The switch from creating a ‘Son of Collins’ to making a ‘son of Collins’ is a conundrum of Australia’s submarine saga. The Defence Department abandoned the option of building a second generation of the Collins-class …
In this episode, Alex Joske and Danielle Cave of ASPI’s International Cyber Policy Centre speak about Alex’s report, Hunting the Phoenix: The Chinese Communist Party’s global search for technology and talent, which examines China’s global …
Welcome to the second instalment of ‘China military watch’, a new monthly feature discussing recent trends in Chinese military affairs. This week, Charlie Lyons Jones and Malcolm Davis look at the People’s Liberation Army’s perception …
The tough stance taken by Papua New Guinea’s police commissioner on the 48 Chinese workers destined for the Chinese-run Ramu Nickel mine in PNG’s Madang Province gives an opportunity for the Chinese government to explain …
Apprehensions about the social networking platform TikTok fuelled by media headlines have included suggestions that there are risks associated with content shared by Australian Defence Force personnel. While the Department of Defence hasn’t made a …
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s proposed foreign relations bill is all about closing the seams in our federation and giving practical effect to the Commonwealth’s constitutional power on foreign relations. It’s necessary primarily because other countries …
It is a strange time when the Australian government must strengthen its powers to stop state, territory and local council governments and universities from undermining the national interest. Step by step the Morrison government is …
Taiwan’s president has signalled that China’s imposition of tough new national security laws on Hong Kong is one of the most serious challenges facing her people. In an address to ASPI’s Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue, President …
Several months ago, US Navy Secretary Kenneth Braithwaite said he believed the service was ‘at a turning point’ in its history. The navy’s 30-year shipbuilding plan—projecting what it will look like and what vessels it …
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 …