When President Trump came to office, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad was seen as a useful ally in the fight against so-called Islamic State. All talk of regime change stopped.
Rarely has a foreign policy changed so radically, so quickly and been acted on so decisively. Read more
“Xi can’t fail to be impressed by Trump’s resolve,” said Alan Dupont, an Australian military analyst who worked for that country’s Defense Department. “Xi will have to reassess what the Trump presidency means for Chinese interests in East Asia, particularly North Korea and the South China Sea.” Read more
The rejection of the extradition treaty with China by an unusually diverse coalition spanning the political spectrum should be a reality check for proponents of closer ties with a country that shares few of our core values. Read more
Alan Dupont, a China analyst and fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy, said that Dr. FitzGerald’s speech, while well reasoned, reflected the views of a lifelong Sinophile who had overestimated Australia’s ability to affect China’s behavior. Read more
The Lowy Institute’s Alan Dupont says Australia needs an anti-missile system to defend against North Korea. An interview on Sky News with Alan Dupont. Read more
Australia’s forthcoming foreign affairs white paper needs to factor in the potential threat posed by North Korea’s ballistic missiles to our northernmost cities and to embrace stronger ties with the US and Japan, analysts say. Read more
Alan Dupont joins a monthly panel deciphering important developments in international relations and their significance to Australia and the world on ABC’s Radio National with Geraldine Doogue. Read more
The assassination of Kim Jong-nam, half-brother of the unhinged North Korean despot Kim Jong-un, adds a dangerous dimension to deepening concerns about a seriously deranged regime in Pyongyang that is increasingly fanatical, fragile and has nuclear weapons. Read more
North Korea’s provocative test launch of a new ballistic missile last weekend is a sobering reminder that Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons program is one of the world’s most dangerous and intractable security issues. Read more
Visceral dislike of Donald Trump by his many detractors has spawned an outbreak of alarmism that threatens to erode nearly seventy years of bipartisanship on Australian foreign policy. Green’s leader, Richard Di Natale, is the latest politician to question the value of close security ties with the US, Read more