Australian Strategic Policy Institute in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory | Government organisation

Australian Strategic Policy Institute

Locality: Canberra, Australian Capital Territory

Phone: +61 2 6270 5100

Address: 40 Macquarie St 2600 Canberra, ACT, Australia

Website: http://www.aspi.org.au

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25.01.2022 If the Chinese foreign ministrys wolf warrior diplomats were to offer any guide to official policy, one could easily believe that Beijing was extremely unhappy with the Morrison governments recent defence strategic update, writes Charlie Lyons Jones and Malcolm Davis. Read the second instalment of China military watch here:

25.01.2022 'The tragic consequences of the measles epidemic prepared the Samoan public to accept strict Covid-19 countermeasures, with the result that Samoa has had just a single case and no deaths' writes Valasi Iosefa on lessons learnt from Samoa's measles epidemic.

24.01.2022 Submarines are so vital to Australia that two of our past prime ministers have publicly pointed to the nuclear-powered option. Shifting from the conventional power of the existing Collins class and the planned Attack class to nuclear propulsion would take the subs saga to a whole new depth writes Graeme Dobell in The Strategist.

23.01.2022 In his latest article for The Strategist, Michael Shoebridge writes ‘The effect of Zhao’s intervention is likely to be something he and his audience in Beijing, the senior Chinese Communist Party leadership, could have predicted, but seem not to have: it will simply cause more governments, more civil-society organisations and more citizens in multiple countries to inquire into the mass-scale abuses that Beijing’s authorities are committing every day in Xinjiang and now in Hong Kong’

23.01.2022 To remain relevant in a rapidly changing world, northern Australias training areas and ranges need to keep pace with the modern threat environment and accommodate modern techniques and procedures. They need to be treated and managed as an integrated weapons system in their own right, and their future development must be guided by a deliberate plan to invest, renew and upgrade, writes Tony McCormack.

23.01.2022 Meet the panellists at ‘The US-Australia alliance in a more contested Asia’ Masterclass: ASPI’s Michael Shoebridge will be joined by Major General Kathryn Toohey and Professor Tanya Monro to discuss the future of military co-operation. Katherine Mansted from ANU’s National Security College will join Dr Jacob Wallis to examine the regional challenges of grey zone warfare and disinformation.... Don't miss out on this event, register now: bit.ly/3sqWwZa

22.01.2022 'Content moderation is therefore only a partial answer to institutional and social failures. Companies like Facebook and YouTube shouldn’t be let off the hook, but better and more moderation can’t be the only way to halt the erosion of trust in elections' writes Ariel Bogle in The Strategist.

21.01.2022 On the need for an environmental security partnership in the Indian Ocean region, David Brewster writes ‘Like the US Indo-Pacific Commandsponsored Pacific Environmental Security Partnership, an Indian Ocean environmental security partnership would build standing relationships among civil and military agencies to build local partners’ capacity, contribute to regional environmental strategy and mitigate threats and vulnerabilities'.

21.01.2022 Australians are entitled to expect that intelligence agencies are properly scrutinised and are held to account. If the measure of a good democracy is strong, independent and well-resourced oversight institutions, then clearly Australias resourcing of this office is sorely lacking. writes Kate Grayson for The Strategist

20.01.2022 'But it appears likely that the perpetrators of Fakhrizadeh’s assassination intended to do more than just spoil any chance for a renewal of cooperation with Iran on its nuclear program and the reinstatement of US participation in the JCPOA' writes Connor Dilleen in The Strategist.

20.01.2022 Rebecca Barber writes 'if [ASEAN] continues to simply watch from the sidelines as the Tatmadaw becomes ever more brazen in its disregard for international law, it is unlikely to be looked upon as the actor best placed to respond when the next crisis hits’.

20.01.2022 All are facing greater risk of detention and arrest on broad, opaque grounds. Australia and Australians are part of this pattern, and likely higher priority targets because of our successful influencing of international debates on issues like 5G, foreign interference and an inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic that are important to the government in Beijing, writes Michael Shoebridge.

19.01.2022 Marcus Hellyer writes that ...the challenge in building quantities of traditional manned vehicles and other platforms that match the size of the Australian Defence Forceeither you build at the most efficient rate and get the capability into service quickly but face the prospect of jobs ending, as with the Hawkei, or you stretch out production to create a sustainable industrial drumbeat, as with the Hunter-class frigates, which were paying $10 billion more to get at a much slower rate.

19.01.2022 No one can be certain what a federal process of collecting, auditing and making public these international agreements will expose. But it is surely vital that we know what our politicians and academic administrators have signed up to writes Peter Jennings in this piece originally published in The Australian.

19.01.2022 John Coyne writes on his latest report '...while defence spending is vital to northern economies and nation-building, it’s focused more on the defence organisation’s more narrowly conceived portfolio of capital investments in bricks and mortar rather than on much-needed broader national security and economic decisions.' Read the report: https://bit.ly/33yGcLS

19.01.2022 Space is a global commons that is rich in resources, and major-power competitionas well as commercial competitionis already happening and will intensify in coming decades. It seems likely that, despite the OST, states and non-state actors will compete for access to and control over resources in space. And achieving that access and control will require a permanent presence in the region where the resources are located, writes Malcolm Davis.

18.01.2022 NEW PODCAST This week on the podcast, Leanne Close speaks to Julia Ebner Research Fellow at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue, about right-wing extremism, Danielle Cave and Alex Joske discuss Chinas talent-recruitment programs and Elise Thomas and Albert Zhang discuss Covid-19 vaccine disinformation. Listen here:

18.01.2022 Its a demonstration that Beijings continuing coercion of Australia and Australian companies can have consequences that matter to China, as well as for its companies global growth ambitions writes Michael Shoebridge in The Strategist.

17.01.2022 In his last article in The Strategist, David Uren predicts 'US President-elect Joe Biden’s income-redistribution and green-energy programs are set to be eviscerated by the US Senate, even if the Democrats gain a spare majority by winning both Senate run-off races in the southern state of Georgia'.

17.01.2022 Amin Saikal writes that ...the danger of another TurkishGreek conflict, with wider implications for stability in the Mediterranean and beyond, cannot be underestimated. The EU has inclined to side with Greece in the current dispute, but it is imperative for the organisation to join forces with the UN and major powers to bring about a mediated settlement.

16.01.2022 ...the agreement is more like a coming-out party than a radical departure from the status quo. It may have symbolic importance but doesnt add much to the substance of relations between the two countries writes Mohammed Ayoob in The Strategist.

15.01.2022 Today ASPI has released the report 'Thinking big! Resetting Northern Australia’s national security posture'. Author John Coyne highlights the vast economic opportunities in northern Australia and how they can contribute to Australia's national security. Read the report: https://bit.ly/33yGcLS

15.01.2022 NEW PUBLICATION ASPI has today released After Covid-19 Volume 2 which focuses on Australia, the region and multilateralism. This volume includes 30 short articles on a a range of topics, each offering policy ideas and recommendations on how Australia and the region can recover from the pandemic. Read After Covid-19 Volume 2 now:

14.01.2022 Five years in, Russian involvement means that Assad now has the upper hand against the opposition. Yet the regime remains largely unloved and the political grievances that led to the uprising remain unaddressed, writes William Gourlay, Shahram Akbarzadeh and Zahid Shahab Ahmed.

14.01.2022 Today ASPI, in collaboration with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) has released a collection of downloadable resources to support the global communitys efforts to raise awareness and implement the agreed UN cyber norms. Download the resources at aspi.org.au/cybernorms.

13.01.2022 This government has said that it considers Victorias BRI deal to be inconsistent with its foreign policy. But when it comes to our strategic northern port, that concern vanishes into thin air. For some reason, the BRI is against the national interest in one jurisdiction but fine in another writes Luke Gosling in The Strategist.

13.01.2022 The latest episode of Policy, Guns and Money is out now! This week Michael Shoebridge spoke to Darshana Baruah, nonresident scholar with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, about Indias maritime power and ambitions in the Pacific and Indian Ocean and the Quad, Brendan Nicholson and Peter Jennings discuss challenges for journalists in China and Daria Impiombato and Fergus Ryan chatted to Tom Uren about their research into censorship on TikTok and WeChat. Listen here:

12.01.2022 As more conflicts rage in theatres from Yemen to Libya, violent extremist individuals and groups from both sides of the Muslim and Western divide have remained resilient. The world appears to have paid a high price for the lack of a clear and sound political strategy focusing on dealing with those root causes of extremism that defy military solutions, writes Amin Saikal.

12.01.2022 Thinking Outside the Box: an ASPI professional development initiative has announced new dates in March and April. Join acclaimed playwright Timothy Daly to learn creative analysis, strengthen your unique perspective and gain personalised leadership skills. Don’t miss out. ... Register now: bit.ly/3qRPLiH

11.01.2022 'As Australia comes to grips with accusations that some of its elite soldiers committed war crimes in Afghanistan, a catch cry for certain commentators is that the ‘fog of war’ explains, justifies and possibly excuses the alleged atrocities that have come to light... The fog of war is woefully inadequate to explain alleged war crimes that were deliberate, targeted and repeated', denounces Samantha Crompvoets in The Strategist.

11.01.2022 'What the two sessions have not signalled is any tone of compromise within the existing framework. Beijing remains unwilling to reach out to Taiwan’s elected government under Tsai and has not matched claims of ‘exchanges, cooperation and integrated development’ with reduced military activity in the Taiwan Strait' writes Mark Harrison.

10.01.2022 Underlying all the new international opportunity for Australia is an urgent need to be as competent, expert and ambitious in domestic policy as weve shown we can be on the global stage write Michael Shoebridge and Lisa Sharland in The Strategist.

10.01.2022 NEW REPORT ASPIs International Cyber Policy Centre has released the report The Chinese Communist Partys coercive diplomacy which looks at 152 cases of coercive diplomacy by the CCP against 27 countries and the EU. Authors Fergus Hanson, Emilia Currey and Tracy Beattie offer suggestions on how to counter the coercion and ensure global stability. Read the report: https://bit.ly/2QKFNyR

10.01.2022 'While total water usage in China increased by only 35% between 1980 and 2010, water usage in households increased elevenfold and in industrial sectors, threefold. But per capita available water in China amounts to only a quarter of the world average' writes Connor Dilleen.

08.01.2022 '...what is described in this chapter is possibly the most disgraceful episode in Australia’s military history, and the commanders at troop, squadron and task group level bear moral command responsibility for what happened under their command, regardless of personal fault’, writes Brendan Nicholson in The Strategist.

08.01.2022 ASPI has released 'After Covid-19 Volume 3: Voices from federal parliament' In this volume, federal parliamentarians contributed chapters which identify some of the challenges Australia faces due to the pandemic and offer domestic and international policy ideas for Australia's recovery. Read Volume 3:

07.01.2022 'The switch to Foreign Affairs was high policy with plenty of low politics. The historian Geoffrey Bolton grants that the name change perhaps reflects ‘a greater sense of national autonomy’, but also the pressure being applied on foreign policy by opposition leader Gough Whitlam' writes Graeme Dobell on the change from External Affairs to Foreign Affairs.

07.01.2022 We shouldnt wait for a crisis or smoking gun to provoke governments into thinking more comprehensively about their fundamental obligation to keep Australians safe and secure. Without this stability, key economic drivers such as education, health and trade cannot prosper writes Leanne Close in The Strategist.

06.01.2022 Monique Cormier and Alison Duxbury explain 'The International Criminal Court is a ‘court of last resort’, which means that it will only investigate or prosecute if a state with jurisdiction is unwilling or unable to do so. Australia’s robust civilian and military justice systems mean that it is more than capable of investigating and prosecuting war crimes'.

05.01.2022 The detention of Australian journalist Cheng Lai by authorities in Beijing, and its timing, sit within the Chinese governments larger strategy to expand its international influence and power over others writes Michael Shoebridge

05.01.2022 As Lebanon sets out to rebuild its capital, Russia, the only country to maintain close relations with every state and non-state actor involved, could become supreme arbiter as it effectively has in Syria and Libya, writes Oved Lobel.

05.01.2022 Australia had the intellectual property for the Collins, but seemed to doubt its intellectual and technical ability to create a Son of Collins. Defence feared we didnt have the critical mass of expertise to design and build a new boat writes Graeme Dobell in The Strategist.

05.01.2022 Repeatedly, states are failing to connect the dots and see the widespread use of the same tactics against allies and friends, who could be ready partners in a more effective, coordinated push-back write Fergus Hanson, Emilia Currey and Tracy Beattie in The Strategist.

04.01.2022 The problem is that the Chinese government and its corporate assistants will be using the insights from this giant data pool to obtain political, commercial, strategic and military advantage for the Chinese government and Chinese companies right now, including in ways that break other countries laws and rules. They will not be storing up the data like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter; theyll be getting value from it dailyand adding to it as they do so, warns Michael Shoebridge.

03.01.2022 'In light of the demands on South Australia’s workforce... moving full-cycle dockings from Adelaide to Henderson to spread the load could be a significant risk mitigator for the entire shipbuilding enterprisewhile potentially creating other risks. But a decision to move needs to be made in a timely fashion' writes Marcus Hellyer for The Strategist

03.01.2022 With informed leadership, Americans could have used February to stock up on personal protective gear, to ensure hospital ventilators were evenly distributed, to build isolation wards, to designate quarantine centers and to develop a nationwide tracing system to track down close contacts of anyone found infected. But what was happening here in Asia was not a warning signit was the butt of jokes, writes Keith B. Richburg.

03.01.2022 On the rising tensions in the Persian Gulf, Amin Saikal observes 'As two politically self-obsessed allies, Trump and Netanyahu have reasons to be trigger-happy towards Iran, igniting a conflict with support from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf Arab allies. An attack on Iran would also leave little or no room for the reformist factions to persuade their powerful hardline counterparts in the Iranian Islamic regime not to fight back at all costs.

02.01.2022 PUBLICATION ALERT ASPI ICPC have released a new report in their Covid-19 disinformation series titled Twisting the truth: ongoing inauthentic activity promoting Falun Gong, the Epoch Times and Truth Media targets Australians on Facebook. In this report Elise Thomas investigates two Facebook pages using coordinated, inauthentic tactics to target Australian users. Read this report & previous reports in the series here:

02.01.2022 On the delayed delivery of the Hunter-class frigates, Marcus Hellyer writes ‘It all comes down to where you’re willing to accept risk. But as bitter experience has shownfor example, with the Collins-class submarines and air warfare destroyerswhen a project starts with unresolved risks, redesign and rework increase both the cost and the timeline’.

02.01.2022 Abes diplomatic acumen is another reason why many in Southeast Asia, and South Asia and Oceania, look up to him. He is among very few global leaders who have dealt with both Xi Jinping and Trump with some successtwo relationships that are vital for Japan and are asymmetric and fragile for different reasons write Huong Le Thu and Malcolm Cook in The Strategist.

02.01.2022 This weeks episode of Policy, Guns & Money is out now! In this episode Brendan Nicholson, Anastasia Kapetas and Jack Norton of ASPIs The Strategist discuss some of the latest movements in the vexed Australia - China relationship. Michael Shoebridge and John Coyne consider the ongoing issue of improving Fuel Security for Australia and our allies and Emilia Currey and Tracy Beattie talk to Olivia Nelson about the findings of their recently released report: "The Chinese Communist Partys coercive diplomacy". Listen here: https://lnkd.in/gEsRPAN

02.01.2022 Vulnerable Pacific island nations and territories are increasingly turning to assistance from China because they perceive that their development needs are not being addressed by other partners writes Steve Raaymakers in The Strategist.

01.01.2022 David Uren writes that Chinas export strength, on display in the latest trade figures, depends on the workforce receiving a very small share of what they produce, either directly through wages or through the social safety net.

01.01.2022 NEW PUBLICATION ASPI ICPC has released the report TikTok and WeChat: Curating and controlling global information flows by Fergus Ryan, Audrey Fritz and Daria Impiombato. The report explores social and political censorship and content moderation on the social media platforms and recommends that governments implement transparent user data protection frameworks that apply to all social media networks. Read the report: https://bit.ly/337V0Qr

01.01.2022 Invoking family and history is part answer to island cynicism that the step-up is just Canberra panicking about Chinaalthough the China panic has concentrated minds wonderfully in many dimensions of Oz policy writes Graeme Dobell in The Strategist.

01.01.2022 [Australia] also has to watch closely when Beijing starts calling in its extensive loans to the government and government-owned corporations, and pre-empt the kinds of concessions China may try to extract from PNG in return for further extensions or loan forgiveness writes Jeffrey Wall in The Strategist.

01.01.2022 'The persistent push of Foreign Affairs over five decades has been to coordinate and oversee Australian government policy actions around the globecoordination being the fallback when the department can’t get direct control' writes Graeme Dobell.

01.01.2022 The paucity of infrastructure in the Indo-Pacific will challenge Australian airpower. Oil-rich Middle Eastern countries have made a showcase of infrastructure, be it communications, multi-lane highways or 3,000-metre concrete runways. There are more runways of this length in Iraq alone than in all the islands of the southwest Pacific. This will constrain operations for Australian fixed-wing aircraft, writes David Millar.

01.01.2022 'Not only was this hacking indiscriminate, affecting 30,000 servers in the United States and potentially hundreds of thousands globally, but the hackers also left these servers open to further abuse by other malicious groups by installing open webshells, backdoors that allow a compromised server to be controlled simply by using a web browser' writes Tom Uren.