Asia
As Pakistan and Saudi Arabia drift apart, China moves in
Pakistan–Saudi Arabia relations are at a historically low ebb. In November 2018, Saudi Arabia announced a US$6.2 billion loan package for cash-strapped Pakistan. The package…
Sri Lanka’s elections: Another step in the wrong direction
Sri Lanka just held a parliamentary election and the results were unsurprising. The Sri Lanka People’s Front (SLPP) dominated, winning 145 seats and nearly 60% of the vote. The…
Japan’s tech industry reboot will have region-wide effects
With Covid-19, Japan has an opportunity to help accelerate the world’s digital transformation and, simultaneously, to revitalise its fragile domestic economy. In an encouraging…
Economic diplomacy: A call to syringes, not arms
Going out or staying in
With Australia experiencing its first recession in a generation, potential differences are emerging over whether future prosperity will come from more…
The myth of Rodrigo Duterte’s “independent” foreign policy
Rodrigo Duterte assumed the Philippines presidency in 2016 with a promise to promote an “independent” foreign policy. Yet as he detaches the Philippines from the United States,…
Podcasts
COVIDcast: Salvaging the liberal international order
In this episode of COVIDcast, Ben Scott, Lowy Institute Director of the Rules Based Order Project, sat down with Bobo Lo to discuss Bobo’s new Lowy Institute Analysis: “Global…
Commentary
Hong Kong is not dead, just entering a new phase of struggle
Originally published in The Sydney Morning Herald.
Afghanistan’s unseen Covid crisis
The most striking thing about the top Covid-19 treatment facility in Afghanistan is the lack of basic measures preventing the spread of Covid-19.
At the Afghan Japan…
China is overturning the rules-based order from within
Persistent debates over the meaning of the “liberal” or “rules-based” international order demonstrate a point of agreement among scholars and policymakers: the real power of the…
US in Southeast Asia: Democracy is (sort of) out, deterrence is in
Speaking last month at the Richard Nixon Presidential Library, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that while the late president did what he thought best for the American…