October 2024
- Opinion
- US Votes 2024
Trump or Harris, America’s Asia trade strategy won’t change
Whoever wins next week’s election, Asia’s international economic diplomatic challenge remains the same: to keep the global multilateral trade enterprise alive.
March 2024
- Opinion
- East Asia Forum
ASEAN must anchor regional security through co-operation
Australia needs ASEAN leaders now, more than ever, to be an effective anchor for security in the region.
October 2023
- Opinion
- China relations
Albanese must put mutual challenges on the table in Beijing
Australia and China cannot maintain their standards of living without doing business with each other. But that relationship will be tested by climate change.
May 2023
- Opinion
- Globalisation
South-East Asia needs to write a new rule book for the US and China
A region that depends on Chinese capital and Western markets has to take the lead in managing the superpower stand-off.
August 2022
- Opinion
- Emerging markets
To become a great power, India must first be an economic force
Without the economic and technological heft that China now boasts, India’s aspirations to become a great power will remain just that, aspirational.
June 2022
- Opinion
- Australia's China challenge
Australia must find common purpose with China
Both nations depend heavily on a multilateral trading system. Strengthening it together is a way of managing their troubled bilateral relationship.
May 2022
- Opinion
- G20 summit
The G20 is too big to fail, so it’s time to compromise on Russia
The attendance of Volodymyr Zelensky offers a chance to ring-fence the Ukraine-Russia conflict at the G20, and have Ukraine and Russia deliberate on the sidelines of the summit.
November 2021
- Opinion
- Trade deals
APEC the great equaliser at a time of global upheaval
The US and China both have skin in the APEC game. The setting in which they must deal is multilateral, and their dealings are on full display to all other 19 members.
November 2020
- Opinion
- China relations
How Australia and China can begin the great defrost
Multilateral work together on virus relief, trade and regional debt could be a circuit-breaker for a diplomatic chill.
October 2020
- Opinion
- World politics
ASEAN feels pinch of big-power rivalry
In the midst of China's growing power and Trump's critical view of it, ASEAN is reasserting its relevance as a rallying point for nations in the region.
September 2020
- Opinion
- Australia's China challenge
Australia must stand its ground in Washington and Beijing
Asia's economic miracle was created by co-operation and trade, not muscle and power. Australia needs cool, determined diplomacy to preserve it.
June 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
How Asia can work together to recover from COVID-19
An active strategy has been drawn up for regional nations to co-operate on the financial, health and trade impacts of the virus.
May 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
Return to prosperity depends on mending China ties
Australia must repair the diplomatic fracture over its guileless pandemic inquiry call and work with Beijing on the policies needed for a V-shaped recovery.
April 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
Speed of the essence in Asia's new financial corona-contagion
Asian economies are at terrible risk from capital outflows. Australia, China and Japan must step up quickly to organise multilateral financial support for them.
- Updated
March 2020
- Opinion
- Coronavirus pandemic
Crisis without borders demands a unified global response
The COVID-19 threat calls for a global response. That’s why Australia should push the G20 for co-ordinated action to guarantee medical supplies and to support the economy.
November 2019
- Opinion
- Trade wars
Asia has taken a stand against economic nationalism
The nationalist, protectionist model for the world is failing already. But RCEP has re-ignited the formula that has made Asia so prosperous, and it's vital for Australia too.
October 2019
- Opinion
- Regional security
South-east Asian economic co-operation key to regional security
It will be economic security and success that underpins Asia’s political sway and effectiveness in the face of the great political uncertainties that confront the world today.
September 2019
- Opinion
- Trade
How Australia and China have shaped each others' destinies
The grand bargain that underpins Australia's modern security and prosperity was conceived even before China's revolution in 1949.
August 2019
- Opinion
- Trade wars
Trade war havoc is spreading further than you think
The systemic risks created by Trump are far greater than the mere cost of his tariffs. They can turn a minor growth hiccup into a major global recession.
- Opinion
- Globalisation
RCEP is now vital in defending the global trading order
Two developments in global trade diplomacy over the past 10 days seem to offer important ways to deal with the US leadership deficit.