March 8, 2023
When disaster strikes, Australia, New Zealand and the US should partner with, not for, the Pacific
Officials from Australia, New Zealand and the United States are set to meet in Canberra this week for the fourth annual Trilateral Pacific Security Cooperation Dialogue. Their goal is to work out how to partner better and smarter in a region that is increasingly contested geopolitically. For the…
February 17, 2023
Realising the benefits of Washington’s renewed interest in northern Australia
For the third time in less than a century, the US government has rapidly awakened to Australia’s strategic importance. On this occasion, it’s focused on the significance of Australia’s northern strategic geography. While on previous occasions Australia traded sovereignty for protection, this time…
January 31, 2023
The US Coast Guard: Provide public goods for a free and open Indo-Pacific
Ask a member of any coast guard in the world for their organization’s mission statement, and each time you will get a different answer. Even more troubling, ask coast guard members within a single coast guard, and answers will be no less diverse. Part of this stems from the coast guard’s…
January 23, 2023
From the bookshelf: ‘Danger zone: the coming conflict with China’
The prevailing consensus for the past few years has been that an ascendant China is threatening to overtake a slumping America. ‘If we don’t get moving, they [China] are going to eat our lunch,’ US President Joe Biden told a group of senators in 2021.
January 23, 2023
Southeast Asia stands firm in the South China Sea
The situation in the South China Sea is far from stable. Chinese vessels engaged in dangerous and escalatory encounters with those of other states regularly throughout 2022. But for the first time in a decade, Beijing’s control over disputed waters did not appreciably advance.
January 16, 2023
How China’s maritime militia takes advantage of the grey zone
At the end of last year, Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies released the 2023 edition of its annual China security report, which focuses on China’s quest for control of the cognitive domain and grey-zone situations. I, as one of the report’s authors, analyse how China uses its maritime…
January 12, 2023
The Indian Coast Guard, the Quad, a free and open Indo-Pacific
Originally responsible primarily for maintaining good order and the safety of life at sea in domestic waters, the Japan Coast Guard (JCG) has expanded its commitment to international duties to cultivate external relationships and much-needed capacity building in neighboring states. While they began…
January 10, 2023
The Indian Coast Guard, the Quad, a free and open Indo-Pacific
While the four states of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (or “Quad”) maintain separate organizations responsible for military and non-military missions at sea, no two delineate those organizations’ responsibilities the same way. This fact notwithstanding, Quad countries stand to gain much by…
January 7, 2023
Climate change challenges Asia Pacific security
At first glance, regional security issues seem to be remote from the problems of climate change. They involve exercising diplomatic and military power, often in collaboration with other like-minded countries, to ensure that the balance of power in the region is not disturbed. Regional security in…