Asia Pacific Briefing

24/07/2014

Why America should welcome China's attempt to spy on RIMPAC.

It has recently been reported that China has sent a surveillance vessel to observe the RIMPAC exercise in which Beijing is participating for the first time. Little open source information is...

07/07/2014

My latest on the Japanese cabinet's recent reinterpretation of Japan's constitution.

Japan’s cabinet has approved a reinterpretation of its constitutional restrictions on its use of armed force. The new interpretation has cleared the way – pending parliamentary ratification - for ...

10/06/2014

My thoughts on recent reports that Japan may sell submarines to Australia.

A recent report has suggested that Japan may sell submarine technology or even, in what would represent a sea change in Tokyo’s defence policy, an entire fleet of vessels to Australia. Canberra is...

05/05/2014

In my latest post I discuss the difference between preferences and vital interests and why events in Syria and Ukraine have little bearing on the strategic situation in Asia.

Shen Dingli’s recent Foreign Policy article makes a common criticism against recent U.S. policy toward Syria and Crimea. He writes that, “…the record of Obama's administration, and that of his pre...

28/04/2014

The Abbot government’s decision to order an additional 58 Joint Strike Fighters at a cost of $12.4 billion, raising the number on order to 72, has brought Australia close to its original tar...

26/02/2014

Canberra Times article on why we should hold our nose and engage with North Korea.

Last week's United Nations report has focused the world's attention on North Korea's systematic human rights abuses.

29/10/2013

Foreign Policy has recently posted a story about the U.S. Navy’s new Zumwalt class guided missile destroyer. The USN currently plans to construct three vessels of this class, at a cost of $...

16/06/2013

Are the opinions of civilian academic strategists devalued by their lack of experience as practioners?

I just read Jim Molan's response to Australia's 2013 Defence White Paper presented to the United Services Institute of the ACT. It's a typically forthright contribution from the former Major Gener...

28/05/2013

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22/01/2013

A response to a recent post on the excellent ASPI blog, The Strategist

The Strategist, a blog run by the Australia Strategic Policy Institute, posted an article concerning Australia’s future submarine today that arrived at some interesting conclusions. In the post, th...

10/01/2013

I don't think Washington should follow Rohrabacher's proposal, but what's your opinion?

U.S. Congressman Dana Rohrabacher has written a brief article in Foreign Policy arguing that Washington should begin to restrict the number of visas issued to Chinese journalists in response to Bei...

29/10/2012

My early response to the Australian Government's new White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century

I haven’t finished reading the Australian Government’s Australia in the Asian Century White Paper yet, and I may blog on additional aspects of it in the coming days, but one thing that particularly...