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looking beyond borders

foreign policy and global economy

Archive for the tag “Australia”

04 Aug 2018

An Emerging Indo-Pacific Infrastructure Strategy

The reaction to this week’s announcement by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo of a US$113 million infrastructure fund is that it was more than a tad underwhelming. When set against potentially upwards of US$1 trillion in financing for China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) – to which the new US fund is a thinly veiled response – that certainly seems the case. Yet the outlines of an Indo-Pacific infrastructure strategy that looks potentially more promising can also be seen.

Read Here – The Interpreter

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Posted in Asia and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
27 Jul 2018

Australia’s Fight Against Chinese Political Interference

Last December, while introducing legislation to outlaw foreign interference in Australian politics, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told the Australian Parliament that the scale of the threat to Australian democracy and sovereignty from foreign influence campaigns was “unprecedented.” Turnbull did not name any country in particular, but the proposed laws were clearly aimed primarily at Chinese covert interference.

Read Here – Foreign Affairs

Posted in Diplomacy and tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment
05 Jun 2018

Modi Wants No Part Of China-US Rivalry, But Still Manages To Keep Beijing Happy

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivering the keynote address at the Shangri La Dialogue, in Singapore on June 1, 2018. Photo/PIB

With Washington’s Indo-Pacific strategy set to boost India’s role in the region, New Delhi is working hard to avoid being caught in the middle of the growing rivalry between China and the United States, observers said. That might have explained why Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appeared to avoid mentioning the “quadrilateral strategic dialogue” – a US-led grouping of four regional powers including Australia, Japan and India, also known as “the Quad” – during his speech at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security summit, in Singapore over the weekend.

Read Here- South China Morning Post

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30 May 2018

China’s Looming Financial Crisis

Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia Philip Lowe’s speech last week highlighting the risks to the Chinese financial system from shadow banks – non-bank financial institutions often operating in more lightly regulated wholesale markets – has once again drawn attention to the major economic risk in China.

Read Here – Lowy Institute

Posted in China and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
24 Apr 2018

The Empire Haunts Britain

The Windrush scandal reveals the complex reality of Britain’s relationships with its former colonies. Those who champion the Commonwealth now might need to reckon with its past before investing too much hope in its future.

Read Here – The New York Times

Posted in United Kingdom and tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment
21 Apr 2018

The Queen’s Favourite Club

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi with other Commonwealth leaders at a retreat at the CHOGM 2018. Photo/PIB

Is there anyone in the world who has known as many international leaders as the Queen? Theresa May might be her 13th prime minister, but that pales into numerical insignificance when one adds up all the Commonwealth leaders she has met. In the independent realms where she is, or has been, head of state she has racked up almost 180 prime ministers. Even that number is dwarfed when you consider all the other presidents, chiefs, generals and autocrats from the Commonwealth’s 53 member states. Along the way she has encountered generations of Trudeaus, Bandaranaikes, Kenyattas and Nehru-Gandhis, among others.

Read Here – Chatam House 

Also Read: What Next For The Commonwealth?

Posted in United Kingdom and tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment
05 Apr 2018

Small Dots, Large Strategic Areas: US Interests In The South Pacific

Given the rapidly shifting geopolitical landscape – or, more accurately, seascape – of the South Pacific, the region poses several strategic challenges to the US and its allies. As Australian National University’s Joanne Wallis has argued, over the past several years the South Pacific has seen the creation of alternative regional institutions, increasing Chinese investment and strategic focus, diminished New Zealand and Australian influence, and US strategic neglect.

Read Here – The Lowy Institute

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10 Mar 2018

How China Interferes In Australia

Australia is the canary in the coal mine of Chinese Communist Party interference. Over the past 18 months, the country has been shaken by allegations of the Chinese party-state working to covertly manipulate the Australian political system and curate the wider political landscape. There are claims of Beijing-linked political donors buying access and influence, universities being co-opted as “propaganda vehicles,” and Australian-funded scientific research being diverted to aid the modernisation of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

Read Here – Foreign Affairs

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08 Jan 2018

Why Australia’s Cure For Chinese Influence Is Worse Than The Disease

Over the past year, Chinese Australians who form the largest overseas Chinese community in Oceania, have found themselves at the centre of unwanted attention and scrutiny from the Australian government, intelligence services and media. In what appeared a concerted campaign, some of the community’s prominent business leaders were accused of acting as possible agents of the Chinese government by seeking, at its behest, to influence Australia’s domestic politics through political donations.

Read Here – South China Morning Post

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26 Nov 2017

Is Indo-Pacific The ‘New’ Pivot?

A free, open, prosperous and inclusive Indo-Pacific serves the long-term interests of all countries in the region. But if this concept turns out to be a divisive vision for Asia, both India and China must oppose it since it will destabilise the region and add fuel to the fire in the delicate bilateral relationship. As two large emerging powers, India and China have huge stakes in Asia’s future. Obviously they will benefit from a cooperative, not a confrontational, relationship.

Read Here – The National Interest

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