The German government’s new policy guidelines for the Indo-Pacific region appear to be an appropriate recognition of the issues at stake. In reality, Germany continues to shy away from analysing the violations of international law in the South China Sea and developing a political response beyond technical cooperation.

One particularly Australian dimension to our national obsession with borders is that they are exclusively maritime. But this was not always the case.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: Safe Travel Zone with New Zealand, 2020-21 budget comments, the Quad Foreign Ministers Meeting, and more.

The politics of regime survival will continue to be the dominant force diving Cambodia’s foreign policy post-COVID-19. This will push Cambodia deeper into China’s orbit.

Australian-British academic Kylie Moore-Gilbert remains imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage after attending an academic conference in Qom two years ago. Her mounting psychological distress is exacerbated by the prevalence of  COVID-19, and a renewed call for action is essential.

The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement came into effect on the 1st of January 2005, after being signed the previous year. It has since allowed easy and greater access to Australian products into the United States.

Paris and Beijing want to enjoy the fruits of economic cooperation. However, stark variations in worldview, political standpoints, and global values give rise to diplomatic strife and conflicts of interests.

US-Pakistan relations have always been difficult and became particularly prickly at the height of the war in neighbouring Afghanistan. Washington needs to rebuild the trust if it doesn’t want to see Pakistan drift completely into Beijing’s orbit.

In a region long beset by political strife and interstate rivalries, Somaliland stands out as a beacon of hope in the Horn of Africa. It remains stable, relatively democratic, and broadly functional.

It took the recent murder of Javier Ordoñez by the Colombian police to generate the international attention that countless massacres in the country throughout 2020 have demanded. This renewed attention must help ensure full political commitment to the 2016 peace agreement.