The Australian government needs to develop a bold vision and strategic plan to create the data-driven healthcare system and bioeconomy of the future. In my new report for ASPI, Biodata and biotechnology: opportunity and challenges …
Unlike in Jules Verne’s Around the world in 80 days, the modern world’s journey over the next 80 days will be more of a slog than an adventure. But it will culminate in an event …
The Australian government’s 2020 defence strategic update provides opportunities to strengthen our role in the Indo-Pacific and elevates the importance of our relationships with regional nations. Navigating the shifting strategic landscape in the region will …
China’s deputy ambassador says Australia’s call for an independent inquiry into the origins of Covid-19 was like a knife in the feelings of the Chinese people. In a speech to the National Press Club in …
China imports raw materials from Australia because the quality is good and the price is right, says Singaporean international affairs specialist Bilahari Kausikan. The former head of the island nation’s foreign ministry told ASPI’s online …
The idea of morality in US foreign policy is a macabre jest in the age of President Donald Trump. Yet the amorality of a shape-shifting American president emphasises the value of moral compass points. By …
An emphatic Labour Party victory in New Zealand in October, followed by a convincing Democratic Party win in the United States in November, would be a symbolic morale boost for the ‘Anglosphere’ centre-left after a …
Eight years ago almost to the day, Australian soldiers Rick Milosevic, James Martin and Robert Poate were on deployment in Afghanistan at Patrol Base Wahab in Uruzgan. After an exhausting day of patrolling in over …
Australia’s non-traditional exports to China, including the now-threatened shipments of wine, have enjoyed runaway success since the China–Australia Free Trade Agreement (ChAFTA) was concluded in 2015. The big three exports of iron ore, coal and …
Sea state A Chinese nuclear-powered submarine has been spotted outside an underwater bunker near China’s Yulin naval base. The base, on the southern end of China’s Hainan Island, is one of Beijing’s most important facilities …
After weeks of nationwide protests over a fraudulent election on 9 August, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko seems to have realised that he has lost popular support for good. His last resort is to radicalise his …
Many general elections in Singapore have been described as ‘watersheds’. It’s become the euphemism every time the opposition makes gains. And so it was with the latest one on 10 July, but with one crucial …
In his most recent New Year’s speech, Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that 2020 would be ‘a milestone’. Xi was right, but not in the way he expected. Far from having ‘friends in every corner …
Whatever Beijing may think about Donald Trump’s term as US president, we now know that its greatest wish is for US–China relations to return to the days of Barack Obama’s administration, when the two countries’ …
Millions of Iranians have been severely affected by the coronavirus pandemic and an economy strained by sanctions, but the political elite in Tehran have other priorities. The power base of Iran’s theocratic velayat-e faqih regime—a …
In ASPI’s latest report on Covid-19 disinformation, Albert Zhang, Emilia Currey and I investigated how the narrative of an American vaccine trial killing soldiers in Ukraine (which did not actually happen) was laundered from the …
Australia has spent 40 years building its own submarines. For subs (and ships) we do defence as industry policy. Build our own naval muscle and build our economy. Protect sovereignty and protect jobs. The capability …
Anti-submarine warfare (ASW) has always been a game of hide and seek, with adversarial states looking to adopt and deploy emerging technologies in submarine stealth or detection to give them the strategic edge. The advantage …
In this episode, Lisa Sharland, head of ASPI’s international program, speaks to Robert Malley, president and CEO of International Crisis Group, about conflicts during Covid-19 and prospects for peace in Afghanistan. They also discuss Crisis …
The strategic contest between China and the United States has taken an interesting turn. Last week the Pentagon confirmed that three American B-2 Spirit stealth bombers had deployed from Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri …