Australia
Indonesia-Australia: Deeper divide lies beneath AUKUS submarine rift
Amid Jakarta’s diplomatic shots across Canberra’s bow over AUKUS, Foreign Minister Marise Payne is travelling in Southeast Asia to reassure the region. This move comes after…
Sinking trust
Last week in Australia news headlines brimmed with emotive accusations about a betrayal of trust levied against Prime Minister Scott Morrison. French President Emmanuel Macron had…
Australia’s chance to dream with Southeast Asia
Blueprints abound for engagement with Southeast Asia. The region is at the heart of South Korea’s ambitious scheme to deepen strategic relationships under the New Southern Policy…
National self-interest cannot govern global vaccine distribution
As Australia emerges from its local state-based lockdowns – largely due to its high vaccination rates – many low-income countries in Southeast Asia and Africa remain at risk of…
Economic diplomacy: Supply chains, sanctions, and Telstra Pacific
Sovereign nation
It is 18 months since Prime Minister Scott Morrison sent Australians off to their first locked-down Easter with the somewhat mixed message that the government…
Markets and resilience in the face of economic coercion
Australia’s stern statement at a World Trade Organisation review of China’s trade policy last month emphasised that Beijing’s trade disruptive measures may be targeted at…
What Australia needs to ask itself about the United States
The Australian and American debates about China’s rise have followed similar trajectories, but differ in at least one key way. Australia’s hinges, in part, on whether it can trust…
Britain and Australia aren’t actually treaty allies – they should be
Though it may come as a surprise listening to Prime Ministers, who routinely refer to one another as “allies”, Britain and Australia are actually only partners – not bound to come…
AUKUS? Quad? FOIP? A fragmented approach cannot counter China
Although a substantive movement has developed aiming to contain China – AUKUS being only the most recent example, adding to the reconstituted Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, or…
Australia and Digicel: Hands-off no more?
The Australian government’s decision to finance Telstra’s takeover of the Pacific’s biggest telecommunications provider, Digicel, via a $1.33 billion loan from Export Finance…