Asia
No news is not good news
The rushed departure from China of two Australian journalists, the ABC’s Bill Birtles and the Australian Financial Review’s Michael Smith, marks a new low in a relationship…
Australia, all is not lost despite China’s trade tantrums
When Canberra called for an international, independent inquiry into Covid-19 in April, Beijing deployed trade restrictions measures against Australian beef and barley the next…
Myanmar election: A fractured process
Myanmar’s general election, scheduled for 8 November, looms as only the second to be completed since the 1962 military coup, and therefore a rarity in the lifetimes of most of…
A Biden presidency and the US–South Korea alliance
US presidential candidate Joe Biden, leading in most polls more than two months before the November election, is cautiously expected to win office. On foreign policy, his plan has…
A China-Iran bilateral deal: Costs all around
Rumors circling about an impending major partnership between China and Iran seem to be accurate. A leaked draft of the agreement published by the New York Times in July indicates…
The (un)making of Joko Widodo
Book Review: Ben Bland, Man of Contradictions: Joko Widodo and the struggle to remake Indonesia (Penguin, Lowy Institute, 2020)
Indonesian President Joko Widodo, a man once…
Commentary
China parties as it plots an anti-decoupling strategy
Superpower politics has begun to directly shape China's economic policies. Expect more changes. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
Where to for Sri Lanka’s foreign policy?
A much-anticipated general election in Sri Lanka last month ended with a resounding victory for the Sri Lanka People’s Front (Sri Lanka Podujana Party), which was spearheaded by…
China sours on Australia’s wine
On Monday this week, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced it has commenced an investigation into whether Australia has been subsidising winemakers. This follows a parallel…
Australia has lost its “best friend” in Asia
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s resignation announcement on Friday caught almost everyone by surprise. Notably Scott Morrison tweeted that he would miss Abe as a friend and a…