Asia
Australian attitudes to China shift: 2019 Lowy Poll
Among many interesting findings in this year’s Lowy Institute Poll, one new question produced a particularly striking result given Australia’s debate over how to navigate the…
Australian PM talks US China tensions ahead of the G20
Australian Prime Minster Scott Morrison delivered his first major foreign policy speech since his surprise win in the May election, to an invited audience in Sydney on Wednesday.
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It’s not just melting glaciers that endanger the Mekong and its region
Recent reports of a rapid diminishment in the size of the glaciers that feed the great rivers of Asia, including the Mekong, have received wide coverage, not least because they…
Research Notes
Averting a global calamity? Trump and Xi at the G20
The outlines of a trade deal between the United States and China are there. But without a return to the negotiating table, the dispute could rapidly escalate,…
Seychelles: life after the boss
Seychelles’ long-time authoritarian ruler France-Albert René died in February. His authority derived from his coup in 1977 that overthrew the country’s first president James…
Five factors will decide the survival of the US-led alliance system
In a recent column in Foreign Policy, a slightly bewildered Stephen Walt asked two related questions: (1) Why do we not have better answers to major, overarching questions about…
Jokowi and Modi’s budding bromance
The re-election of India’s Narendra Modi and Indonesia’s Joko “Jokowi” Widodo saw India-Indonesia relations take another step forward after both leaders congratulated each other…
Australia should pursue opportunities in a booming Bangladesh
Bangladesh is in the process of transforming itself from the global poster-child of poverty into a middle-income country with one of the strongest economies in Asia. This creates…
Book review: The Great Successor
Book Review: The Great Successor: The Divinely Perfect Destiny of Brilliant Comrade Kim Jong-un, Sun of the 21st Century, by Anna Fifield (Hachette, 2019)
Anna Fifield’s The…
Are we ready for a rare earths trade war?
Rare earth minerals have emerged as the latest front in the escalating US-China trade war. Nearly a decade after the Chinese government controversially suspended rare earth…