In this fifth episode of the podcast, Allan and Darren begin by describing their recent overseas trips—Allan to Beijing, and Darren to Seoul.
The analysis of recent events opens with a focus on the recent leaders’ meetings at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York. Donald Trump made the most headlines by bringing his “America First” doctrine to the heart of global multilateralism, and Darren asks about the extent to which we should attach any significance to this fact. The discussion turns to Australia, and our new Foreign Minister Marise Payne’s UNGA speech and its contrast with Trump. While she was in New York, Senator Payne also met with China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, hopefully advancing the “reset” in bilateral relations that was kicked off by (former) Prime Minister Turnbull. Finally, Allan and Darren discuss New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s “baby diplomacy” in New York, and the genuine soft power success it represents.
The discussion turns to the trade war between the US and China, which escalated in September with a fresh round of tariffs being imposed on both sides. Darren elects to play devil’s advocate, posing three arguments to Allan for why the trade war might actually be positive for Australia’s interests—one economic, one strategic, and one political. Allan dismisses each in turn!
Finally, against the background of the recent earthquake and tsunami that has devastated the Indonesian island of Sulawesi and the city of Palu in particular, the discussion briefly takes stock of the current state of the Australian aid program, given the downgrading of the portfolio from a ministerial position—the new Assistant Minister is Senator Anne Ruston.
As always, our thanks go to AIIA interns Stephanie Rowell and Mani Bovell, Martyn Pearce of the ANU’s Crawford School, Rory Stenning for composing our theme music, and AIIA CEO Melissa Conley-Tyler.
Ep. 30: Australia’s High Commissioners to Solomon Islands and Samoa discuss diplomacy in the Pacific
Ep. 29: PM Morrison visits the Trump White House; prisoners in Iran; energy security; a visit by Fiji’s PM; climate change
Ep. 28: PM’s trips to Vietnam & the G7; alliance management in the Gulf; Kashmir; PNG
Ep. 27: Clare Walsh, DFAT Deputy Secretary on multilateralism, aid and development
Ep. 26: AUSMIN; Hastie op-ed; HK protests in Australia; Pacific Islands Forum
Ep. 25: David Gruen, Australia’s G20 Sherpa
Ep. 24: Director-General of ASIS in his first ever interview
Ep. 23: Morrison’s Asialink-Bloomberg speech; Lowy Poll; G20
Ep. 22: Hong Kong protests; Shangri-La Dialogue; US-Iran tensions
Ep. 21: Interview with Rebecca Skinner, Associate Secretary at Defence
Ep. 20: Huawei and decoupling; PNG; four elections; new ambassadors; Bob Hawke
Ep. 19: An incoming government brief: What will the election winner face in the new term?
Ep. 18: Terrorism and counter-terrorism in the wake of the Sri Lanka attacks
Ep. 17: Geoeconomics; Australia’s consular operations
Ep. 16: Brexit, more Brexit, & new funding for Australia-China relations
Ep. 15: Towards reinvigorating Australian foreign policy studies (LIVE @ ANU)
Ep. 14: North Korea after Hanoi; India-Pakistan crisis deescalates; Indonesian FTA
Ep. 13: Five eyes and 5G infrastructure; problems for Aussie coal
Ep. 12: What we learned from 2018, looking ahead to 2019
Ep. 11: Dennis Richardson
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