Global Issues
Culture, constitution and controversy in Samoa
Fifty-eight years after Samoa became an independent state, it has been promised a new court giving Samoan customs a rightful place in law. It is worth considering why has this has…
Woe Canada, a second consecutive UN rebuff
Last week, the United Nations elected five countries to the Security Council for two years from 1 January 2021: India from the Asia group, elected by an impressive 184 votes of…
Debt threatens Digicel’s Pacific dominance
When it comes to mobile networks in the Pacific Islands region, Digicel is dominant. More than 2.6 million subscribers mean its SIM cards power more…
Morrison’s messages to the “sophisticated state-based cyber actor”
Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s announcement today that Australia was being targeted by a “sophisticated state-based cyber actor” was curiously measured. On the one hand, the …
COVIDcast: Foreign Minister Joseph Wu on Taiwan’s place in the world
In this episode of COVIDcast, Natasha Kassam, Research Fellow at the Lowy Institute, sat down with Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Joseph Wu. Wu was appointed Foreign…
Belt and Road means big data and facial recognition, too
China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims to grow the Chinese economy through facilitating extensive trade across Eurasia and Africa, is now so large it is shaping how…
Economic diplomacy: Positive globalism and American exceptionalism
Hindsight
There was one phrase that would have neatly rounded out the interesting complementary speeches delivered by Australia’s two key international affairs ministers this…
Will Timor-Leste be the region’s latest press freedom casualty?
The coronavirus pandemic has provided just the latest cover for a variety of authoritarian moves criminalising journalism across Southeast Asia.
In the Philippines, a full…
ASEAN Summit: A chance to engage on the Rohingya crisis
On 26 June, leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) will meet virtually for their 36th semi-annual summit. The meeting is expected to include a focus on the…
Marise Payne stakes a claim for cooperation
It would be welcome for Marise Payne to give more interviews and public speeches like the one she delivered Tuesday evening about “Australia and the world in the time of…