Australia’s decision to manufacture US missiles highlights tensions between our foreign policy stance and our trading interests. Two new books throw light the problem.
The current US-Australia strategic relationship requires an enemy – a “common danger”. As a result, Australia doesn’t seek cooperation with the Asia-Pacific region, it arms itself instead.
The incoming Chief of the Defence Force, Angus Campbell, will need to focus his attentions on an array of conventional and non-conventional security concerns in the Indo-Pacific.
Coral reefs in the Asia-Pacific have been deluged with an estimated 11.1 billion pieces of plastic waste, increasing the risk of coral disease more than 20-fold.
Expectations for Trump’s engagement with the region may be low, but the same could not be said for the stakes at a time of considerable uncertainty and risk.
China’s conventional military assets are intimidating enough, but its latest technological advances could transform the military balance in its neighbourhood.
The message from the US vice-president was that the US would stay the course and, if anything, act more assertively in preserving stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Scott Power, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Brad Murphy, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; Christine Chung, Australian Bureau of Meteorology; François Delage, Australian Bureau of Meteorology, and Hua Ye, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
New research shows that global warming has already begun to exacerbate extremes of rainfall in the Pacific region – with more to come.
US presidents over the past 25 years have had varying views of the alliance with Australia. While none have questioned its value, commitment has not been even across the board.
The world’s informal settlements are growing at an unprecedented rate, with about one in four urban dwellers living in slums. We need to rethink how we view and deal with these people and places.
Australia has struggled to forge cultural ties with the Asia-Pacific region. But SBS’s deal to develop an Asian Eurovision could change this - there is more to the event than music, costume reveals and wind machines.