Asia
Economic diplomacy: The Pacific reset needs real commercial investment
Betting on bula
Pacific relations may have been an expected conflict zone at the last federal election but once in office the new Albanese government has doubled down on a big…
Australia-China relations: Understanding how we arrived at this point
Australia’s China debate clearly cannot live with history alone, yet it also cannot live without it.
This is one of the conclusions reached in my forthcoming book, Australia’s…
Semut: Australia’s secret war against the Japanese in Borneo
Book review: Christine Helliwell, Semut: The Untold Story of a Secret Australian Operation in WWII Borneo (Michael Joseph: Penguin Random House, 2021)
Few in Australia…
Is Pakistan heeding the warning signs from Sri Lanka?
Pakistan is showing similar symptoms to those of Sri Lanka if economic and political challenges the country faces are seen in perspective.
Sri Lanka is currently engulfed in…
Economic diplomacy: The Pacific beats ASEAN for nervous investors
Sticky money
As the new Labor government oscillates between promoting investment in Southeast Asia to deepen security ties and trying to keep the Pacific family together in the…
Commentary
What is Australia’s plan B for China?
The US may not win, and China may not be easily appeased either. We need more eggs in more baskets. Originally published in the Australian Financial Review.
What Vietnam can learn from Thailand’s fight against illegal fishing
Illegal fishing activities conducted by Vietnamese vessels have spiked during the first six months of 2022, with most boats caught encroaching into the waters of Indonesia,…
Abe Shinzo: the Quad stands as his Indo-Pacific legacy
Abe Shinzo’s assassination is a great loss to a region he helped to re-imagine as the “Indo-Pacific”. Leaders have reacted with shock at his killing on Friday. US President Joe…
Becoming a republic will improve Australia’s image in Asia
Almost three years after his address to the Australian Republic Movement (ARM) dinner in November 2019, Anthony Albanese, then leader of the opposition and now prime minister, has…
Under pressure: Chinese international graduates in a new China
Over the coming few weeks China is preparing for a record 10.8 million university graduates to enter the labour market. The uncertainty these young Chinese students have…