Asia
-
HAMISH MCDONALD. Christian Missionaries and Their Mistaken Message from God (AsianSentinel, 05.12.18)
As fans of the old The Phantom comic strip will recall, an island in the Bay of Bengal is the location of the Skull Cave, home base of The Ghost Who Walks, established by an ancestor washed ashore in a “half-drowned” state after an attack by “Singh pirates” and nurtured back to life by the Continue reading »
-
CHRIS BURGESS. Genuine immigration reform still alien to Japan.
On 14 October 2018, a number of marches were held across Japan to mark what the organiser — the Japan First Party — labelled ‘anti-migrant day’. The target of the protestors’ wrath was the government’s proposal to revise the Immigration Control and Refugee Recognition Act to introduce two new types of residence status for foreign Continue reading »
-
KIM WINGEREI. The Italy of Asia.
Assuming that come May next year Australia will have had its 7th Prime Minister in ten years, it puts us on par with Italy – the erstwhile lead exponent of revolving door politics. Despite being the fourth most populous country in Europe, Italy is also the perennial underachiever on everything from economic growth to political Continue reading »
-
MARK BEESON. China’s Rise and the rules-based liberal order: Implications for Australia
The prosperity of millions of Australians has become dependent on the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This unambiguous material reality explains why Australian policymakers and commentators spend so much time fretting about how to manage the relationship. The sheer material importance of the Chinese economy to Australia means that policymakers in this country have no Continue reading »
-
EAST ASIA FORUM-Preparing for the Next US Recession
One thing was clear from this weekend’s G20 summit. Asia and the world face many risks, and most of them emanate from the United States of America. Continue reading »
-
JOCELYN CHEY. Xi Jinping V. Allah
Protests are growing around the world over the forced detention and “re-education” of the Muslim Uighurs in China’s far west Xinjiang Province. It is important to frame our response in terms of our commitment to the protection of civil and political rights. The Uighurs are not terrorists as Beijing propaganda has painted them. Continue reading »
-
MACK WILLIAMS. North Korea: second fiddle?
Not surprisingly North Korea was relegated by the US:China “tariff war” in the recent G20 summit in Buenos Aires but some progress may have been made in preparing for the next phases of US:DPRK and ROK:DPRK dialogues. China also made clear the linkage between its trade disputes with the US and the extent of their Continue reading »
-
RICHARD BUTLER. Ethics Etherised
Based on the facts of his conduct of his office, and there is clearly much more to emerge, the end of Trump should be in sight. But, this is not certain to be achieved. To an unprecedented degree, the President of the US is enmired in illegal conduct and is directing US external relations disastrously. Continue reading »
-
RICHARD WOOLCOTT. The emergence of China can not be denied.
The recent APEC meeting in Port Moresby underlined the deepening competition between China and the United States in the Asia Pacific region. China has been expanding its influence in the South China Sea and beyond and with the United States,Japan,and regrettably Australia consulting on how it can check China’s expansion. Continue reading »
-
IAN BURNET. ‘Friends in Australia’ – a message from Sutan Sjahir, the Prime Minister of the newly declared Republic of Indonesia, November 1945.
On 17 August 1945 and two days after the Japanese surrender, Soekarno and Hatta unilaterally declared Indonesia’s Independence and became the first President and Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia. Continue reading »
-
Sino-U.S. clash is a great power competition, not ‘Cold War II’ (The Japan Times)
CHINA – In the Trump administration’s most substantial foreign policy speech thus far, delivered at the Hudson Institute on Oct. 4, Vice President Mike Pence accused China of a “whole-of-government” attack on U.S. interests and vowed the United States will respond with robust countermeasures. Continue reading »
-
TRAVERS MCLEOD. Australia will rue its decision on global migration compact
“Step up or step aside.” This was former Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda’s warning to Australia and Indonesia, as Co-Chairs of the Bali Process on People Smuggling, Trafficking in Persons, and Related Transnational Crime, in January 2016. Continue reading »
-
JEREMY SALT. Yes, What About Yemen? (American Herald Tribune, 13.11.18)
After the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, many are asking ‘But what about Yemen?’ Yes, indeed, what about Yemen, but what about Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan, and Somalia? What about Egypt in 1956, what about Iran in 1953 and what about Palestine from 1917 to the present day? Continue reading »
-
PETER VARGHESE. Australia and India: Navigating From Potential to Delivery.
In July I submitted to then PM Turnbull a report he had commissioned on an India Economic Strategy out to 2035. Continue reading »
-
Australia has normalised relations with a China-led future (Australian Financial Review, 21.11.18)
The Australia-China relationship is almost back to normal. The speed at which it has recovered has surprised. It has taken two statesman-like speeches by the former Prime Minister and his successor, and the appointment of a new Foreign Minister as previously suggested in this column. The anticipated imminent visit by PM Morrison to Beijing will Continue reading »
-
ADAM WAKELING. Tokyo Trial: how an Australian judge sentenced a Japanese leader to death (ABC NEWS).
“Accused Hideki Tojo, on the counts of the indictment of which you have been convicted, the International Military Tribunal for the Far East sentences you to death by hanging.” Continue reading »
-
ROHAN FOX, MATTHEW DORNAN. China in the Pacific: Is China engaged in “debt-trap diplomacy”? A repost from November 12 2018
Recent media coverage has touted the rise of Chinese aid and lending as a threat to Pacific nations’ sovereignty and to the West’s influence in the Pacific. China, so the narrative goes, is aggressively lending to smaller nations who do not have the capacity to pay back the loans. Some commentators have even described such lending as Continue reading »
-
Decoupling the US from Asia (ANU East Asia Forum).
Maybe US Vice President Mike Pence didn’t mean to fire the opening shots in a new Cold War with China in his 4 October speech at the Hudson Institute, but the global policy community can be forgiven now for taking the proposition seriously. Continue reading »
-
MIKE SCRAFTON. The Geopolitics of Lombrum Naval Base
It is difficult to find a strong, rational strategic argument for Australia’s to return to Lombrum Naval Base (or HMPNGS Tarangau) on Manus Island. Of course, not all of Defence’s activities have strictly military objectives or relate directly to the defence of Australia and in the Southwest Pacific Defence cooperation has been a major component Continue reading »
-
TONY KEVIN. The diplomatic disaster that was APEC Port Moresby
There is still a lot we do not know about how and why the APEC Summit just ended in Port Moresby was such a diplomatic disaster, from which APEC may not readily recover anytime soon. Continue reading »
-
RICHARD BUTLER. What is History?
President Macron’s warning against growing nationalism and the need to ensure the preservation of values, as against unalloyed selfishness in international relations, was an important way to mark the Centenary of the end of the First World War. Trump was present, but certainly not listening. The show was not about him and, he couldn’t find Continue reading »
-
RICHARD BROINOWSKI. Will Japan’s Love Affair with Nuclear Power be Resurrected?
On Friday 11 March 2011, a tsunami knocked out emergency generators at Fukushima Dai-Ichi, resulting in melt-downs in three of six reactors, covering the countryside in eastern Honshu with radiation. Some isotopes were short-lived, others will be around much longer. Seven and a half years later, an endless torrent of sea water continues to be Continue reading »
-
DUNCAN GRAHAM.Jerusalem and a Free Trade Agreement with Indonesia
Now here’s the weirdest thing about the way we handle policy with the neighbours: Canberra politicians are proven fumblers and bumblers when dealing with big Muslim-majority Indonesia. Yet at the Australian National University just a ten-minute bike ride across the lake are some of the world’s foremost experts, able to inform, advise and Continue reading »
-
RICHARD McGREGOR AND JONATHAN PRYKE. Australia must tread carefully in its Pacific contest with China. (SMH 9.11.2018)
If you want a glimpse into the future of Australia’s relationship with China, with all the elements of competition and co-operation, and tensions and bridge-building, then this week is a good place to start. Continue reading »
-
TONG ZHAO. Why China Is Worried About the End of the INF Treaty.
The U.S. withdrawal from the INF Treaty reflects Washington’s long-standing concern that the treaty constrained its ability to counter China’s fast-growing missile forces in the Asia Pacific. This article was published by Carnegie Tsinghua Centre for Global Policy on the 7th of November 2018. Continue reading »
-
ANDREW FARRAN. What is it to be with China – cooperation or conflict? A response to Peter Jennings of ASPI.
In a prominent article in The Weekend Australian’s ‘Inquirer’ section on 3/4 November, headed “Canberra alone must control our China ties”, the director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Peter Jennings, castigates the Victorian government, a large delegation of leading Australian businesses and the Australian Technology Network of Universities for having the temerity of engaging Continue reading »
-
MICHAEL SAINSBURY. Beijing’s spin on Xinjiang camps is not fooling anyone.
Communist regime has offered a string of justifications for its inhumane treatment of the Uyghur people. This article was published by UCA News on the 6th of November. Continue reading »
-
DAVID HUTT. Timor-Leste developing closer ties with China.
Southeast Asia’s newest and poorest nation needs funds that Beijing is poised to provide to fuel what some see as Dili’s misguided oil and gas ambitions. This article was published by Asia Times on the 2nd of November 2018. Continue reading »
-
DUNCAN GRAHAM. Troubled by truth telling in Indonesia
Does the present government really understand Indonesia? Or want to? Ministers get detailed briefings from diplomats in Jakarta squirreling away in our biggest embassy, plus wisdoms from academics close to home. Continue reading »
-
MACK WILLIAMS. New Cold War: Just how independent can Australia be ?
As renewed discussion grows pace in Australia about being less dependent on the United States in any Cold War against China how realistic is that option? For one thing we would need to loosen some of the linkages which have embedded us so deeply into the US defence machine through the US Indo Pacific Command Continue reading »
