Asia
North Korea’s new missile
To restore your faith in the power of social media, I suggest logging on to Twitter just after a North Korean weapons parade.
Maybe “faith” is too strong a word here. In…
Bangladesh’s balancing act between great powers
Recently in a tweet, Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi complained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi “has destroyed the web of relationships that the Congress built and…
China’s vision of sovereignty for the next world order
President Xi Jinping grabbed headlines last month with the announcement that China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gases, is aiming for carbon neutrality…
Stepping past the fatalism trap
The Australian government is fatalistic about its ability to shape the future of the Indo-Pacific region. This stems from longstanding assumptions – as Coral Bell wrote more than…
A Quad of consequence: Balancing values and strategy
What makes the Quad foreign ministers conversation this week in Tokyo consequential? Probably the strategic setting – a pandemic, global economic contraction and an accelerated…
A dose of climate realism about China’s carbon pledge
In 2009 China was blamed for destroying the Copenhagen conference on climate change, leaving the world with no successor to the Kyoto Protocol. In 2015, along with France and the…
Timor-Leste’s youth leave or get left behind
A crowd of young Timorese standing in front of the Portuguese Embassy in Dili has become a familiar sight in recent years. They are hoping to acquire a Portuguese passport, which…
Podcasts
COVIDcast: Wolf warriors in the age of Covid, with Shivshankar Menon and Richard McGregor
In this episode of COVIDcast, Richard McGregor, Lowy Institute Senior Fellow, sat down with Shivshankar Menon to discuss the latest currents in Chinese foreign policy,…
Smart China choices
Australian commentators often appear eager to paint Australia’s China choices in stark binaries. “The money or our sovereignty: China leaves us no choice” is one representative…
In Bangladesh, Covid adds to a list of maladies
The Covid-19 situation has had a devastating effect on the local economy, the brunt being borne by the country’s export-oriented garments industry. It has propelled owners of…