20 Oct 2020 Can China be a peacemaker in Afghanistan? Naweed Jafari China has so far stayed on the sidelines of the intra-Afghan talks, but it could play a big role in ending the conflict.
19 Oct 2020 Power in Asia in five charts Alyssa Leng With so much focus on US-China competition, it’s crucial to remember there are 24 other players in the regional game.
19 Oct 2020 New Zealand’s landslide election and the challenges ahead Dick Grant A resounding endorsement for a popular prime minister’s virus response. Economic rebuilding stands as the next test.
19 Oct 2020 India-Australia security relations: They’ve only just begun Dhruva Jaishankar It’s fashionable to be pessimistic about the India-Australia partnership, but in fact it is steadily improving.
16 Oct 2020 The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: Increasingly deadly and destabilising Marianne Hanson An eruption of bitter fighting in a seemingly intractable conflict is aggravating wider regional tensions.
16 Oct 2020 Progressive politics in Thailand’s polarised polity David Hopkins A new “hyperleader” has capitalised on the mood of a younger generation fed up with being patronised.
16 Oct 2020 Keeping West Papua on the agenda Dan McGarry During Covid, the independence campaign could have been forgotten. But a new generation of activists is forging ahead.
15 Oct 2020 Kyrgyzstan’s turmoil and the competition for Central Asia Nikola Mikovic Post-election upheaval has drawn new attention to internal power struggles and the region’s geostrategic importance.
15 Oct 2020 Pakistan gets on the TikTok ban wagon Syed Fazl-e-Haider For very different reasons, the South Asian country follows rival India in blocking the China-based app.
15 Oct 2020 If Duterte likes his human rights record, he can let others look Shannon Maree Torrens An international investigation is the best way to address concern about the “war on drugs” in the Philippines.
14 Oct 2020 Reckoning with a post-Trump America Erin Hurley Donald Trump may soon be out of the White House, but it will take longer to understand what he was doing there.
14 Oct 2020 Kiwis and hawks: Is New Zealand edging closer to Australia on China? Anna Powles , Joanne Wallis Views on China appear to be hardening in Wellington, and the next government will be pressed to find a policy balance.
14 Oct 2020 Afghanistan and Iran: From water treaty to water dispute Said Hashmat Sadat , Nasrat Sayed A dam near completion on the Helmand River in Afghanistan is at the centre of a disagreement over water rights.
13 Oct 2020 A third aircraft carrier for India: Budget versus necessity M Matheswaran Concerns about cost overruns should be kept in perspective. The need for naval power projection is only growing.
13 Oct 2020 The many trails of Ant Group Fraser Howie Plans to list the company at the centre of China’s financial and payments network could spark a geopolitical firestorm.
13 Oct 2020 Changing the narrative of climate change Bec Colvin Social identity, not scientific evidence, drives many people’s attitudes on climate change.
12 Oct 2020 Why Myanmar’s elections won’t be free, fair or safe Melissa Crouch The polls should be delayed. The danger of spreading the virus is one reason. Ongoing disenfranchisement is another.
12 Oct 2020 North Korea’s new missile Sam Roggeveen If – big if – this missile is real, America cannot guarantee its homeland security in a war with North Korea.
12 Oct 2020 The false promise of regime change Bob Bowker A new book from an Obama insider considers the repeated failures of outside overthrow in the Middle East.
9 Oct 2020 Bangladesh’s balancing act between great powers Mubashar Hasan , Arild Engelsen Ruud For all the talk of a China-India contest, Bangladesh offers very little from a strategic point of view.
9 Oct 2020 China’s vision of sovereignty for the next world order Bill Hayton Beijing’s attitude is clearly one that says big countries matter more than small or middle-size ones.
8 Oct 2020 Health spending and foreign aid in the Pacific Jonathan Pryke , Alexandre Dayant , Tahi Izumi The newest Pacific Aid Map, with nearly a decade of project-level data for the region, helps shine a light on health.
8 Oct 2020 Economic diplomacy: Federal budget hits and misses Greg Earl A slight but surprising rise in aid spending and a rosy take on China are inside the covers of the 2020–21 budget.
8 Oct 2020 Iran’s declining regional influence Shahram Akbarzadeh , Zahid Shahab Ahmed , William Gourlay Tehran capitalised on US mistakes in the Middle East, but its proxy wars and consistently aggressive façade have a cost.
7 Oct 2020 A budget of skewed priorities Alex Oliver As Australia faces one of the most challenging international environments in a century, it still skimps on diplomacy.
7 Oct 2020 The unique power of TikTok’s algorithm Xueyin Zha Even if the question of control is resolved, this game-changing app may still pose a challenge to democratic norms.
7 Oct 2020 Global trade policy at a lull, but for how long? Dick Grant With economies and trade meetings cut down by Covid‑19, and political uncertainty in the air, we’re at a standstill.
6 Oct 2020 Stepping past the fatalism trap Catriona Corby If Australia wants to shape rather than be shaped by a fast-changing world, creative diplomacy is essential.
6 Oct 2020 PNG electrification: Spend on solar to help meet targets Shane McLeod Big power projects need to be pursued, but money for household solar would help PNG meet its 2030 goal more quickly.
6 Oct 2020 New Caledonia: A vote lost, yet independence advocates claim a win Alexandre Dayant A closer result in the second of three possible referendums shows the territory’s future is not yet settled.
5 Oct 2020 Trump gets sick and the media dives into the deep end Daniel Flitton The reporting of Trump’s health has quickly fallen into the same polarised pattern of so much of his presidency.
5 Oct 2020 A Quad of consequence: Balancing values and strategy Titli Basu The four-way gathering in Tokyo offers a chance to set out a vision for regional stability in the post-Covid order.
5 Oct 2020 A dose of climate realism about China’s carbon pledge Anthony Burke Beijing’s target falls well short of the dramatic and globally organised action needed to stop dangerous climate change.
3 Oct 2020 Protecting political leaders from Covid-19 Mark F. Briskey Power and rank offer no immunity to the coronavirus. What is a leader supposed to do?
2 Oct 2020 US presidential debate: Prologue to chaos Sam Hendricks The bizarre shout fest between Donald Trump and Joe Biden was ugly. It’s going to get worse.
2 Oct 2020 Timor-Leste’s youth leave or get left behind Joao da Cruz Cardoso Young people make up most of the country’s unemployed, sending many overseas, while needed skills go unmet at home.
1 Oct 2020 Smart China choices Ben Scott Australia’s relationship with China is unavoidably asymmetric. That shouldn’t stop Australia finding a competitive edge.
1 Oct 2020 In Bangladesh, Covid adds to a list of maladies Syed Badrul Ahsan A stalling economy, climate challenges, a refugee crisis, and now a spat with Saudi Arabia make for troubling times.
30 Sep 2020 The unfinished Chinese civil war John Culver Many frame China’s options against Taiwan as peace or invasion. This is a dangerous oversimplification.
30 Sep 2020 Duterte’s vaccine promise is a political placebo Michael Beltran The Philippine president has pinned hopes on a miracle solution to the Covid crisis while gutting effective responses.
29 Sep 2020 Evaluating aid in the Pacific Jonathan Pryke , Aidan Myatt A common rating system could make aid evaluation less opaque. Better yet, it could deliver more bang for precious bucks.
29 Sep 2020 China-India: Talk is cheap, but never free Oriana Skylar Mastro Temper the negotiation hopes. States often worry a willingness to talk will communicate weakness to an adversary.
28 Sep 2020 A reality show for the US presidential race Erin Hurley This first debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden promises a collision of two Americas, but little is likely to move.
28 Sep 2020 Working together on relief can stop a China‑India border disaster Lina Gong Cooperation on humanitarian assistance is an alternative channel for the two sides to build trust and generate goodwill.
25 Sep 2020 Colonialism and cultural erasure in Xinjiang Michael Clarke The ideology behind the CCP’s “re-education” of the Uighur shares in the history of subjugating indigenous populations.
25 Sep 2020 Intra-Afghan talks and future of Pakistan-Taliban relations Abdul Basit Long regarded as the not-so-invisible hand behind the Taliban, Pakistan has steadily lost its influence over the group.
25 Sep 2020 Office of Development Effectiveness: Praised, then abolished Stephen Howes Two well-regarded evaluation bodies have been quietly scrapped. Why?
24 Sep 2020 Economic diplomacy: A snapshot of overseas investment trends Greg Earl New data sheds light on how Australian businesses have (and haven’t) shifted their foreign engagements.
24 Sep 2020 Bougainville: A new captain at the helm Leanne Jorari Ex-combatant Ishmael Toroama hopes to reward people’s patience and finally steer the island to independence.
24 Sep 2020 Francis Fukuyama in Minsk Mark Beeson The outcry for liberal freedoms on display in Belarus suggests “The end of history” wasn’t all wrong.