‘We treat our friends with fine wine, but for our enemies we have shotguns.’ — Gui Congyou (桂从友), former Chinese ambassador to Sweden, 2019 The People’s Republic of China is increasingly using a range of …
Sea state A new report to the US Congress has found that China’s naval modernisation program has substantially improved the capabilities of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. The PLAN is already the largest navy in …
Planet A This week, Australia and the United States reaffirmed their commitment to tackling biodiversity loss in their joint communiqué released as part of the AUSMIN consultations. The statement came on the eve of the …
Planet A Delegates to the COP27 summit from nearly 200 countries last weekend agreed to establish a ‘loss and damage’ fund, which is intended to compensate developing and climate-vulnerable countries that suffer from global heating …
Sea state On Tuesday, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed a £4.2 billion contract to BAE Systems, a defence, aerospace and security company, to build five Type 26 frigates for the Royal Navy. The contract, along with …
Planet A More than 113 million Africans will be displaced by 2050 due to the effects of climate change, according to a report released by the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative, a joint UN group assisted …
The Chinese government’s online censorship regime isn’t new. It succeeded in ‘nail[ing] jello to a wall’, to use the words of former US president Bill Clinton, when the world thought the Chinese Communist Party wouldn’t …
Sea state The Russian navy says it repelled a drone attack in the bay of Sevastopol in the Crimean peninsula, where Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet is based. Russia claimed that all aerial and maritime drones …
Planet A Emergency Management Minister Murray Watt has announced that the Albanese government is actively considering options for a dedicated natural disaster response workforce. This comes as the Australian Defence Force deploys more personnel to …
Sea state India put its ‘strategic rivals on notice’ last week by successfully launching a test missile from INS Arihant, the Indian navy’s flagship nuclear submarine, striking a designated point in the Bay of Bengal …
Planet A Last week, at the 41st Assembly of the International Civil Aviation Organization in Montreal, member states agreed on a ‘long-term global aspirational goal’ for aviation of net-zero emissions by 2050, despite opposition from …
‘Do not miss a single family in each village, do not miss a single man in each family’ (村不漏姓,姓不漏人). This is the aim of the China-wide male family screening system project (男性家族排查系统项目), according to official …