Pacific

Preserving Peace as China Rises II: Preparing for a Post-American Asian Order

Benjamin Herscovitch

01 September 2014 | FPA10

With US leadership unable to guarantee peace and security in the Indo-Pacific this century, the region will need to transition to a balance of power system divided between China, the United States, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). To mitigate dangerously destabilising…

Preserving Peace as China Rises I

Benjamin Herscovitch

13 March 2014 | FPA9

Inventive foreign policy that can simultaneously reassure the Indo-Pacific’s established powers and accommodate Chinese ambitions is urgently needed. This report proposes three complementary strategies to safeguard stability in the Indo-Pacific: Prolong US leadership; protect the territorial status quo; and pursue a policy of ‘strategic ambiguity’…

Future Submarine Project Should Raise Periscope for Another Look

Simon Cowan

24 October 2012 | PM130

The Future Submarine Project – replacement of Australia’s 6 ailing Collins Class submarines with 12 Future Submarines – has a potential cost of $40 billion. The Future Submarine is likely to involve a substantially redesign of an existing diesel powered submarine to meet Australia’s needs.…

Southeast Asia’s American Embrace

29 March 2012 | FPA7

All Southeast Asian states want to take advantage of the benefits of a rising China, yet none wants it to be in a position to dominate the region strategically. All welcome America’s strategic ‘pivot’ towards Asia because they hope it will provide a counterbalance to…

The Bipolar Pacific

Helen Hughes

21 August 2008 | IA98

Australians have become accustomed to bad news from the Pacific islands. Conflict in the Solomon Islands, coups in Fiji, murders by raskol gangs in Papua New Guinea, and the burning of Chinatown in Nukulofa in Tonga indicate an ‘arc of instability’ at our doorstep. But…

Countering China’s BRI march

Hugh Morrison

05 October 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre

As China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) marches west through Southern Asia, diplomatic envoys criss-cross the Indo-pacific like honeybees; collecting assurances, and pollinating relationships. Australia, the US, India & Japan…

Pacific anxiety: Should we worry about China?

Hugh Morrison

17 August 2018 | Ideas@TheCentre

China’s increasing aid and infrastructure projects in the Pacific have stirred considerable media attention. But does Beijing’s growing reach pose a valid concern for regional security? A lot of the…

End the cargo-cult aid mentality that has ruined our neighbours

Helen Hughes

16 April 2012 | The Australian

The villagers of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, together with those of Fiji's military dictatorship where living standards have been dropping precipitously, make up most of the population…

Pakistan a Chinese pawn to stall India

John Lee

19 July 2011 | The Australian

AT the Shangri-La Dialogue meeting of defence ministers in Singapore last month, Indian Defence Minister Pallam Raju was asked whether India could exercise similar self-restraint should another terrorist attack occur…

The Fiji meeting would be a farce if it were funny

Helen Hughes

30 March 2011 | The Canberra Times

The Prime Minister (unelected) of Fiji, Commodore Voreqe Bainimarama has succeeded in attracting the leaders of the Melanesian Spearhead Group to an unofficial summit in Suva. The state dinner on…