In a budget speech that focused on domestic priorities, Treasurer Jim Chalmers’s only international announcement was of a package allocating $1.9 billion to strengthening Australia’s relationships in the Pacific. It wasn’t a surprise that the …
Combating illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing (IUU fishing) is key to the integrity of the international legal framework and the rules-based international order. A report by the Asia-Pacific Development, Diplomacy & Defence Dialogue (AP4D) considers this problem …
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made headlines over the weekend when his claim the Ukraine war was ‘launched against’ Russia provoked laughter from the audience during a forum in India. But I was in the room and …
Australian policymakers have increasingly spoken of the need to use all the tools of statecraft in international engagement. This includes statements by the prime minister, defence minister, foreign ministers (current, former and shadow), minister for development, chief of the defence force and others. So, what does ‘all …
On this day 22 years ago, the United Nations Security Council adopted resolution 1325 in recognition of the fact that women experience and are affected by conflict in different ways to men. Since then, a …
There’s a paradox at the heart of Australia’s security cooperation with its Pacific island neighbours. On the one hand, the Pacific will always be an area of great strategic significance for Australia, meaning that Australia …
The Australian government’s 2020 defence strategic update was released with a catchy tagline: ‘Shape. Deter. Respond.’ The second two of these strategic objectives are incontrovertibly part of the traditional role of the military: to deter …
Sometimes a policy should be pursued not because it’s clear exactly where it will lead, but because it will lead in a positive direction. Feminist foreign policy is such a case. Looking at the countries …
The White House released the Indo-Pacific strategy of the United States on 11 February to coincide with Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Fiji. Commentary has focused on its mentions of Chinese aggression, so …
In March, the United Kingdom released its integrated review of security, defence, development and foreign policy, titled Global Britain in a competitive age. It’s quite possible that, after the next federal election, Australia’s government will …
One of the difficult things about being Taiwan is the lack of normal government-to-government interaction. Taiwan is diplomatically recognised by only 15 countries, so it is dealt with informally in most of its international interactions. …
With multiple initiatives set to launch, 2021 was supposed to be the year Australia pivoted to Southeast Asia. Recent events in Myanmar will make this more challenging, but the underlying reasons for investing in Southeast …