During China’s high-level ‘two sessions’ (两会) meetings this year, defence ministry spokesperson Tan Kefei (谭克非) disclosed that ¥1.58 trillion ($338 billion) had been allocated in the 2023 national budget for defence, up 7.2% on the …
In 2022, demographers demonstrated that parts of the north of Australia are among the most remote and sparsely populated areas in the world. These characteristics are fundamental barriers to economic transformation and growth in the …
Being Australia’s foreign minister and then defence minister over six years gave Stephen Smith an opportunity to see changes coming in the region, and to assess the risks and opportunities they’d bring. Now high commissioner …
We need to address the elephants in the room. Yes, elephants. There are eight of them—each state and territory, and they are competing at the expense of improving Australia’s innovation economy and strategic objectives. The …
The Asia–Pacific’s premier defence dialogue uses the name of the mythical place ‘Shangri-La’, a utopia of peace high in the mountains in the 90-year-old novel Lost Horizon. Amid the tough talk at the 20th dialogue …
Much of the AUKUS discussion to date has focused on Pillar 1, the trilateral effort to support Australia acquiring conventionally armed, nuclear-powered submarines. Yet achieving Pillar 2, the technology programs, is arguably both of greater …
Last month, the White House quietly released the United States government national standards strategy for critical and emerging technology, a new whole-of-US-government approach to addressing China’s expanding influence in international technology standards-setting bodies. Technology standards …
Almost inconceivably, the fact that the parliament of Fiji has been without an opposition for weeks has largely escaped the attention of the international media. Yet all 26 parliamentary members of Frank Bainimarama’s FijiFirst party …
In the Taiwan Strait on Saturday, a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy ship and a US Navy ship came within 150 yards of a collision. The US says the Chinese warship crossed the bow of …
‘To move from imagining conflict is impossible to assuming war is inevitable is just as harmful to our shared goals. The fate of our region is not preordained. It never was. It never is. What we do here, …
Ricky Ponting, one of the most successful captains of an Australian cricket team, once described his mindset at the batting crease: ‘In my head, I don’t see the fielders. I only see the gaps.’ Indian …
Planet A The United States and Papua New Guinea have signed a new defence and maritime cooperation agreement to combat illegal fishing, illegal logging and drug smuggling in PNG waters. The two countries also agreed …
Northern Australia has enormous potential to expand its role in providing for one of the Indo-Pacific’s most crucial needs—protein-rich foods. Thanks to its high-quality protein industries such as beef cattle and its potential to expand …
The latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report warns, once again, that climate-change impacts—hazards such as bushfires, drought and flooding—are becoming more frequent and more intense, damaging nature, people and infrastructure. Yet measures to reduce …
President Joe Biden’s offer to have Australia counted as a ‘domestic’ economy under the US Defense Production Act may give a badly needed boost to the flagging economic relationship between the two countries. The US …
As Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles noted in his statement introducing the 2023 defence strategic review, a stable relationship between Australia and China is in the interests of both countries and the …
As the 2024 US presidential primary campaign season begins, the most likely final contest is a rematch between President Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Judging by the electoral map in 2020, Biden would be well …
An engaged and informed community is important for governance, development and an effective democracy at any time, but that’s especially so in Bougainville right now. The island is in a sensitive political moment as it …
When examining the public version of the defence strategic review, it’s important to remember that it’s an unclassified version of a classified document and we’re not seeing the full picture. The review comments on the …
As pressure grows to phase out fossil fuels and meet emissions-reduction targets, Australia is well placed to harness clean, affordable and virtually unlimited space-based solar power. A report commissioned by the UK government on space-based …