China is hosting the G20 meeting of the world’s most powerful nations on the weekend, and one Australian China analyst has some stern advice for Malcolm Turnbull when he meets with his Chinese counterpart. Read more
China wants what we have, so it won’t risk a spat
China’s hosting of the premier international forum for co-operation on global economic governance in picturesque Hangzhou this weekend is testimony to China’s newly acquired economic weight and influence. Read more
Islamist killer cult can’t be destroyed with half measures
If a modern-day Australian Rip Van Winkle were to awake from a two-decade slumber and turn on his television set or iPad, he would be stunned by the extent to which terrorism has come to dominate our lives. Read more
South China Sea, what happens next?
Last week the Hague handed down it’s judgement in the dispute between China and the Philippines. It found that China has no legal basis to claim historic rights over most of the South China Sea and it therefore ruled against China.
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Home-town hero warned against favouring South Australia
Defence experts and industry figures say it makes sense for Christopher Pyne to take on a new senior defence industry role in cabinet but warn against Mr Pyne’s using the job to favour his home state of South Australia. Read more
The People Back Beijing
He Xiaoliang is a 23-year-old electrician who lives with his parents in Shanghai. Every night, his family gather around the dinner table and argue about current affairs. But on Tuesday night they were in total agreement. Read more
Lessons in Indonesia’s pushback approach to Sino aggression
China’s behaviour in the South China Sea is beginning to resemble that of the imperialist great powers it once condemned. Its fishing boats are now intruding regularly into Indonesia’s exclusive economic zone around the Natuna Island group at the southern end of the South China Sea, jeopardising relations with Southeast Asia’s largest state and directly challenging the rules based order which Australia supports. Read more
China picks an unlikely fight in its battle for territory in the South China Sea
Less than a week after an Indonesian warship clashed with a fleet of Chinese fishing vessels off the coast of the Natuna Islands, the symbolism was unmistakable.
On Thursday, Indonesian President Joko Widodo presided over a cabinet meeting on the exact same ship, the KRI Imam Bonjol, near where the clash took place, more than 1000km north of his usual political areana in the capital Jakarta. Read more
China accused of being more hostile in South China Sea
Maritime security analysts say the Chinese are using fishing fleets and armed civilian forces to strengthen control in the South China Sea. Beijing and several countries in the region have overlapping claims over islands in the resource-rich area.
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Greens defence policy would leave us exposed in a perilous world
The Greens’ aspiration to become a mainstream political party was underlined last week by leader Richard Di Natale’s foray into defence and foreign policy, an area which is unfamiliar terrain for a party that began life as an environmental protest movement.
The sympathetic Left predictably applauded Di Natale’s sentiments but offered little in the way of supporting arguments for his speech to the Lowy Institute, which challenged many of the established tenets of Australian defence and foreign policy. The Right also failed to seriously engage with Di Natale’s arguments. The Daily Telegraph dismissed his speech as the ramblings of the ‘‘loony Greens’’.
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