Australia

Economics

Military & Security

Politics

The Australian government unveiled its 2025-26 federal budget, allocating AU$10.6 billion ($7 billion) in new defense spending, expanding missile procurement and advancing AUKUS submarine readiness, the Australian Financial Review reported on March 25. 

Australia: Budget Unveiled, Likely Paving Way for Elections

United States

Japan

The United States rejected Australia's proposal to secure tariff exemptions on steel and aluminum imports in exchange for guaranteed critical minerals access, the Australian Financial Review reported on March 13. 

Australia: Trump Rejects Steel and Aluminum Tariff Exemption Proposal as Japan Makes Port Call 

Austria's center-right People's Party, center-left Social Democratic Party and liberal Neos party reached a coalition agreement and unveiled their joint government program, Reuters reported on Feb. 27. 

Austria: Centrist Parties Reach Agreement for Three-Party Coalition

China

New Zealand

China's navy conducted live-fire drills in the Tasman Sea between Australia's east coast and New Zealand, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Feb. 21.

China, Australia, New Zealand: Chinese Navy Escalates to Live Fire Drills in Tasman Sea

Australia and New Zealand are actively monitoring a Chinese naval task force transiting south off Australia's east coast 150 nautical miles east of Sydney, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Feb. 20.

China, Australia, New Zealand: Canberra, Wellington Monitoring PLA Naval Presence Near Their Waters

Social Issues

Australian mining magnate and billionaire Clive Palmer launched a new U.S. President Donald Trump-inspired right-wing populist party to compete in the 2025 election dubbed the Trumpet of Patriots Party, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Feb. 19. 

Australia: Mining Magnate Launches Potential Spoiler, Trump-Inspired Party Before Elections

A Chinese J-16 fighter jet released flares within 30 meters (33 yards) of an Australian surveillance plane over the Paracel Islands on Feb. 11, and while Canberra called the incident an "unsafe and dangerous" maneuver, Beijing defended its action and accused Australia of violating its sovereignty, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported on Feb. 13. 

Australia, China: Midair Incident Over South China Sea

Despite initially considering an exemption for Australia in a Feb. 10 phone call with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order eliminating all carve-outs for his administration's 25% across-the-board tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, the Australian Financial Review reported on Feb. 11.

Australia, U.S.: No Tariff Carve-Outs for Australian Steel and Aluminum, for Now

Snapshots

Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers delivers a speech in parliament on the government's newly unveiled 2025-26 budget on March 25, 2025, in Canberra, Australia.

Unveiled just ahead of May elections, the budget marks a pivot to resource-driven growth, U.S.-aligned defense integration and domestic industrial development, but its durability will be tested.

Reading Between the Lines of Australia's 2025-26 Budget

Columns

On Geopolitics

Asia-Pacific

Indonesia

Malaysia

Philippines

South Korea

Taiwan

Vietnam

India

U.S. President Joe Biden gestures to reporters after landing on the South Lawn of the White House on Sept. 22, 2024, in Washington, D.C. 

U.S.-China Relations

Trump's more aggressive and transactional approach could deliver quick wins for the U.S.'s position in the region, though it could also strain ties with key partners. 

Trump's Asia-Pacific Approach Will Test Biden's Gains

Assessments

Nauru

Papua New Guinea

Solomon Islands

The flags of Australia, the Solomon Islands, Nauru and Papua New Guinea clockwise starting from the upper left. Canberra will have to fulfill its commitments to keep Beijing's influence at bay as island countries play the two off each other.

Canberra will have to fulfill its commitments to keep Beijing's influence at bay as island countries play the two off each other. 

Australian Efforts to Counter China in the Pacific Will Require Follow-Through

Israel

Palestinian Territories

Samoa

Federated States of Micronesia

Fiji

Kiribati

Marshall Islands

Palau

Tonga

Tuvalu

Vanuatu

France

Ukraine

Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky holds a flag during a ceremony on Ukraine's Independence Day on Aug. 24, 2023, in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Israel-Hamas Conflict

Russia-Ukraine Conflict

A look at what the coming week will bring -- and a list of recommended RANE articles from the week that was.

The Weekly Rundown: Gaza Cease-Fire Talks Resume, Ukraine Observes Third Post-Invasion Independence Day

Venezuela

Iran

Lebanon

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris listens as President Joe Biden speaks during a Women's History Month reception in the White House on March 18, 2024.

The Weekly Rundown: Escalation in the Middle East, Kamala Harris' VP Pick

Ghana

Kenya

Nigeria

Uganda

United Kingdom

A motorcyclist looks at his phone in front of a National Electoral Council poster promoting the upcoming presidential election in Caracas, Venezuela, on July 23, 2024.

Global Elections

The Weekly Rundown: An Election in Venezuela, Economic Reforms in the U.K.

Guinea

A stock photo shows a large, open-pit iron ore mine with various layers of soil.

Environment, Science & Technology

Science & Technology

If the project's completion is not derailed by renewed political instability in Guinea, the giant Simandou mine's iron ore exports will help China diversify its supplies and decarbonize its steelmaking industry. 

What Africa's Largest Mining Project Means for Guinea, China and the World

South Africa

Germany

Switzerland

President Cyril Ramaphosa is sworn in as member of parliament during the first sitting of the new South African parliament on June 14 in Cape Town, South Africa. Ramaphosa will be inaugurated to a second term in a ceremony scheduled to take place June 19 in Pretoria.

The Weekly Rundown: Ukraine's Peace Summit, South Africa's Inauguration

The Solomon Islands' newly elected prime minister Jeremiah Manele speaks during a press conference in Honiara on May 2, 2024.

The leadership change will maintain the strategic Pacific Island nation's new pro-Beijing bent, driving the U.S. and Australia to scale up their own influence campaigns.

The Solomon Islands Elects Another Pro-China Prime Minister

North Korea

Singapore

A 3D rendering of Southeast Asia from space at night with city lights showing Southeast Asian cities in Thailand, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia.

In the Asia-Pacific, countries are increasingly pursuing complex networks of political, economic and defense ties as part of a burgeoning "multi-alignment" strategy that seeks to avoid U.S.-China strategic competition.

Examining 'Multi-Alignment' in the Asia-Pacific

Europe

Chinese car manufacturer BYD's stacked electric vehicles wait to be loaded onto a ship at the international container terminal of Taicang Port at Suzhou Port in China's eastern Jiangsu province on Sept. 11, 2023.

As Chinese electric vehicles threaten to flood Western markets, Washington and Brussels prepare restrictions to protect domestic manufacturers and secure sensitive data. 

Chinese Electric Vehicles Prepare to Hit the Great Wall of Western Tariffs

Egypt

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on March 14, 2024, at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland.

The Weekly Rundown: Dueling U.S. and Chinese Diplomacy, a European Council Summit

Australia is an island nation straddling the Indian Ocean basin and the South Pacific. Once a colony of the United Kingdom, the country began a move toward independence in 1901. Today, the Commonwealth of Australia encompasses the mainland of the Australian continent, Tasmania and more than 8,000 other islands in the continent’s surrounding waters.    Australia’s interior, known as the Outback, is mostly desert. This largely uninhabitable area is home to Australia’s iron and coal reserves, among the world’s largest. Mining has grown in importance for the Australian economy and remains a key driver of future economic growth.    The Melbourne-Sydney-Brisbane corridor forms the population core along the fertile South Eastern coastline, while the capital Canberra is situated in the interior near the Murray-Darling River System. The Murray-Darling Basin is Australia's agricultural heartland but is cut off from the core by the mountains of the Great Dividing Range.     Australia's main geographic challenge is managing its isolation and small population, which is stretched thinly along its coasts. These factors affect almost all domestic and foreign policy decisions. Distance and isolation mean that Australia relies heavily on shipping lanes for its economic security. This has led Australia to build close alliances with global maritime powers — first the United Kingdom and later the United States — to protect its access to ocean trade as well as deter attacks from other powers.     Increasingly, Canberra must balance its strategic, military and cultural ties to the United States and Europe with greater economic integration with East and Southeast Asia, and especially China — its largest trading partner.

The U.S. and the Balance of Power

Commodities: A Cautionary Tale

China in Transition

SITUATION REPORTS

Australia: Budget Unveiled, Likely Paving Way for Elections

Australia: Trump Rejects Steel and Aluminum Tariff Exemption Proposal as Japan Makes Port Call

Austria: Centrist Parties Reach Agreement for Three-Party Coalition

China, Australia, New Zealand: Chinese Navy Escalates to Live Fire Drills in Tasman Sea

China, Australia, New Zealand: Canberra, Wellington Monitoring PLA Naval Presence Near Their Waters

Australia: Mining Magnate Launches Potential Spoiler, Trump-Inspired Party Before Elections

Australia, China: Midair Incident Over South China Sea

Australia, U.S.: No Tariff Carve-Outs for Australian Steel and Aluminum, for Now

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