Writer
Mack Williams
Mack Williams is former ambassador to the Republic of Korea.
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Chinese overflights signal to US rather than threat to Taiwan
Despite the fuss made over China’s recent military exercise over Taiwan, it’s becoming clear that China’s message was actually directed at the United States in response to its recent military drills in the region. Continue reading »
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Did China violate Taiwan’s airspace? It’s not that simple
The rush to panicked headlines by the American and Australian media about Chinese military manoeuvres over the Taiwan Strait revealed the shallowness of their understanding of the basic issues involved. Continue reading »
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Between AUKUS and AUSMIN, Australia has crossed the rubicon
Through the combination of AUKUS and AUSMIN, Australia has locked in its strategic dependence on the US — probably irreversibly, or in Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s words “forever”. Continue reading »
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AUKUS and submarines: Just what are we doing?
There has been so much commentary on the new AUKUS arrangements, especially the cancellation of the long-running submarine contract with the French. It’s timely to strip back all the hype and examine more closely what it all means. Continue reading »
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Australia should learn from Korea on managing a relationship with China
China was the elephant in the room for the discussions Marise Payne and Peter Dutton had with their Korean counterparts in Seoul. Korea’s extremely complex bilateral relationship with China is so different from our own. Continue reading »
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Five Eyes on the Afghan collapse-one eyed or blind?
The catastrophic failure of US and coalition intelligence in Afghanistan offers serious food for thought about the extent to which Australia relies on the vaunted Five Eyes arrangements. Continue reading »
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“Rules-based international order” camouflage for US exceptionalism
Bipartisan exceptionalism still predominates under Biden with “rules-based international order” at the core of his foreign policy prevailing over “adherence to international law”. China is stepping up its counter to US and Australian attempts to organise a new regional coalition of deterrence. Continue reading »
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Biden: Moon Summit- Little new on DPRK but significant bilateral issues.
Last week’s meeting in Washington between Presidents Biden and Moon was the second summit hosted by Biden since his inauguration, following that with Japanese Prime Minister Suga. While not very much new on the North Korean front emerged the atmosphere surrounding it was remarkably more congenial and workmanlike than Moon’s previous meetings with former President Continue reading »
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Biden’s speech to Congress – read his lips!
President Biden’s first address to Congress has provided a substantive and timely window into his ambitions for his term of office, but also the ideology which is driving him. Its central theme was “ We’re in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century”. Continue reading »
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Anchorage: Emerging Biden Policy on China
In his first few months, President Biden has had to focus on settling in his new administration and beginning to tackle the extremely challenging domestic issues he has inherited – especially Covid 19. His new team has begun to flesh out the general themes of foreign and defence policy set out in his election campaign. Continue reading »
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President Biden must call time on the “exceptionalism” US has long exploited
Last year I described an essay by then candidate Joe Biden “Why America must lead again” as “less an inspirational treatise … more a collage of ideas”. With so many daunting domestic challenges to confront, it will take time for Biden to put his personal stamp on key foreign policy themes. Continue reading »
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US Indo-Pacific Defence Initiative: What’s really going on ?
The ritual analysis of the departing President’s report card does not record many positives for Trump’s strategic policy management in areas most vital to Australia. The key regional issues have been passed on to President-elect Biden whose immediate challenge will be to craft some coherent whole of government policy from the abundance of ideas currently Continue reading »
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Korea : Biden a mixed blessing?
Seoul and Pyongyang are trying to fathom the implications of the Biden presidency for the Korean peninsula, while concerns remain about the damage Trump may yet do during his remaining time in office. Continue reading »
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Trump pressures South Korea over China
When most around the world had battened down the hatches for a rough ride through the last days of the US Presidential election campaign, the Republic of Korea (ROK) has become seriously preoccupied again with the Trump administration. Continue reading »
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Biden’s Foreign Policy: Make America the leader again
In an essay in the prestigious US publication “Foreign Affairs”, the Democratic candidate, Joe Biden, sets out a broad set of his foreign policy objectives should he win the US presidency in November. The title – “Why America Must Lead Again – Rescuing US Foreign Policy after Trump” – is hauntingly close to that used Continue reading »
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Payne and Reynold’s collision course with China
Ministers Payne and Reynolds have presented their brief for the AUSMIN20 discussions in Washington for which the scene has been set by a series of aggressive anti-China speeches by Secretary of State Pompeo and other senior US ministers. Continue reading »
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Range of options for Kim Jong-un in the lead up to US elections
As the weeks tick over towards the US elections in November and doubts grow about President Trump’s prospects, the main stakeholders in the North Korean denuclearisation problem are having to reassess their options. All of which is making for a particularly complex poker game in which the stakes remain extremely high. Continue reading »
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South Korea and the G7 – some tricky issues
Recent months have seen little sign of any development in the US: DPRK relations but a lot has been happening in the peninsular – through piecing the jigsaw together continues to be challenging. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Cost/Benefit Analysis of the Morrison Covid19 “proposal”
Assuming that the WHA will pass its “Covid Response A73/CONF./1” Resolution now that President Xi has declared his support in his surprise personal address, which will have influenced widespread endorsement from developing countries, Australia needs to take a very serious look at its own performance on this sensitive issue. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Covid-19, China and the WHO: Quo Vadis Australia?
A long time American UN observer in the US publication Foreign Policy ( “ WHO Becomes Battleground as Trump Chooses Pandemic Confrontation over Cooperation” 29 April 2020) has claimed that “fighting the coronavirus has become secondary as the US seeks to hamstring the WHO, turning it into a 2020 election issue along with Chinese trade”. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. International implications of landslide Korean elections
The spectacular success of President Moon’s party in the recent parliamentary elections has some important international implications as well as those for the South Korean domestic political scene. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea. Has Trump lost the plot?
The stalemate between the US and the DPRK has dragged on past the Kim Jong-un’s end of 2019 deadline. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Alliance management ” It’s the elections now…stupid”!
The New Year has confirmed that the US Presidential election cycle is up and running and will pick up speed soon to dominate all forms of political discussion in the US until November. To paraphrase that old American cliché : “ It’s the elections stupid!” Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea: the clock is ticking – but just?
There have been a few developments since the abortive Hanoi Summit but overall little of substance has changed. Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. The CSIS report on Iran’s missile program
In The Iranian Missile Threat, published by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (Washington DC: 30 May 2019), Anthony Cordesman examines Iran’s view of the threat, the problems in military modernization that have led to its focus on missile forces, the limits to its air capabilities, the developments in its missile forces, and the Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Attacks on Saudi Oil Facilities: Trump “Locked and Loaded”?
Whatever the real story behind the damaging attacks on the Saudi oil facilities, tensions in the Gulf and Middle East more widely have been significantly elevated. US attempts to engage the Iranians in direct and secret dialogue to try to wind back the US “extreme pressures” on Iran which Trump had claimed were underway when Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Alliance Management- Morrison’s First Challenge : Iran
The past week of the Australian-US Ministerial Consultations (Ausmin) talks has presented the Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, and his inexperienced ministerial team with the first serious test of how to manage the US alliance relationship. Despite the very difficult contemporary problem of coping with the most dysfunctional US administration in recent history we should not Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS Britannia Quo Vadis ?
Boris Johnson could hardly have chosen a more inauspicious moment to take over the reins in London with Whitehall in the death throes of a Prime Minister, the seemingly inevitable surge to a “no deal” Brexit plus the disrobing of Britannia by the Iranians and the likely accelerated pace of Beijing’s control over Hong Kong Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS : Korea : Just what did the DMZ Reality TV show add up to ?
After the enormous Reality TV coverage of the hastily arranged Trump:Kim meeting at the DMZ and the wads of media commentary afterwards,have the prospects of an eventually peaceful Korean peninsular been enhanced? To a large extent the jury is still out on this but there are a few possible glimmers of hope. The crunch issue Continue reading »
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MACK WILLIAMS. Iran : Coalition of the less than willing !
The spectacle of Prime Minister facing the “full court press” from President Trump and his team across the dinner table in Osaka starkly demonstrated how G20 Osaka was to be Morrison’s real initiation to the global arena. As the Iran crisis threatened to intensify it was little surprise that this became a prime focus of Continue reading »
