Asia
Don’t waste time trying to get Trump to Manila
Over the last two months, Australian and Southeast Asian officials have been urging their US counterparts to ensure President Donald Trump shows up at two major summits in…
Infrastructure: How Indonesia could shift up a gear
Next year Indonesia will host the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Nusa Dua, Bali. This is a big deal: these meetings leave Washington only…
Commentary
China versus the US: Australia's increasingly hard choice
Originally published in CNN on 25 March 2017. Sam Roggeveen
Commentary
Can Indonesia take on Freeport?
Originally published in the East Asia Forum. Matthew Busch
Getting the juice to flow in Afghanistan's private sector
It is widely acknowledged that private sector growth is essential to increasing the amount and variety of economic opportunities in any given society. In fragile economies such as…
Li’s Australia visit: ‘Nothing to be afraid of’
Chinese President Xi Jinping's speech at Davos in January presented China as the natural protector of the global order after the abdication of the US from the position. Premier Li…
Analyses
Understanding China’s Belt and Road Initiative
China’s Belt and Road Initiative is one of President Xi’s most ambitious foreign and economic initiatives. It reflects a combination of economic and strategic drivers, not all of…
India's nuclear doctrine should no longer be taken for granted
In recent years, a debate over India’s nuclear doctrine – how and when it plans to use nuclear weapons – has rekindled. The issue was raised in the BJP’s 2014 manifesto, then by a…
Dear foreign policy elite: You’re obsolete
Rex Tillerson recently completed his first trip to Beijing as Secretary of State. Since then, a slew of critics have panned Tillerson for supposedly handing China a ‘diplomatic…
China’s National People’s Congress needs to demonstrate vision
Last Wednesday the annual 'Two Meetings' in Beijing came to an end. At the start of March each year, members of the National People's Congress (NPC) and the Chinese People's…