Asia
Cautiously optimistic: Chinese students keen to get back to Australia
Of all the negative social effects of Covid-19, one that has been particularly concerning for Australia has been the decline in student migration, including from China, the major…
Planning for progress in Timor-Leste
After two decades of independence, development in Timor-Leste is exemplified by growing economic activity in Dili, the country’s capital city. Businesses are emerging on various…
Is Australia relevant?
Last week, Singapore’s Education Minister Chan Chun Sing addressed the Fullerton lecture series on US-China relations and his own country’s foreign policy. Chan, a leading member…
Thailand’s regressive royal insult law
At a recent anti-government rally in central Bangkok, one of the leaders of a youth-led movement demanding sweeping political reforms carried a message etched in blood. After…
Jake Sullivan on the challenges “no one country can solve”
The message was unmistakably inclusive. On almost every global challenge – be it economics, security and even relations with China – US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan…
Commentary
Vigilance against foreign influence does not require overzealous suspicion of Chinese-Australians
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Australia-Indonesia: burn the boats
Last week, Australian Border Force released photographs of burning Indonesian fishing vessels allegedly caught fishing illegally in Australian waters. Border Force reported it had…
China: rejecting rubbish
On hearing Beijing had instituted the ominously named “Operation National Sword” it would have been easy to imagine Chinese warships crashing across the Taiwan Strait or perhaps…
India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka
On 30 September, Adani Group, India’s largest private port operator, signed what has been reported as a US$700 million agreement to build a new container terminal in Sri Lanka…