This week, I participated in the 39th meeting of the Australian Member Committee of the Council for Security Co-operation in the Asia-Pacific (Aus-CSCAP) in Darwin. This year’s theme was the US ‘rebalance’ and Southeast Asia, with …
This week the fallout from the leak of classified NSA documents continued, as German Chancellor Angela Merkel expressed her outrage at the revelation the US had been tapping her phone for up to ten years, …
If you read some of the media coverage of this week’s meeting between US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel and New Zealand Defence Minister Jonathan Coleman, you might have thought that the two countries have just …
Russell Hunter and Victor Lal’s reflection on the implications of the election on Australia’s relations with Fiji raises more questions than it answers. The orthodox view since the military coup in December 2006 has been …
On Monday, seven weeks after Australia’s federal election, the new Prime Minister and the new Opposition leader stood together in Afghanistan to declare the end to Australia’s longest war. The message from Tony Abbott and …
What it means to be part of the Anglosphere (or, more precisely, what it means to be outside the Anglosphere) has apparently become very clear in the last week, following the revelation of America spying …
View Larger Map In a recent post here on The Strategist, Benjamin Schreer spoke of China’s ‘Achilles heel’ in Southeast Asia: its unwillingness to compromise in the territorial disputes in the South China Sea. This …
I think Geoff Wade has overstated China’s interest in Sabah and Malaysia’s willingness to work militarily with a big power such as China. Except for its traditional allies (US, UK, Australia, NZ & Singapore), I’d …
It makes sense to think of Europe’s response to the United States pivot towards Asia as an episode in Europe’s continuing preoccupation with retaining US commitment, rather than as a moment of epiphany. That preoccupation …
While it’s good to see ASPI writing about Antarctica and pointing out some obvious areas where further investment would pay dividends, I think it undersells some existing scientific efforts. It’s true that Australia’s Antarctic program …
The headline message from the recently released IPCC 5th Assessment Report (Climate change 2013: The Physical Science Basis) is pretty straightforward: Warming of the climate system is unequivocal, and since the 1950s, many of the …
No executive in charge of a major construction project should announce the scheduled date for the Queen to open the building until after it’s up and finished. This bit of British building lore drew its …
Turkey has announced plans to buy a long-range missile defence system (the HQ-9) from China, rather than NATO supplied Patriot missiles. Speculation is that the Chinese company (China Precision Machinery Export-Import Corporation) beat the Lockheed …
In thinking about whether Australia is a middle or pivotal power, Damien Kingsbury asks the best question: what would happen if Australia were to disappear? Andrew Davies provides an intelligent, thought-provoking response but I think …
Lost in the din of an election campaign has been a quiet but dramatic change by Australia—and New Zealand—in dealing with Fiji’s military regime. Australia’s then Minister for Foreign Affairs Bob Carr saw the constitution …
This month Indonesia had the dubious honour of becoming the cyberattack capital of the world. According to the second quarter Akamai report, Indonesia has surpassed China to become the preferred launching pad for 38% of …
South Korea’s economic rise is an amazing story. From a country devastated by the Korean War with a per capita gross national income (GNI) of $67, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has grown to the …
Chinese President Xi Jinping has been a busy man of late. Fresh from a whirlwind tour of central Asian states and international summits in September, he’s been on the road again—this time to Southeast Asia. …
The principal Liberal Party defence proposals at the recent election were to increase funding, deliver yet another White Paper and have yet another reform program. All pretty standard stuff really, especially as the other side …
Daniel Grant is to be congratulated for his interesting post on the limited prospects for Australia–Indonesia strategic cooperation. I have two comments in response. First, I think the piece underplays the idea of strategic cooperation …