Alii from Palau. Leaders are gathering in Koror for the annual meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). They will be discussing the issues that matter not only to the region but also to its partners, …
It is a bipartisan position that Australia faces its most significant strategic circumstances since World War II. But the phrase rolls off the tongue so easily it risks losing the gravity those words should carry. …
Australia should pay attention to emerging drone technology in countries to its north and the opportunities they offer for lessons and collaboration. The Northern Territory can serve as a hub for that cooperation through testing, …
Top of mind in Kyiv for the leadership and populace is how to prepare for the coming winter, when Russia will surely work at incapacitating Ukraine’s electricity grid. Ukrainian air defense missiles are nearly depleted, …
Earth, we have a problem. Artificial intelligence is the world’s biggest, maddest bull in the world’s most overstocked and poorly organised china shop. Global coordination to harness this rampaging beast has never been more urgent, …
A decision to hand British and French missile-manufacturing know-how to Ukraine is less useful to Kyiv than it seems. The strike weapon in question is powerful, but Ukraine may be unable to fully exploit its …
The Australia-Indonesia Foreign and Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Melbourne on 26 August turned both countries’ expanding treaty architecture into practical cooperation for building shared resilience. The meeting brought together Australian and Indonesian foreign ministers Penny …
NATO’s Indo-Pacific Four (IP4) partners – Australia, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand – left the alliance’s July summit in Ankara promising more collaboration on technology development, equipment production and procurement processes. With all IP4 …
After enjoying great success in eliminating Taiwan’s formal diplomatic ties, it has turned its attention to the island’s quasi-embassies, called representative offices. One reason is that persuading Taiwan’s last 12 diplomatic partners to switch recognition …
When discussions turn to Australia’s artificial intelligence future, the debate quickly becomes one of technological sovereignty. Should Australia build its own frontier AI models? Is reliance on American technology companies a strategic vulnerability? Can Australia …
India’s interest in developing Sabang port in northern Sumatra is often interpreted as a response to China’s expanding maritime presence in the Indian Ocean. This does not capture India’s more immediate priorities. Sabang will acquire …
West Asia should stand closer to the centre of Australian strategic thinking, but the language used to describe it too often leaves it sitting on the sidelines. The term we use for it, ‘Middle East’, …
As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said in his speech at Sydney University last month, artificial intelligence is already a part of our daily lives and ‘no government can turn back the clock or press pause’. …
The first thing the new Chinese ambassador to Australia, Liu Jinsong, did on arrival in Sydney yesterday was publicly pose at the airport with two prominent United Front figures – Qian Qiguo, Chairman of the …
Japan says it has nearly reached its defence spending target. But it has done so only by measuring today’s defence budget against its smaller economy of four years ago – arithmetical manipulation it uses in …
China has abruptly postponed its planned Chang’e-7 lunar launch, which was scheduled to take place today. While the new launch timeline is unclear, the mission could still be a significant step in the US-China space …
Armed forces need greater robustness from the systems they are increasingly using to support combat decision-making. These software systems must keep satisfactorily advising officers on decisions even when communications links go down, as they must …
In a world influenced by competition between great powers, middle powers’ best path forward is to join forces in coalitions of the capable dedicated to building their power in ways that protect their relationships with …
Before 2020, Australian defence strategy was predicated on a planning assumption that we would have at least 10 years’ warning of an impending war. This would give us the crucial time that we would need …
It was 25 years ago that the Australian Strategic Policy Institute opened its doors, an event that both of us believed in. By the beginning of 2001 we had developed the view that establishing a …