in purpose but beset by swift tides. The white …
‘Politics stops at the seaboard and anybody who denies that postulate is a son of a bitch and a crook and not a true patriot.’—Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State Acheson, a wry moustachioed warrior …
