Australian defence white papers come along occasionally and foreign policy papers are rare, but each year Canberra produces a geoeconomic report card. Although the federal budget is an intensely domestic creature, the Treasury documents always …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
The new Oz–China icy age blows through many Australian worlds: security, economics and trade, social, diplomatic and political. The orbits of these worlds converge, shifting political tides and disrupting social weather. Traditionally, dragon slayers worry …
As China and Australia are demonstrating, icy periods between nations are difficult and challenging. Even dangerous. Yet along with the perils of thrills and spills, chills are illuminating. The icy age disrupts the usual rhythms. …
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 …