3+ day, 17+ hour ago   (277+ words) Whenever I write about China’s use of economic coercion, I receive remarkably similar responses. Beijing, I am told, was simply reacting to Australia’s decisions. Australia offended China, so China responded. The lesson is straightforward: if countries don’t want to suffer…...

3+ day, 22+ hour ago   (175+ words) Welcome to the latest edition of ASPI’s Fault Lines. Build it and they will come News from the neighbourhood There and back again Empty chairs where heads of government should be don’t strictly prevent the leaders meeting from getting things…...

4+ day, 12+ hour ago   (320+ words) National Cabinet spent last Wednesday discussing how Australia’s data centres will be powered. The harder question – where they should be built – was left off the table. Legislation isn’t expected until 2027. The investment pipeline is estimated above A$150 billion, and developers…...

4+ day, 17+ hour ago   (164+ words) It doesn’t all go Beijing’s way. In Latin America, China has been suffering notable reversals of influence. Cuba tells a similar story. Beijing remains an important economic partner, but Chinese support has not removed the economic pressures, migration challenges and…...

4+ day, 22+ hour ago   (929+ words) ‘I made one great mistake in my life – when I signed the letter to President Roosevelt recommending that atom bombs be made; but there was some justification – the danger that the Germans would make them.’ – Albert Einstein in 1969, about a…...

6+ day, 12+ hour ago   (428+ words) Belated parliamentary funding for Taiwan’s drone program isn’t likely to satisfy President Lai Ching-te. Nonetheless, pressure from Washington has evidently helped achieve spending authorisation for this key part of the government’s effort to adopt a hedgehog defence strategy. With a…...

6+ day, 16+ hour ago   (607+ words) A weekend report in The Australian has raised questions about whether the foreign university affiliations of an interpreter for successive Australian prime ministers are a national security issue. The fact that successive Australian leaders – from Bob Hawke to John Howard,…...

1+ week, 5+ hour ago   (250+ words) Alii from Palau. Leaders are gathering in Koror for the annual meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF). They will be discussing the issues that matter not only to the region but also to its partners, including Australia and the…...

1+ week, 12+ hour ago   (491+ words) It is a bipartisan position that Australia faces its most significant strategic circumstances since World War II. But the phrase rolls off the tongue so easily it risks losing the gravity those words should carry. Those words compare our present circumstances…...

1+ week, 3+ day ago   (131+ words) After enjoying great success in eliminating Taiwan’s formal diplomatic ties, it has turned its attention to the island’s quasi-embassies, called representative offices. One reason is that persuading Taiwan’s last 12 diplomatic partners to switch recognition to Beijing is increasingly difficult. Where…...