The inauguration of Joe Biden as president on 20 January 2021 will usher in another chapter in the United States’ fraught relations with North Korea. The Trump administration tried summit diplomacy from 2018 through to 2019, after a year …
As the political and economic centre of the world shifts from the Atlantic to the Indo-Pacific, and geostrategic competition increases, Germany, the EU and NATO want closer defence cooperation with nations such as Australia. Germany’s …
By making Vietnam and Indonesia his first overseas ports of call, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga signalled that he intends to adhere closely to his predecessor Shinzo Abe’s ‘free and open Indo-Pacific’ strategy. Seeing that occur …
An Australian ministerial visit to Brunei Darussalam normally triggers little strategic interest. But there may be more than meets the eye to Defence Minister Linda Reynolds’s meeting this week with Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, sandwiched in …
Sea state Australia has been invited to join the Malabar naval exercise with America, India and Japan. This year will be the first since 2007 that Australia has participated in the drills, having previously withdrawn …
The World Bank predicts that the Maldives will be the South Asian nation hardest hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. That’s not surprising given that 70% of the country’s GDP flows from tourism. The cancellation of …
In a midnight military parade to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the country’s rule under the despotic Kim family, North Korea revealed a new monster intercontinental ballistic missile—perhaps one of the world’s largest—on the back …
Shinzo Abe was born into Japan’s political royalty. His maternal grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, barely escaped trial as a Class-A war criminal yet he served as prime minister from 1957 to 1960. His paternal grandfather, Kan …
It’s true that Australia is underinvesting in diplomacy given the type of world we are living in. But it’s wrongheaded to blame MPs and ministers for not simply understanding the intrinsic value of the Department …
Japan’s parliament is scheduled to confirm Yoshihide Suga this week as the country’s new prime minister. He will replace Shinzo Abe, who announced his resignation last month for health reasons, after almost eight years in …
Sea state Two Australian frigates sailed to the waters off Guam to take part in Exercise Pacific Vanguard. HMA Ships Arunta and Stuart joined eight naval vessels from Japan, South Korea and the US and …
Sea state The 2020 iteration of the biennial Exercise Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, has just concluded. Ten nations (Australia, Brunei, Canada, France, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea and the US) …