Indonesia’s latest announcement of expanded cooperation with China in Papua deserves attention not because it signals geopolitical tension, but because it may finally bring long-overdue economic focus ...

For several years, the US security establishment appeared fixated on the year 2027 as the deadline set by Xi Jinping to compel Taiwan with military force. First raised by then-INDOPACOM commander ...

Australia and New Zealand must address the fallout from an appetite for illicit drugs. The Pacific is relying on it. The pandemic has not weakened demand for, or trade in, illicit drugs. This is ...

For decades, Indonesia has spent little – by global standards – on its military. And the modest resources available have been mostly directed to the army rather than the navy or air force. Investments ...

Environmental damage and gendered violence are flashpoints on the tiny island dominated by US troops. Japanese governments have allowed US bases in Okinawa in exchange for a US commitment to defend ...

The Tibetan plateau is often called the “Third Pole”, owing to its glacial expanses and vast reserves of freshwater. For as many as nine countries in the surrounding region, the status of rivers ...

The announcement on the sidelines of the 2023 Pacific Islands Forum by Australia and Tuvalu of the “Falepili Union” is the most significant development for Australia and a Pacific Island nation for ...

A weekend report in the Financial Times that US Under Secretary of Defence for Policy Elbridge Colby has been privately pushing Australia and Japan for pre-commitment to support the US in a future ...

After months of uncertainty about its future, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week confirmed the near-total gutting of USAID. With some 83 per cent of programs officially cut, the announcement ...

Indonesia has historically had limited success with industrial policy. That may now be changing, with recent interventionist policies targeting the nickel sector suggesting initial success in ...

The Pacific Islands received more than $40 billion in ODF between 2008 and 2021, with development assistance playing a larger role in the Pacific than any other part of the world. Despite record ODF ...

For North Korea's nuclear arsenal, 2025 has been a relatively quiet year. It neither tested a nuclear weapon nor fired an intercontinental ballistic missile. For now, the conventional military balance ...