26 Jul 2022
Answering China’s South China Sea flying safety challenge
A regional response can best manage risks, and the Five Power Defence Arrangement offers just the mechanism.
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26 Jul 2022
Dizzy with success: Xi consolidates repression in Xinjiang
An “inspection tour” signals the Party-state’s odious grip on the region and determination to control people’s identity. -
30 Jun 2022
Australians worry about China and muscle-flexing over Taiwan
New polling shows Beijing and its intentions have overtaken climate, Covid and cyberattacks as major concerns. -
28 Jun 2022
Contingency plans: South Korea and cross-Strait security
Seoul’s new administration faces critical choices over Taiwan and its relationships with Washington and Beijing. -
27 Jun 2022
Insights from Africa as China stumbles in the Pacific
Investment, infrastructure, and influence building – what worked for China before may not again elsewhere. -
27 Jun 2022
Unpacking the China/Timor-Leste bilateral agreements…
…and the unfolding geopolitical rivalry around them. -
8 Jun 2022
Timor-Leste, China and Australia, and the influence contest
Fostering connections with a new generation of democratic leaders offers Australia an edge in its island neighbour. -
8 Jun 2022
The Pyongyang problem for the Quad
North Korea poses a challenge for regional security, and so often China has stood to benefit from such instability. -
6 Jun 2022
A flare up in China’s deliberate pattern of aggression
The intercept of an Australian patrol over the South China Sea escalates a “grey zone” conflict to a dangerous level. -
1 Jun 2022
Competing with China in the Pacific will backfire
Co-operation, not competition, provides the best chance for Australia to enhance ties with Pacific Island countries. -
26 May 2022
“Black ships”, the Quad and space
Satellite technology underpins the attempt to tackle China’s illegal fishing. -
23 May 2022
PNG and the Solomon Islands-China security agreement
While respecting Solomon Islands sovereignty, regional solutions to regional problems are not yet fully exhausted. -
17 May 2022
AUKUS: More than meets the eye
A series of small, overlapping initiatives are combining to bolster the security architecture of the Indo-Pacific. -
16 May 2022
Pakistani separatists turn their sights on China
A Balochistan independence group has ordered Beijing to quit its interests in the region … to no effect. -
13 May 2022
China and the West: It’s about understanding each other
The former Australian prime minister offers indispensable insights into how to go back to relationship basics. -
10 May 2022
Saudi Arabia and China: a blossoming friendship
Relations are cosy for now. But is Saudi Arabia hedging its bets between Beijing and Washington? -
10 May 2022
Chinese bases in the Pacific: A reality check
Frustrating Beijing’s ambitions to create a sphere of influence is overwhelmingly a diplomatic task, not a military one. -
3 May 2022
Shanghai lockdown prompts collective action
China’s citizens are finding increasingly creative ways to make their voices heard during the pandemic. -
2 May 2022
Solomon Islands-China security pact: A feminist foreign policy answer
For Australia to change the game in regional relations, it needs to grapple with new rules about systems of power. -
26 Apr 2022
Vietnam’s “Four No’s” of defence policy are being tested
The war in Ukraine has forced Hanoi into a delicate dance between Russia and the United States. -
22 Apr 2022
Solomons: How Australia stacks up in a China aid bidding war
Lowy Institute’s Pacific Aid Map reveals the true scope of Australia’s development assistance to the region. -
22 Apr 2022
India-Russia: A friend in need
New Delhi’s reluctance to speak out on Ukraine is also influenced by own ambition in the disputed Kashmir region. -
21 Apr 2022
Solomons security pact: Sogavare, China, and Australia
There is no shutting China out of the South Pacific, but if Australia gets real on climate the game will truly change. -
13 Apr 2022
Law of the sea: A contested watershed ruling
The 2016 arbitral award on the South China Sea has changed the dynamics of maritime disputes. -
12 Apr 2022
How the Mekong River Commission ignores reality
Nothing is worth celebrating in how a once mighty wild river has been cruelly tamed. -
12 Apr 2022
China’s nine-dash line proves stranger than fiction
How Beijing’s claims to the South China Sea have crept imperceptibly into global popular culture. -
7 Apr 2022
Economic diplomacy: Priorities shift amid a budget aid boost
The IMF has given Chinese spending a tick as Australia tries to muscle up in the Pacific. -
6 Apr 2022
The mysterious missing UN report on human rights abuses in Xinjiang
Months of stalling over the release of a long-completed investigation raises suspicions about China’s pressure tactics. -
4 Apr 2022
Cause and effect: The right security architecture for the Indo-Pacific
Limitations in the established rules and forums have led the region to innovate. -
31 Mar 2022
War represents a failure of diplomacy. It pays to read past page one.
I hope Ukraine’s ambassador enjoyed reading my book in the Security Council. Here’s the message I wanted to send. -
31 Mar 2022
Solomon Islands asserts its sovereignty – with China and the West
The danger is geopolitical competition being appropriated by local actors on both sides of local political tensions. -
25 Mar 2022
Solomons: Putting a draft security deal with China in local context
Honiara’s negotiations with Beijing may raise alarm but it should not come as a surprise to Canberra. -
25 Mar 2022
Stiffening the ASEAN spine in the South China Sea
Any “minilateral” grouping among Southeast Asian nations must be mindful of its internal contradictions. -
22 Mar 2022
China’s women “hold up half the sky”
Entrenched gender inequality and the heavy hand of censors can no longer silence female voices in China. -
15 Mar 2022
Common enemies and instinctive friends
Presenting the world as one of binary choices can undermine good policymaking. -
11 Mar 2022
What the Ukraine crisis means for the Indo-Pacific
Beijing’s support for Russia comes with downsides for the region, not least a hit to global markets. -
10 Mar 2022
Putin and Xi: Surviving Ukraine
Regimes built on a powerful personality are vulnerable when the economy sours. It’s a lesson that holds for party rule. -
9 Mar 2022
Asia’s space race: China leads India on strategy
Beijing and New Delhi’s space programs have very different backstories and have taken markedly different trajectories. -
4 Mar 2022
China needs to rethink its Russia policy
Beijing may find it difficult to handle this troublesome “no limits” partner. -
4 Mar 2022
Back in the USSR – surprises in the Russia-Ukraine conflict
It’d be funny, if it wasn’t so deadly serious. -
3 Mar 2022
Australia and the crisis in Europe: threats and opportunities
A global contest of values and interests – and sharply divergent visions of order - is now dramatically intensified. -
25 Feb 2022
China’s grey zone tactics amount to far more than just laser games
A Chinese warship’s use of a laser on an Australian surveillance plane was no accident but purposeful aggression. -
24 Feb 2022
Economic diplomacy: Slow dividends for Australia from ASEAN spending
Amid the Ukraine sanctions showdown, an Indian trade deal looms as a pre-election win for the Morrison government. -
24 Feb 2022
China and the Ukraine crisis
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presents the biggest diplomatic challenge the PRC has faced since the financial crisis. -
24 Feb 2022
The election for the future of the internet
A battle for authoritarian control of the internet is underway at the most important UN body you’ve never heard of. -
23 Feb 2022
Russia-Ukraine: Lessons for Australia’s defence
Great powers seek spheres of influence – but there are limits. -
16 Feb 2022
Handle with care: China’s economic engagement in Myanmar
Beijing’s state-driven businesses have learned to adapt and adopt in the shadow of democratic openings and coups d’état. -
9 Feb 2022
Delivering promises will show steel in Quad
Presidents Xi and Putin make a deliberate show of solidarity, but Quad partners should focus on boosting defence ties. -
4 Feb 2022
Olympics not the only games this year
Beijing boycotts are just the latest in a long line of sports and politics match plays. -
2 Feb 2022
How China views “strategic competition” with the United States
Contrasting official readouts of the recent Biden-Xi summit offer an insight in Beijing’s attitudes on world order.