Asia and Pacific

Like Rodger Shanahan, I also believe Graham Dobell gives Rugby League way too much credit in terms of its regional impact and influence. Outside of parts of northern England, League is only taken seriously in two Australian states and PNG. The Pacific nations are far more interested in Rugby

The international press is full of stories about labour unrest in China.  There have been several (usually complementary) interpretations on offer: this is push-back against China's high level of inequality; its a product of demographic change and the changing nature of the workforce (fewer

Yesterday, Wednesday Lowy Lunch subscribers were treated to an insightful look at the recent turmoil in Thailand by Dr Milton Osborne, who is only recently back from a trip there. I spoke to him afterwards about the significance of the unrest and the divisions within Thai society, the role of

Rikki Kersten is a professor of politics at the Australian National University. Japan's new cabinet is designed around the desire to change voter perceptions of two issues: the influence of DPJ power broker Ozawa Ichiro on government, and politician-led policy development. If only things can

Rikki Kersten is a professor of politics at the Australian National University. Before becoming Prime Minister, Hatoyama Yukio cleverly embraced his nick-name of 'uchu-jin' (alien) by producing t-shirts showing his bulbous eyes and bouffant hair squeezed into a space helmet. His campaign team

Sometimes what is left unsaid is more profound than what is said. This was very much the case at the 2010 Asian security dialogue held at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore at the weekend. For me, there were at least three palpable and troubling silences. Silence number one: extraordinarily,

Mary Fifita is a Lowy Institute intern working on a Policy Brief series tracking China's aid program in the Pacific. The Lowy Institute has been following China's development assistance to the Pacific for a few years now. China still regards the details of its aid program as a state secret and

The questions posed by politicians and diplomats can be more revealing than the answers they give. Australia's top diplomat last night laid out a set of excellent questions. They came as the Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade was launching the Lowy Asia Security Project

Foreign Minister Stephen Smith is in New Zealand today for a meeting of the Pacific Islands Forum Ministerial Contact Group to discuss Fiji. He might be interested in this result from the 2010 Lowy Poll, released today

Two wrongs don't make a right. They just make a bigger wrong! The Rudd Government's cavalier anti-whaling policy and its decision today to try to take Japan to the International Court of Justice is proof positive of this maxim. The first wrong committed was in the heated days of the 2007

As with PM Rudd's ill-fated Asia-Pacific community initiative, many observers have found it hard to grasp what Japanese Prime Minister Hatoyama's East Asian community is and what it would entail. Last week, Hatoyama gave a full speech that helps clear some of the fog around the idea. Alas, this

For those readers who wonder what ever happened to 'The Diplomat', a foreign policy-focused print magazine once published in Sydney, it's now an online-only title based in Tokyo. There's a good piece up on their site about the possible collapse of North Korea, which makes the point that, in

Peter McCawley is a Visiting Fellow at the Indonesia Project, ANU. The news last week that Indonesia's feisty Finance Minister, Sri Mulyani (pictured), was resigning to take up a key job with the World Bank in Washington sent shock waves across the Jakarta political stage. Well, parts of

To round off my short visit to the region, some random observations: Singaporeans seem to have a sense of humour about some of the more draconian regulations the city-state is known for internationally. Tourist shops sell 'I survived Singapore' t-shirts, which list things like the chewing

Paul Cotton writes in with this reply to Graeme Dobell's recent post. A point you overlooked in your excellent and interesting article. In a few days or weeks Kim Beazley will have as his fellow Ambassador in Washington none other than Mike Moore, whether he likes it or not

I'm in bustling Jakarta for a few days, and earlier today I sat down with Australian Ambassador to Indonesia, Bill Farmer, who took up his posting in 2005 and is set to leave in July (his successor has not been announced, though there are strong rumours that Duncan Lewis will get the nod). I

Peter McCawley is a Visiting Fellow at the Indonesia Project, ANU. One of Indonesia's leading scholars of international economics and regional affairs, Hadi Soesastro, died on Tuesday. This is a huge loss — to Indonesia, to Australia, and to Asia. Dr Hadi Soesastro was for many years

Alison Broinowski writes: If we didn't have Graeme Dobell, many in Australia would not understand the dots, let alone join them, about the East Asia Community/Asia Pacific community fracas and its predictable conclusion. Thanks to him for deciphering the Prime Minister's backdown at the Hanoi

Kevin Rudd has fluttered a tiny white flag to ASEAN on his Asia Pacific community idea. The nod — something less than a kowtow — is in the Prime Minister's recent China speech, which I examined in my previous column. It's message to ASEAN: You win. The context for all this is the elbowing

Back in the first half of 2009, official sector forecasters were very cautious about the prospects for an Asian recovery and keen to emphasise that a sustained pick-up in growth was conditional on a resumption of activity in the developed world. This was a reasonable judgment; in the final quarter

Taiwanese journalists have long waged a contest entitled, 'Enrage the Chinese Foreign Minister'. The game has been going for about 15 years at the ASEAN Regional Forum, and goes like this: at the all-in press conference with foreign ministers at the end of the ARF, Taiwanese reporters line up

The new Guam doctrine will mark a significant stepping-stone in the creation of Asia's concert of powers. This ranks as a 'brave' prediction, because we don't yet have an Asian concert, and Barack Obama hasn't yet set foot on Guam to unveil a new doctrine. But both are approaching. If Obama had

An article about Asian infrastructure in the latest issue of The Economist (which references a piece for The American Interest written by my colleagues, Anthony Bubalo and Malcolm Cook) contains one paragraph that left me a little bemused: Railways reflect the boldest ambitions. China has

For those who might have wondered, the reason you have not heard of any developments since last December involving the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (officially the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia, or ECCC) is because another three months have passed without anything of note having taken