Today ASPI has released a Strategy paper examining Chinese perspectives on Australia. Dr Jingdong Yuan has drawn from official Chinese documents, leaders’ statements, media coverage, academic analyses, and interviews with specialists to provide a detailed …
The Australia Canada Economic Leadership Dialogue held in Melbourne in late February afforded an important but little noticed opportunity for Prime Minister Tony Abbott to break some new foreign policy ground. Abbott’s speech was reported …
The Russian military occupation of Crimea headlines this week, with Moscow showing considerable restraint so far in the use of cyberattacks against Ukraine. Considering that crippling DDoS attacks have become a staple of conflicts involving …
Improved relations between Australia and Fiji would benefit Canberra, Suva, and the region. Such ties would bolster Australia’s regional leadership credentials, assist Fiji’s dealings with its largest trading partner and donor, and prevent further collateral-damage …
All change for Fiji. The Supremo is hanging up his uniform and becoming a civilian leader to give his New Order vision democratic credentials. For Canberra and Suva, this is the time to change the …
The sudden outbreak of tensions in Europe as a result of Russia’s military intervention into the Crimea has led to dramatic days for international security policy makers. One hundred years after the outbreak of the …
Late last year, I gave some early impressions of the Australian National Audit Office’s Major Projects report. Today I’ll have a closer look at some of the data in the report, which will bring us …
I wholeheartedly agree with Andrew Zammit’s thoughts last week on the lack of governmental response to the numerous reviews of national security legislation conducted in the past few years. My view—first aired here (PDF, p. …
The Pacific island states face real challenges in managing the security of marine resources in their EEZs. Australia supports maintaining the prosperity of the region mainly through the Pacific Patrol Boat Program, (twenty two boats …
Last week I spoke at a conference on ‘Peace and Security in East Asia’ in Taipei, jointly organised by the Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs and National Chengchi University. The main topic discussed was China’s …
The new proposed American defense budget for 2015 complies with the law that requires additional cuts in American military spending. A temporary deal reached in December would soften the planned sequestration cuts for this year …
‘As things stand, Indonesia’s relationship with Australia is unlikely to become a foreign policy priority in coming years.’ That’s one of the assessments from the Lowy Institute’s Dave McRae in a new report on Indonesia …
Hugh White argues in his book China Choice that the United States should share power with China. Perhaps the starkest aspect of his proposal is that it requires real and substantive concessions to be negotiated …
In a new book (and recent excerpt), James Brown argues that the Australian defence organisation is fearful of what today’s ANZACs might say if they were allowed to. This means that ‘one of the ADF’s …
Australia is setting out an array of goodies as it seeks to restore relations with Fiji, in anticipation of better days to follow September’s election. Canberra wants to achieve a diplomatic ceasefire, and to shift …
Several months ago I wrote on The Strategist about a March 2013 incident between Indonesian and Chinese maritime law enforcement vessels in the South China Sea. Local Indonesian news sources confirmed the incident but Indonesian …
Let’s kick things off at the RSA Conference in San Francisco, which brings together information security professionals and business leaders to discuss emerging cybersecurity trends. This year’s conference has drawn criticism from leading security experts …
It’s becoming something of an annual tradition that I get asked along to the Australian Defence Magazine (ADM) conference and get to be the token economic rationalist on Day 2. At an industry-focused conference, that’s …
In what was described as a ‘fairly major breakdown’ in border security, a convicted terrorist named Khaled Sharrouf recently left Australia without authorities noticing. He’s suspected to be in Syria, where several Australians have joined …
David Hale’s ‘China’s new dream‘ offers a tremendously rich picture of China’s economic and financial situation at home and globally. It’s probably the fullest, most up-to-date account available on the ‘re-rise of China’, which affects …
