During ASPI’s recent panel discussion on the Pacific, Graeme Dobell referred to the Fiji–Australia Vuvale Partnership as an important pointer to Australia’s future ‘step-up’ relations with the Pacific islands region. He had written earlier this …
Last week I spoke at a workshop sponsored by the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre and the National Security College at the ANU on the topic ‘How does the “Pacific” fit into the “Indo-Pacific”? The changing …
The Australian government’s step-up in the Pacific islands is premised on the argument that the sovereignty of Pacific states needs safeguarding from Chinese strategic designs. But how should sovereignty be conceived? In State failure, sovereignty …
Don’t it always seem to go That you don’t know what you’ve got Till it’s gone — Joni Mitchell, ‘Big Yellow Taxi’ The international system is having a Big Yellow Taxi moment, as so elegantly …
China’s influence in the Pacific creates a paradox for the formation of US policy towards Pacific island nations. If Washington focuses only on China’s involvement in the Pacific, it risks alienating the islands. Yet without …