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National security

Yesterday

In the 2022 election campaign, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese found himself in hot water when he was unable to name the nation’s unemployment level and the Reserve Bank’s official cash rate in a press conference.

Chinese warships a wake-up call to step up our maritime security

The clear and present China threat that sailed so close to home must mobilise the political class to take action.

February

In this photo made from video released by the Taiwan Coast Guard, Taiwanese Coast Guard vessels prepare to board Togolese-flagged cargo ship Hongtai suspected of severing an undersea communications cable in waters between its main island’s west coast and the outlying Penghu islands.

Taiwan detains Chinese-crewed ship after undersea cable severed

Taiwan is preparing for the worst in an escalating subsea infrastructure battle after authorities detained a Chinese-crewed cargo vessel suspected of sabotage.

Peter Navarro has denied reports he wants to push Canada out of the Five Eyes security grouping.

Top Trump aide pushes to axe Canada from Five Eyes intelligence group

But Peter Navarro denies that he wants to expel the northern neighbour from the information-sharing team, which also includes the UK, Australia and New Zealand.

In his characteristic transactional style, Trump is seeking to cut a deal with the Russian dictator to end the war, while excluding both Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and America’s European allies from the negotiations.

Trump’s tempest and China’s live-fire means Australia must do more on defence

Trump’s capricious foreign policy and ambiguous commitment to alliances mean we need to become more self-sufficient in how we safeguard our security

ASIO boss Mike Burgess said the spy game rule book was being rewritten.

Jewish hate crimes yet to plateau, ASIO boss warns

The top spy used an annual threat assessment to warn the fallout from the October 7 Hamas terror attacks includes Jews being conflated with Israel’s actions.

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At issue is cloud storage that only the user, not Apple, can unlock. Apple started rolling out the option, which it calls Advanced Data Protection, in 2022.

UK orders Apple to let it spy on users’ encrypted accounts

The British government’s undisclosed demand, issued last month, requires blanket capability to view fully encrypted material.

The lawmakers note China Mobile, owned by the Chinese government and with close ties to the Chinese military, has been banned by the Federal Communications Commission for use in the US.

New US bill seeks to ban DeepSeek app on government devices

The two sponsors, one a Republican and the other a Democrat, cite concern that the chatbot’s code is linked to China’s Communist Party.

Home Affairs Minister Tony Burk has taken action against the use of DeepSeek in government.

Labor bans DeepSeek from government devices

Australia has banned Chinese artificial intelligence service DeepSeek from government devices over national security concerns.

January

The DeepSeek app has rocked Silicon Valley and fired up national security concerns.

This ex-spook says DeepSeek security fears are overblown

Former Australian Signals Directorate deputy director-general Simeon Gilding said he was more concerned about Chinese-made EVs than early AI products.

Donald Trump views Europe’s chronic trade surplus with the United States as clear evidence of unfair competition, and will not back down on proposed tariffs.

Here are Europe’s three big fears in a Trumpian world

If it fails to adapt, the European Commission may end up looking like the Los Angeles fire department – scrambling after the damage has already been done.

Despite this notification on TikTok, the app is so far still working for users.

TikTok starts going dark across the US

Donald Trump had earlier said he would probably give the Chinese-owned social media app an extension from applying the ban upheld by the Supreme Court.

The tit-for-tat US-China technology  wars are heating up.

Can Chinese chips beat Taiwan in the global tech race?

SMIC’s stock rally shows – at least to mainland investors – that China can build a self-sufficient semiconductor ecosystem. But the reality could be different.

China is thinking of selling TikTok US to Elon Musk.

China discusses selling TikTok to Elon Musk

Senior officials are mulling contingency plans for the social media platform’s US arm as part of discussions on how to work with the Trump administration.

Pat Conroy, Minister for Defence, International Development and the Pacific, at the Pacific Islands Forum in Suva, Fiji.

Business tapped to foil Chinese influence in the Pacific

The Albanese government is reminding Australian companies that keeping their social licence means operating beyond the nation’s borders.

Wreaths are laid alongside a special issue of Charlie Hebdo magazine, commemorating 10 years since Islamist gunmen attacked its offices.

France marks Charlie Hebdo anniversary amid rekindled terror threat

Attacks in Germany and the US have revived old anxieties, but in France extremism has cost more lives, and opened sharper political divides, than anywhere else.

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Justin Bassi, Executive Director: ASPI is a non-partisan institute that shouldn’t be painted as working or aligning with any side of politics.

James Curran is wrong: ASPI is and will remain independent

Commentators are free to criticise research institutes critical of China but should focus on evidence, not innuendo.

A snow storm descends on the US Capitol, just in time for Monday’s presidential vote certification by Congress.

Attacks prompt extra security ahead of Washington events

Preparations are well under way for the roughly two-week stretch that will test security in the nation’s capital.

Marching blindfolded into the new Cold War

A new report into the funding of Australian strategic think tanks raises consequential issues for Australia’s global engagement

December 2024

Governments around the world have raised concerns about TikTok’s alleged data harvesting.

Trump hints at change of heart on TikTok ban

The role of the popular social media app in last month’s election victory may have convinced the president-elect to give parent company ByteDance a reprieve.

The Chinese investigation comes as Washington has sought to slow China’s development of advanced chip technology.

China investigates Nvidia as tech war with US escalates

The State Administration for Market Regulation opened a probe into the chipmaker over suspicions that it broke anti-monopoly laws around a 2020 deal.

Original URL: https://www.afr.com/topic/national-security-5zy