Last week’s meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders celebrated the region while confronting deeply familiar regional pressures. The big questions rang out in Fiji as they have since the forum was created 51 years ago. …
Articles by: "Graeme Dobell"
Before Shinzo Abe, Australia’s vital economic relationship with Japan had only small, slowly evolving defence, strategic and intelligence dimensions. By the time he finished as Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Australia and Japan were quasi-allies. Before …
The central balance of international power this century will be set in the Indo-Pacific. So ends a 500-year stretch of history when the central balance was made in Europe and decided by the West. The …
Australia is to refashion defence policy with a force posture review, not a white paper. The policy the Labor Party took to the federal election on 21 May was for a ‘defence force posture review’. …
Myanmar is both tragedy and wicked problem. For theorists, a ‘wicked problem’ is a complex dilemma with no single solution or natural end point. For Myanmar, ‘wicked’ also means evil. In both senses of wicked, …
Australia is removing the qualifications from its quasi-alliance with Japan. The visit to Japan by Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles is another step in the fading of the qualifiers: ‘quasi-alliance’, ‘small “a” …
A small proof that Australians live in interesting times (to borrow that apocryphal Chinese curse) is the interest directed at their country during the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit. On his first trip as deputy prime …
The US and China came to Singapore’s Shangri-La security dialogue to argue and score points, to talk and to taunt. The face-off presented as drama and fight. As the reigning champ, the US got to …
China makes ambitious offers to South Pacific states. Australia’s great counter-offer is to South Pacific people. The people dimension must define Australia’s effort for the islands. The rebuttal to the charge that Australia is driven …
Australia and the South Pacific need to talk. The immediate conversation is about the duelling trips to the islands by China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, and Australia’s new foreign minister, Penny Wong. Starting with Fiji, …
Australia has a new government and the climate war draws to a close. The voters have delivered a realignment of politics as well as power. Labor has crept back into office with a historically low …
As a Chinese navy ship nosed around Australia’s northwest coast, China sailed to the centre of the formal foreign policy debate. The ship got more attention from the press than the National Press Club face-off …