The official English-language translation of Xi Jinping’s 1 July speech marking the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party’s foundation is worth close reading for its pointers to the future. At around 5,200 words, the …
Articles by: "Peter Jennings"
President Joe Biden’s statement this week of an ‘investigation into the origins of Covid-19’ shows that the US intelligence community is making progress towards uncovering whether the virus was released because of a ‘laboratory accident’ …
In last week’s expansionary budget, one area that felt a bit underdone was defence. Here, the government delivered what it promised 12 months ago: $44.6 billion, an increase over last year’s budget of 4.1% in …
Defence Minister Peter Dutton has asked his department ‘to come back with some advice’ about the future of the 99-year lease by Chinese company Landbridge of the Port of Darwin. Hopefully Defence takes this shot …
After another tumultuous week in the Australia–China relationship, four conclusions are becoming increasingly clear. First, we are going to be on this rollercoaster ride for years. National positions are hardening. Neither Beijing nor Canberra will …
President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw US military forces from Afghanistan by 11 September 2021 is his first big blunder in office. This could cost America dearly in future years and should give America’s friends …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison may be forecasting ‘a new dawn in the Indo-Pacific’ with the arrival of the Quad meeting of Australian, Japanese, Indian and US leaders, but we would do well to remember the …
US President Joe Biden’s first international crisis will likely be over the future of Taiwan. Beijing has been positioning for this outcome for months by steadily increasing military pressure against Taipei. The People’s Liberation Army …
Like a lot of immigrants to Australia, my family settled in this country to escape a war. We came here from southern central Africa in the 1970s. What was then Rhodesia was tearing itself apart …
Australia’s strategic outlook in 2021 holds both an unhappy certainty and a deep anxiety. The unhappy certainty is that China’s intent to punish us for failing to bow to its domination will continue and probably …
Originally published 12 September 2020. What is China trying to achieve by its sudden lurch to a bullying, ‘wolf warrior’ global stance? For all the billions of dollars of intelligence hardware and software pointed at …
If the tradition still holds, arriving on Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s desk this week will be a report setting out the Australian intelligence community’s best guesses (they will call them ‘judgements’) as to big strategic …