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Tenets of Thailand’s ASEAN engagement
ASEAN member states have different perspectives on the significance of the grouping. As one of the founder member states, the second largest economy and a leading state within ASEAN, Thailand’s view...
China’s New J-20 Stealth Fighter Has Officially Entered Service
Chinese President Xi Jinping wants to transform China’s military into the world’s most powerful force by 2050. And he could be on track to do it. On the opening day of its National People’s Congress...
When Australian nuclear weapons could make sense
What a way to start a year! The debate initiated by three former Australian deputy secretaries of defence—Hugh White, Paul Dibb and Richard Brabin-Smith—about the possibility of Australia acquiring...
Foreign policy: why we should expect more of ourselves
We are starting to turn the “soft bigotry of low expectations” against our own government, and therefore against ourselves. Look at the way we have responded to the government’s recent Foreign...
Vietnam manages delicate balance between US and China
Donald Trump last week became the first U.S. president since the Vietnam War to have visited Vietnam during his first year of office, spending three days in the country during his inaugural Asian...
Even under Trump, US-Vietnam relations seem to be improving
Given how closely Barack Obama was associated with the deepening of US-Vietnam ties, the change of administrations in the United States inevitably raised questions about the relationship’s...
The Battle of Beersheba, 100 years on
In Australia’s memory of the Great War, the Sinai–Palestine Campaign gets comparatively little thought after Gallipoli and the Western Front. The exception is the Battle of Beersheba, fought on 31...
Lunch with John Blaxland, or how to write a history of ASIO
Since John Blaxland co-authored The Official History of ASIO (Australian Security Intelligence Organisation), the final volume of which was published late last year, he has been attacked by right-...
ASEAN and Australia beyond 50
ASEAN has achieved much in its 50 years, but it is currently perceived as underperforming and facing difficult challenges ahead. Australia, as ASEAN’s longest-standing partner, should support its...
Do the lessons of Thucydides apply to Singapore?
Recently the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, Kishore Mahbubani, dropped a bombshell. He declared that Qatar’s experience of being embargoed by its neighbouring states...
