This Month
- Analysis
- Foreign relations
Albanese ticks all the boxes at Quad but China remains a challenge
The PM got an early taste of the competing pressures he faces in framing Australian China policy. As Beijing extends another olive branch, Washington toughens up.
- Opinion
- Federal election
AUKUS limits Labor’s room to move on China reset
Anthony Albanese’s freedom to restore the relationship will be constrained by the bipartisan nuclear submarine deal that has banked the strategic house on American resolve in resisting Beijing.
- Opinion
- China relations
China’s Pacific foothold exposes ‘new cold war’ hyperbole
Having preened on the global stage for standing up to the China threat, the Morrison government has now been shown to have little influence in the region most crucial to our security.
April
- Opinion
- China relations
Beijing claims a role as shaper of the postwar Pacific order
The history of World War II has become the latest front line between Washington and Beijing, as China asserts its role as a victor and traditional hegemon in the Pacific.
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Macron confronts Europe’s past and present
After a presidency rocked by crises over controversial economic reforms and his handling of COVID-19, the Ukrainian war has only strengthened his incumbency.
March
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Is the PM’s cold war rhetoric premature?
Scott Morrison’s Americanisation of Australian foreign policy is troubling considering the high economic costs of imposing sanctions on China should it give aid to Russia over Ukraine.
- Opinion
- Russia-Ukraine war
Sanctions on Putin offer no playbook for China and Taiwan
The West’s earlier exclusion of Russia from a peaceful and prosperous Europe now looks mistaken. It would be foolish to try the same approach over Taiwan.
February
- Opinion
- China relations
PM’s playing of China card trashes the national interest
Last week’s rhetorical pyrotechnics reveal the dissolution of any prudent, rational, bipartisan dimension in the Morrison government’s China policy.
- Opinion
- China relations
Albanese should start by opening door to a China reset
If he prevails at the ballot box, Anthony Albanese should quickly make a speech recalling Labor’s very different relations with Beijing to show that diplomacy, not bellowing, retains salience.
January
- Opinion
- China relations
AUKMIN hype is dreaming a British Australia never ended
The rhetoric of the recent Australia-UK ministerial meeting showed how an assertive China is generating a nostalgic model of Australian foreign policy.
November 2021
- Opinion
- China relations
Morrison turns China ‘threat’ into an election wedge
Borrowing from the Coalition playbook of Menzies and Holt during the Vietnam War, the Prime Minister is putting domestic politics ahead of long-term policy for dealing with Beijing.
October 2021
How Campo brought the cup home for Australia
As the Wallabies begin their test campaign in Britain, here’s a look back at when, 30 years ago, the national team emerged triumphant, thanks to David Campese.
- Opinion
- Trade wars
Australia gets caught up in Washington’s China blame game
The US is shifting from Sino-optimism to cold realism on China. But it’s careless of the rain of trade war shrapnel that falls onto allies like Australia.
- Opinion
- AUKUS
AUKUS paradox leaves us unprepared
How will Canberra explain the capability gap when swirling strategic currents will not wait for Australia’s first nuclear submarines to hit the water in 2040?
China concerns were behind Keating’s 1995 security pact with Indonesia
New documents show the rising power and influence of China in the region was behind one of the most stunning diplomatic coups in Australian strategic history.
September 2021
- Opinion
- September 11 attacks
September 11 took Washington’s eye off the Beijing ball
America was diverted from thinking seriously about China’s rise by the 9/11 attacks. And Australia luxuriated in the belief it might never have to choose between the two.
August 2021
- Opinion
- Foreign relations
ANZUS nostalgia exposes Australia’s lack of strategic imagination
Amid uncertainty over Washington’s global staying power and US domestic renewal the priority, Canberra lacks the capacity to imagine a world where American power is focused inward.
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
PM can’t find the words to lead Australia through COVID-19
Unlike some past prime ministers who have seized what history threw at them to shape the rhetorical landscape, Scott Morrison has failed to make a major address to help the country through this crisis.
- Opinion
- Caroline Kennedy
President Biden to send American royalty to Canberra
If confirmed by the US Senate, Caroline Kennedy’s appointment as ambassador to Australia will be a masterstroke of regional diplomacy.
July 2021
- Opinion
- Australia's China challenge
Cold warriors brew China fears and phobias
New myths are now being spread by Australia’s hawks to dismiss the idea that guileful diplomacy can provide a solution for the impasse with Beijing.
