Asia
As RAN prepares to exercise with China's navy, Australia risks a PR disaster
Australia and its Navy are in an awkward spot, caught between China and the US in the full glare of a global media spotlight shone on the South China Sea.
Two Royal Australian…
South China Sea: US Navy mission justified by China's excessive claims
After many months of intense debate inside the Obama Administration, the US conducted a freedom of navigation operation (FONOP) in the South China Sea on 26 October. The destroyer…
Why Australia must send its navy to assert the freedom to operate in the South China Sea
After much internal debate and soul searching, the US has conducted its first 'Freedom of Navigation' operation in the South China Sea for several years. It will not be the last…
Indo-Pacific security links: South China Sea, Asian missile race, Abe abroad and more
The Indo-Pacific is a strategic system encompassing the Indian and Pacific oceans, reflecting the expanding interests and reach of China and India as well as the enduring role of…
US launches FoNOPS in the South China Sea: Better late than never?
So, the much-heralded US freedom of navigation (FoN) operation in the South China Sea has finally seen daylight. The designated lead, the USS Lassen, is a guided missile…
Obama should encourage Jokowi to lead in East Asia
Later today, Indonesian President Joko Widodo will become only the latest Asian leader to arrive at the White House for consultations with President Barack Obama. But Obama’s…
The Turnbull era: Eight ideas for fine-tuning Australian foreign policy
In his recent Boyer Lectures, the Lowy Institute's Michael Fullilove notes that the old world had gone, and that the rise of China calls for a serious re-examination of…
Xi Jinping in London: Cameron and Osborne take a big risk on China
In the last few decades, the relationship between China and the UK has often seemed like that between a married couple who have been having the same argument for so long that they…
Waging war in peacetime: Cyber attacks and international norms
Fergus Hanson is author of Internet Wars: The Struggle for Power in the 21st Century. This post is part of a series that will also examine citizen activism and control of economic…
Commentary
South China Sea dispute: US challenge may fall into China trap
South China Sea dispute: US challenge may fall into China trapEuan GrahamThe Australian Financial Review19 October 2015Euan Graham