14 Aug 2018
Diplomacy in the post-broadcasting era
Projecting Australia’s interests now demands a very different suite of approaches from those of days gone by.
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9 Aug 2018
The many ways to be Chinese Singaporean
Beijing’s attempts to appeal to young Chinese Singaporeans may fall on deaf ears. -
3 Aug 2018
An emerging Indo-Pacific infrastructure strategy
The outlines of a potentially promising four-pronged approach to the region’s infrastructure needs can be discerned. -
2 Aug 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: infrastructure and trade
US–Japan–Australia infrastructure cooperation, ADB circumspect about China’s BRI, and more. -
31 Jul 2018
Sri Lanka failing on human rights
A new UN report on protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the country makes for depressing reading. -
20 Jul 2018
The many voices of Hong Kong
Chief Executive Carrie Lam has backed down from a disparaging and hostile stance towards using English. -
20 Jul 2018
Myanmar’s fourth estate
The trial of two Reuters reporters is a sign of a withering local press and the rise of social media rumourmongering. -
19 Jul 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: India ties, Labor on BRI
Infrastructure wars in Asia, a Japan-Europe deal, and the Varghese India report got a surprisingly low-profile launch. -
11 Jul 2018
China’s expanding navy
The PLA-N is growing rapidly, raising problems for personnel and the integration of new capabilities into the service. -
4 Jul 2018
Hambantota: “the Chinese port”
The facility is seen as an egregious example of how Beijing is using loans and aid to curry strategic influence in Asia. -
7 Jun 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: G7 after Trump, avoiding a China bust, and ASEAN integration
Greg Earl with economic news from across the region. -
4 Jun 2018
Mindful Mattis did just fine at the Shangri-La Dialogue
The US Secretary of Defense fleshed out the Trump administration’s “free and open Indo-Pacific” strategy with aplomb. -
24 May 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: China relations, debt time bomb, and new rivalries
Greg Earl with economic news from across the region. -
17 May 2018
Philippines: justice removed, justice denied
The dismissal of the Supreme Court chief justice signals the demise of the rule of law in Asia’s oldest democracy. -
15 May 2018
Will Argentina’s problems destabilise Asian economies?
<p>Argentina’s problems will be high-profile, as it is the current chair of G20, but in our region the lessons of 1997 have been fully absorbed.</p> -
15 May 2018
The high price of fashion
Sweatshop conditions are still widespread across Asia in clothing and footwear manufacturing. -
8 May 2018
Unexpected lessons on measuring power in Asia
<p>The Lowy Institute Asia Power Index yields many surprising results.</p> -
3 May 2018
Asia: jobs policy vs the machines
Only politicians can stem labour-market inequality arising from new technologies. -
26 Apr 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: security costs, Japanese investment, and Chinese business relations
Greg Earl with economic news from across the region. -
24 Apr 2018
Attack of the Twitter bots
<p>A surge in social media followers across Asia has raised questions about self-censorship.</p> -
19 Apr 2018
Digital Asia links: Weibo backflip, Facebook comeuppance, dancing grandpa, more
<p>Sarah Logan’s links to digital news across Asia.</p> -
12 Apr 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: Indonesia and Vanuatu, dole woes, and IP theft
Greg Earl with economic snippets from across the region. -
6 Apr 2018
Tajikistan and Uzbekistan: a welcome but fragile thaw
The signs of warming relations between Uzbekistan and Tajikistan are built on the friendship between two authoritarian rulers. -
30 Mar 2018
Deterrence under the dragon’s shadow: Vietnam’s military modernisation
Vietnam has long sought to calibrate its defence posture in the shadows of great power competition. -
29 Mar 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: TPP trade reform, remaking aid, and Indonesian relations
Talk of new aid cuts raise new questions about what sort of serious alternative can be fashioned to China’s Belt and Road Initiative. -
28 Mar 2018
Mekong: more dams, more damage
Asia’s great river is under growing threat from hydropower. -
1 Mar 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: Asian infrastructure, football diplomacy, and investor protection
Big plans and big projects are dominating the Great Game of power politics. -
27 Feb 2018
Digital Asia links: internet cafe camping, a stink over Winnie the Pooh in China, and more
<p>A digital round-up from across Asia.</p> -
22 Feb 2018
“Global Britain” on the line in the South China Sea
Joint freedom of navigation patrols by the UK and France would be more convincing to a regional audience. -
15 Feb 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: Maldives showdown, selling infrastructure and feeding India
<p>Economic news from across Asia.</p> -
9 Feb 2018
Review: Asia on a knife-edge
A newly released book by John West takes a guarded view of the world’s most promising region. -
9 Feb 2018
Hong Kong: race-baiting the judiciary
An effort is underway to “other” Hong Kong’s common law system: to portray it as a colonial holdover ripe for replacement. -
6 Feb 2018
ASEAN matters and deserves credit
For all its inconveniences, Australia is overwhelmingly dependent on ASEAN working and working well. -
5 Feb 2018
Is ASEAN still central to Australia?
Canberra is busy diversifying its diplomatic efforts partly in response to ASEAN's shortcomings. -
2 Feb 2018
China’s economic gloom merchants
China will one day run into the same growth-constraining factors as South Korea and Japan. But not yet. -
2 Feb 2018
The courage of youth on display in Hong Kong
An independent spirit might not mean separating Hong Kong from China, but adopting ways that threaten vested interests of the ruling class. -
1 Feb 2018
Economic diplomacy brief: TPP rides again, students vs spies on campus, and Britain cools on China
Trade deals in Asia are a test of America's self image, as the debate rages on China's on-campus influence in Australia. -
25 Jan 2018
Asia’s escalating missile race
Last year saw a surge in testing and deployment of both ballistic and cruise missile technology throughout the Indo-Pacific. -
24 Jan 2018
The China factor in India’s commitment to ASEAN
India's position on ASEAN reflects an ambition to create a bulwark against the emergence of a Sino-centric regional order. -
22 Jan 2018
Britain can be a power in Asia
The UK’s decline is no more pronounced than that of any Western nation. -
18 Dec 2017
Digital Asia Links: Bitcoin bans, online gambling and heavy metal guitars
Sarah Logan with links on digital developments across Asia. -
18 Dec 2017
Brexit Britain won’t be able to uphold Asia’s liberal order
For a relatively small country so far away, British nationals play an outsized role in Southeast Asia – for now. -
12 Dec 2017
Searching for sustainable energy in the Mekong
Southeast Asian governments are starting to wake up to the vast potential of solar energy. -
7 Dec 2017
Japan: Shinzo Abe wrestles with constitutional change
Winning a two-thirds parliamentary majority is no guarantee of change for Japan's pacifist constitution. -
1 Dec 2017
Review: Clash of expectations for Hong Kong and Beijing
How long can a mantra of one country, two systems survive? -
1 Dec 2017
Donor scramble as Cambodia hits undo on democracy
The time may be ripe for punitive actions to call Hun Sen’s bluff. -
29 Nov 2017
Economic diplomacy brief: Geo-economics as the new Great Game
Forget the China-US economic comparison. Will Australia cope when Indonesia's economy is bigger? -
27 Nov 2017
Australia-UK cooperation on the rules-based order
Britain can learn from complex challenges faced by an Australia that is economically dependent on China. -
22 Nov 2017
Trump’s truancy in Asia could hasten a hegemon’s demise
China is forging ahead with a regional counter-order to displace America. -
21 Nov 2017
Battered Bangladesh risks everything on unsafe factories
Workers safety is being compromised in the garment industry despite outrage at past disasters.