Asia
Mistrust of Australia is growing in China
Over the past year or so the mood in Canberra has soured toward China. Indeed, of the countries unsettled by China’s rise and its increasingly confident and assertive foreign…
Militia blues: How many more armed groups does Afghanistan need?
For long-time observers of Afghanistan, déjà vu happens with such frequency that one feels trapped in a never-ending farcical nightmare.
This is why news of a mid-September visit…
Risk aversion in domestic Chinese politics
The 19th Party Congress was a watershed for the Xi administration. Feverish speculation about candidates for promotion the Politburo Standing Committee is over, but their policy…
Review: Clash of expectations for Hong Kong and Beijing
Review: Simon Cartledge A System Apart- Hong Kong’s Political Economy from 1997 Until Now (Penguin, 2017)
Simon Cartledge traces the economic, social, and…
Donor scramble as Cambodia hits undo on democracy
After 32 years at the helm, Cambodia’s Hun Sen will effectively be running uncontested at next year’s elections. The world’s longest reigning prime minister has abolished the…
Sam Dastyari and Chinese government influence in Australia
Senator Sam Dastyari has found himself back in the spotlight after Australia media outlets reported allegations that Dastyari gave Chinese billionaire Huang Xiangmo…
Economic diplomacy brief: Geo-economics as the new Great Game
Economic integration as a pathway to peace has been a familiar theme of recent Australian international policy discussion despite the historical debate amongst strategists about…
Putting Indonesian Papua’s tensions in context
Since August, numerous civilians and security staff have been killed or wounded in the Tembagapura area in Indonesian Papua, host of Freeport McMoRan's vast Grasberg mining…
Australia-UK cooperation on the rules-based order
This article is part of a series for the Australia-UK Asia Dialogue, co-hosted by the Lowy Institute and Ditchley Foundation, and supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs…
Echoes of Saddam at Kim Jong Nam assassination trial
The trial of the two young women accused of murdering North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam in Malaysia is now in its first month. Already it has…