Asia
The Afghan inquiry and the question of responsibility
The politics in the fallout over the release of the long-awaited Brereton report into allegations of war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan threatens to overtake the…
Indonesia’s Omnibus Law won’t kill corruption
Indonesia's new Omnibus Law has attracted a great deal of commentary. As a piece of legislation meant to make investing in the country easier, its provisions, including…
Commentary
On China, Australia is left counting the cost
The Australian government’s approach to its biggest foreign policy challenge is not working. There needs to be less conflict and more statecraft. Originally published in the…
North Korea’s very odd year
On 1 January 2020, the Workers’ Party of Korea published a report on its goals for the year, emphasising simultaneous economic construction and nuclear development. But with the…
As a national champion departs the scene, a China food fight looms
Food for thought
Picking winners and sacrificing national interests are two things that conservative politicians usually like to hold out as anathema.
But it says a lot about…
In the Philippines, a label can take your life
A civil war has been going on in the Philippines for over 50 years, waged by the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) with the armed guerrillas of the New People’s Army (NPA)…
India’s farmers take on Modi
In one of the coldest winters in recent memory, and in the midst of a global pandemic, farmers from Punjab and Haryana, in their thousands, have laid siege to the Indian capital,…
We’ve been trolled – expect more of it, because it worked
With a wicked and now infamous tweet, Australia has joined India, the US, Canada, and the Pope on a list of those China’s “wolf warrior” diplomat in chief Zhao Lijian has…
China: Explaining that tweet
No doubt you have seen the offending tweet already. If you’re in the mood to be outraged, it is still pinned to the top of Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian’s Twitter…
What RCEP can tell us about geopolitics in Asia
Much of the economic gains from the newly signed mega trade deal known as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership will come from mitigating what is called the Asian …