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Published daily by the Lowy Institute

  • 19 hours ago
    • China
    • Technology
    • United States

    Australia’s predicament in navigating a new era of techno-nationalism

    Marina Yue Zhang
    If “the great tech decoupling” between the United States and China does come about, there will be costs.
  • 30 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Free Trade
    • Trade
    • Sustainability
    • United States

    Whether EVs or solar panels, protectionism has the same distorting effect

    John Edwards
    Biden is playing election politics with tariffs on China’s electric cars, while Albanese’s solar subsidy plans might end up costing Australia.
  • 20 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Japan
    • Global Economy
    • United States

    A US dollar deal? Explaining a lack of enthusiasm for a Plaza Accord redux

    Stephen Grenville
    A few lessons from economic history for a start.
  • 18 Dec 2024
    • Aid & Development
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Taiwan
    • Russia
    • Trade
    • Climate change
    • Technology
    • Papua New Guinea
    • Solomon Islands
    • United States

    What I’ll be watching for in 2025

    Susannah Patton , Melanie Pill , Sam Roggeveen , Robert Walker , Mihai Sora , Hilman Palaon , Oliver Nobetau
    Lowy researchers gaze at their crystal balls – with questions, more than answers, for the year ahead.
  • 17 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia

    China’s panda diplomacy is cute politics but with fuzzy results

    Czeslaw Tubilewicz
    While popular with the public, there is little evidence that these “envoys of friendship” will reshape Australia’s ties with China.
  • 12 Dec 2024
    • China
    • China's Economy
    • The Americas
    • United States

    Peru’s new megaport reveals a refined Belt and Road

    Selwyn Parker
    China’s gain is America’s loss as deal wraps up control of key Latin American port for more than half a century.
  • 11 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Pacific Islands
    • Nauru
    • Tuvalu

    Australia’s new chequebook diplomacy in the Pacific

    Daniel Flitton
    The potential for a bidding war should be acknowledged.
  • 11 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Pacific Islands
    • Nauru

    An ounce of prevention: Nauru deal puts defence spending in a different light

    Sam Roggeveen
    Australia’s Nauru deal is a victory for preventive diplomacy, closing off any possibility of a Chinese security presence.
  • 10 Dec 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Global Economy
    • Trade
    • Technology
    • United States

    China’s EV manufacturing and Australia’s connected vehicles conundrum

    Henry Storey
    Canberra faces complicated trade-offs between competing domestic and foreign policy objectives.
  • 5 Dec 2024
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • China's Military

    Location, location, location: Why Ream Naval Base is not the real estate China needed

    Rahman Yaacob
    Artificial islands in the South China Sea have more strategic value than a backwater base.
  • 29 Nov 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • South Korea
    • Australia
    • United Kingdom
    • United States

    As traditional “Anglo” international education destinations falter, Asia-Pacific countries look closer to home

    Angela Lehmann
    Chinese students are largely driving the surge in international students choosing universities across the region.
  • 28 Nov 2024
    • China
    • India
    • Sri Lanka

    Sri Lanka votes for change

    Gordon Weiss
    Primed for unrest, the country’s elections went off without incident, and a new man-of-the-people has emerged as leader.
  • 27 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Pakistan

    Pakistan and China’s diplomatic relations reach a low ebb

    Adnan Aamir
    A once lauded partnership is being sorely tested.
  • 27 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • South China Sea

    Understanding Prabowo’s Natunas gambit with China

    Emirza Adi Syailendra
    Acknowledging a dispute exists does not amount to a tacit endorsement of one side’s claim.
  • 26 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    China’s food safety crises: Some oils just shouldn’t mix

    Genevieve Donnellon-May
    Beijing has pledged to tackle food hygiene issues, with the Communist Party’s legitimacy at stake if it fails.
  • 25 Nov 2024
    • China
    • India

    China-India ties to be more resilient in the Trump 2.0 era

    Daniel Balazs
    India and China have sought to defuse their military standoff and that will limit the prospect for US interference in their relations.
  • 21 Nov 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    Will North Korea annoy China, having sent troops to fight alongside Russia?

    Khang Vu
    Don’t bet on it.
  • 21 Nov 2024
    • Aid & Development
    • China

    China’s Pacific aid is rebounding and recalibrated

    Riley Duke , Alexandre Dayant
    Minor increases in spending and a surge in new deals signal renewed Chinese aid ambition in the region.
  • 19 Nov 2024
    • China
    • United States

    Reading between the lines of Xi and Biden’s last meeting

    Jersey Lee
    Some remarkably frank language was perhaps intended for a different audience than the one across the table.
  • 15 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Defence & Security

    China makes a statement at the Zhuhai air show

    David Vallance
    The biannual event showcases China's technological and military ambitions, and offers some surprises this year.
  • 14 Nov 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • Indonesia

    Check, but not check-mate: Indonesia’s nine-dash line mistake

    Ristian Supriyanto
    China has won a diplomatic battle with Indonesia, but not the war over maritime claims in the South China Sea.
  • 12 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Russia

    The West’s unfounded Chussia Anxiety

    Geoff Raby
    Russia will not long tolerate its increasingly vasal-like status to China.
  • 6 Nov 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Energy
    • Resource security
    • BRICS

    New players on the bloc: Is BRICS+ a critical challenge?

    Marina Yue Zhang
    A growing roster of countries lined up in the grouping carries implications for Australia’s minerals policy.
  • 4 Nov 2024
    • Asean
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • China's Economy
    • Chinese Trade
    • Indonesia
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Trade

    ASEAN countries confront Chinese export glut

    Henry Storey
    Left unchecked, a saturation of Chinese goods may complicate what has otherwise been a very compelling ASEAN growth story.
  • 1 Nov 2024
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Diplomacy
    • Foreign Policy

    Lost in translation: China’s elite-centric approach in Cambodia

    Chhay Lim
    Walking the talk will be needed to prove to young Cambodians that the relationship is about partnership rather than pure profit.
  • 28 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Pacific Islands
    • Papua New Guinea

    China’s language diplomacy in Papua New Guinea

    Bernard Yegiora
    Local Mandarin programs are gaining momentum as a tool to foster closer relations.
  • 28 Oct 2024
    • China
    • South China Sea

    China and the South China Sea: Tailoring history for propaganda

    Mahbi Maulaya
    China’s historians are being enlisted to shape the narrative of maritime Asia.
  • 25 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • Defence & Security

    Prabowo’s China challenge around the Natuna Islands

    Rahman Yaacob
    An early confrontation might not be the message first thought.
  • 25 Oct 2024
    • China
    • China-India Relations
    • India

    Have India and China achieved a border breakthrough?

    Amit Ranjan , Genevieve Donnellon-May
    Tensions in the Himalayas have been high since 2020. This latest deal is a step forward.
  • 24 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Energy
    • Climate change
    • Environment
    • Sustainability
    • United States

    China’s cleantech investment in the US: Leg-up or security threat?

    Henry Storey
    Security hawks have struggled to articulate a compelling case for completely pulling up the drawbridge.
  • 21 Oct 2024
    • Central Asia
    • China
    • Russia
    • Environment
    • Sustainability

    Central Asia: An emerging battlefield for strategic minerals

    Sergey Sukhankin
    The region’s rare earth elements are in demand, but ties with Russia and China mean diversifying is easier said than done.
  • 11 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Global Economy
    • Trade
    • United States

    The US wakes up to China’s latest threat – big ships

    Selwyn Parker
    Hardly a day goes by that Chinese shipyards don’t book another fat contract for a commercial vessel.
  • 9 Oct 2024
    • China
    • Technology
    • United States

    EVs to the internet: Can the US and China unwind technology interdependence without disaster?

    Miah Hammond-Errey
    Bifurcation is a buzzword. But we are in new territory.
  • 4 Oct 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • China's Government
    • The Trump Presidency
    • United States
    • US Elections

    A Trump win splits the East Asian triangle

    Richard McGregor
    Much commentary about China and the US election has suggested Beijing prefers Trump. In fact, the opposite might be the case.
  • 1 Oct 2024
    • China
    • United States

    Power in Asia: Pivots, paper tigers and regional poles

    Stacie E. Goddard
    Pundits weaving stories of power transition in the Indo-Pacific should rely on robust data to flesh out the narrative.
  • 1 Oct 2024
    • China
    • The Biden Presidency
    • The Trump Presidency
    • United States
    • US Economy
    • US Elections

    Kamala Harris and China: Competition and antagonism, continued

    Richard McGregor
    Harris is largely a blank slate on China policy. She is likely to stick to Biden policy positions and instincts, which means relations will remain rocky.
  • 30 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Nuclear Non-Proliferation, Arms Control and Disarmament
    • Nuclear Weapons
    • New Zealand

    China's missile tests New Zealand's principles

    Nicholas Khoo
    There are three reasons why China’s missile test is a serious challenge to New Zealand’s interests.
  • 26 Sep 2024
    • China
    • China-Japan Relations
    • Japan
    • Trade

    Yesterday’s stick, today’s carrot? China’s removal of the Japan seafood ban

    Victor Ferguson , Darren Lim
    Talk of easing import restrictions raises questions about Beijing’s motivations at this time.
  • 24 Sep 2024
    • China
    • North Korea
    • Russia
    • Ukraine

    North Korea and its middle power friends

    Gabriela Bernal
    The latest Asia Power Index has Pyongyang pegged as Moscow’s best buddy…for now.
  • 23 Sep 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • India
    • North Korea
    • Singapore
    • South Korea
    • United States

    Power in Asia: Outliers and curiosities

    Susannah Patton , Jack Sato
    Some findings of the latest Asia Power Index controvert conventional wisdom.
  • 20 Sep 2024
    • Asia
    • China
    • Southeast Asia
    • United States

    Why US-China bipolarity is good for Asia

    Hervé Lemahieu
    Restoring US primacy is not in Asia’s interests but preserving a power balance with China is.
  • 17 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Philippines
    • South China Sea
    • Defence & Security

    A step-change to Beijing's "lawfare" in the South China Sea

    Peter Leavy
    The “salami slice” approach to island building in the South China Sea has worked well for China. The world risks seeing that same approach repeated in international law.
  • 12 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Taiwan
    • Defence & Security

    The implausibility of a Taiwan blockade

    John Quiggin
    If all-out war is an inevitable consequence of a blockade, why wouldn't China cut to the chase and start the war immediately?
  • 9 Sep 2024
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Indonesia
    • Japan
    • Malaysia
    • Southeast Asia
    • Thailand
    • Australia
    • Australia and Asia

    China’s rise in Southeast Asia is bringing in a golden age for Australia

    Susannah Patton
    Disquiet about Beijing’s growing presence is motivating countries across the region to seek deeper cooperation with Canberra.
  • 9 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Philippines
    • South China Sea
    • Defence & Security

    South China Sea: The “transparency initiative” success is plain to see

    Richard Javad Heydarian
    But pressure on the Philippines means that its key partners must step up more.
  • 4 Sep 2024
    • China
    • United States

    Can the US and China avoid a catastrophic clash?

    Daniel R. DePetris
    Jake Sullivan’s trip to Beijing was about managing tension and that’s the best that can be hoped for.
  • 3 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Hong Kong
    • Russia
    • Ukraine
    • International law

    Hong Kong keeps Russia’s dark fleet afloat

    Selwyn Parker
    Operating under flags of convenience, hundreds of vessels are evading the sanctions meant to stifle movement.
  • 2 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Australia
    • Resource security
    • Technology
    • United States

    Antimony: The hidden metal fuelling global competition

    Marina Yue Zhang
    China’s latest critical mineral restrictions have caught attention – but mooted solutions might not deliver.
  • 2 Sep 2024
    • China
    • Vietnam

    A pilgrimage to China for Vietnam’s new leader

    Thi Mai Anh Nguyen
    Talk of divergent strategic views between the neighbours would be a misreading of history.
  • 30 Aug 2024
    • China
    • Europe
    • Russia

    Is Russia really European anymore?

    Evan Freidin
    Cut off from the West, Russia is making a turn to Asia. But this leaves a cultural wound.
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