North Korea has rarely admitted the presence of its troops in foreign battlefields, let alone in an ongoing conflict. However, in late April, it did just that. The effort to reassure the public does ...

Australian membership in ASEAN is currently not possible. Australia’s dialogue partner relationship with ASEAN supports Australian policy autonomy and Australia’s engagement with Southeast Asia. The ...

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 ...

China’s ongoing pursuit of a cross-border pipeline with Turkmenistan in Central Asia has repercussions for both the region and Australia. In October, China’s President Xi Jinping called for enhancing ...

The tale has become accepted diplomatic folklore. In the telling, it was Australia, back in 2008 in the early days of the Rudd government, that decided to scuttle the then-nascent Quadrilateral ...

While the global community struggles to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic, Samoa is embroiled in a constitutional crisis. The South Pacific nation is frequently lauded for its good governance and ...

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 ...

US-led military operations against Iran – which began with a decapitation strike that killed the regime’s most senior leadership figures including Ayatollah Khamenei – will have far-reaching ...

The Interpreter features daily commentary and analysis on international issues. The site is edited by Daniel Flitton and research editor Clare Caldwell, along with founding editor Sam Roggeveen. In ...

The last time Australia and Indonesia celebrated a security pact – the 1995 Agreement on Maintaining Security (AMS) – it ended poorly. The new Treaty of Common Security echoes that moment, but history ...

Forty years after independence, Papua New Guinea is the largest single recipient of aid from Australia. Yet Australians seem to be largely ambivalent about the country. Few Australians know the ...

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 ...