The Australian Strategic Policy Institute is an independent, non-partisan think tank focused on Australia's defence, cyber, tech and strategic policy.
Canberra, Australia
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NEW REPORT 📌
ASPI has released its Cost of Defence budget brief for 2026-27.
It warns the ADF is being asked to “carry the deterrence load with less”, as new defence investment remains backloaded while acquisition and sustainment spending falls.
🔖: bit.ly/3Q2tWyB
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'Australian WeChat users, like all WeChat users, are constantly monitored' | @fryan is mentioned in this @australian article discussing WeChat. Read the article here ⬇️ bit.ly/30mPute
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Senior US official says Washington would consider supplying B-21 bombers to Australia | @Brendan_ASPI | bit.ly/3wrCDFB
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Australia’s ties with Taiwan have strengthened. They should strengthen more | Rowan Callick | bit.ly/48KQZ5Z
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PROJECT LAUNCH📢
Today ASPI launches 'The Xinjiang Data Project' mapping Xinjiang’s detention system with 380 sites of suspected re-education camps, detention centres and prisons that have been built or expanded since 2017. View the interactive map ➡️ bit.ly/32XIEf6
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🚨PUBLICATION ALERT🚨
'TikTok and WeChat: Curating and controlling global information flows' is the latest report from @ASPI_ICPC. In the report @fryan, @AudreyFritz5 & @DariImpio look at content moderation & censorship on TikTok & WeChat
📕 Read it now: bit.ly/337V0Qr
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🚨WEBINAR ALERT🚨
Tomorrow @iingwen, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) delivers a keynote on the future of Taiwan, followed by a panel discussion with ASPI's Peter Jennings & @He_Shumei, @INDSRTW's Dr Chen-wei Lin & @UTAS_'s Dr Mark Harrison
📝 bit.ly/3aUhGr1
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‘China controls between 80% and 90% of rare-earth mining, separation and downstream manufacturing and authorities in Beijing have openly canvassed using the country’s dominant position as leverage in its trade and technology conflict with the United States bit.ly/2BAtyNZ
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'Australia and other open democracies need to pile in on the new internet standards and governance if we aren’t to get a redesigned internet that’s even easier to use covertly and corruptly for authoritarian purposes' writes @michael_ASPI
bit.ly/3mlp5VB
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AUKUS risks are piling up. Australia must prepare to build French SSNs instead | Peter Briggs | bit.ly/4gneMvr
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'In the case of the United States, if Trump declares victory before all postal mail-in ballots have arrived, Republican-controlled legislatures in key states could end the counting early to lock in that outcome' warns Mark Leonard
bit.ly/333nxGT
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‘Now Navalny is no more. But there is no doubt that his legacy will live on, haunting the regime as it hides behind the big walls of the Kremlin. One day, in another Russia, he will receive the honour he deserves’, writes @carlbildt. aspistrategist.org.au/russia…
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
Our new report 'Singing from the CCP’s songsheet' charts how the CCP cultivates international students in China, offers prize money and is creating multilingual studios to push its narratives.
These influencers promote the CCP’s ‘main melody’—in line with its values, policies and ideology.
📕 Read more ➡️ bit.ly/3NmhaGP
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ICYMI: @ASPI_ICPC recently launched 'The Xinjiang Data Project' which brings together research on the human rights situation for Uyghurs and other non-Han nationalities in Xinjiang
Explore the research, interactive map, 3D models and more at
xjdp.aspi.org.au/
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'Achieving political objectives has always been the aim of warfare. China and Russia, in particular, are attempting to do that without firing a single shot.' bit.ly/2RVauR9
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ASPI is delighted to announce the ASPI Washington DC office 📢
Marking 70 years of ANZUS, the new location will provide a distinctive 🇦🇺 voice & perspective to inform policy debates on Australian interests in the US.
Read the @DeptDefence media release: bit.ly/39gAD74
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'The Chinese Government has embarked on a systematic and intentional campaign to rewrite the cultural heritage of the Xinjiang Uyghurs Autonomous Region' | @abcnews mentions ASPI's new report on cultural erasure.
Read the report: bit.ly/36bh8fT ab.co/3l5mVIn
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ICYMI: Watch the keynote address from @iingwen, President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) to ASPI's Indo-Pacific Leaders Dialogue and the panel discussion on the future of Taiwan.
📺 Watch the webinar on-demand: bit.ly/32vfpic
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NATO membership an existential imperative for Sweden and Finland | @carlbildt | bit.ly/3xN4wJQ
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Australia needs to engage its youth population around AUKUS | Amanda McCumber | bit.ly/47VbxIl
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.@jleibold and @KelseyMunro writes ASPI's new Xinjiang Data Project website is 'a gathering point for a growing community of practice aimed at chronicling and dissecting the Chinese government’s potentially genocidal set of actions in Xinjiang'
bit.ly/2S8qP6s
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'Trump may be good at mobilising his base at home or connecting with ideological ‘friends’ abroad. But, without the support of its true allies, America’s global influence will only deteriorate further' aspistrategist.org.au/the-tr…
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
In 'Leaping across the ocean: The port operators behind China's naval expansion' @cnlyonsjones & Raphael Veit assess the risks of overseas investments in critical infrastructure by Chinese SOEs & recommend policies to mitigate risks
📕 : bit.ly/3qmqpJn
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🚨NEW REPORT🚨
In a new @ASPI_ICPC report 'Strange bedfellows on Xinjiang: The CCP, fringe media & US social media platforms' @AlbertYZhang @JakeWallis_ASPI & @zoe_meers explore how China is shaping global perceptions around Xinjiang
📕 Read the report: bit.ly/3djwOzB
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'No country recognises Somaliland as independent, but if Australia led in doing so it could reinforce its commitment to democratic principles, bolster its influence in the Indo-Pacific region and counter Chinese expansion', writes @haadka. aspistrategist.org.au/recogn…
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Australia refused to endorse China’s claim to Taiwan in 1972 because it foresaw a time like this | Stuart Doran | bit.ly/3RFouwL
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The precise coordinates and images for all 380 sites are now viewable on an interactive map ➡️ bit.ly/32XIEf6 on 'The Xinjiang Data Project' website
Visit the website now: bit.ly/2FTYtdS
Watch this space, part two of the project coming tomorrow.
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Somaliland is where India can counter China in east Africa | Samir Bhattacharya | bit.ly/3XLmjMM
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ASPI is excited to announce that @graham_euan will be joining our team as senior analyst on defence & strategy.
Euan is internationally respected for his astute analysis & consistent ability to influence the key debates in national security & strategic policy.
Welcome Euan!
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'Australians should be told why Chinese tech can’t be in the 5G network, nor in government devices, but can be in the cars that connect to both,' write @BassiJustin and Tilla Hoja in the @australian on why 🇦🇺 needs a strategy to address the security threat of high-risk foreign vendors to critical infrastructure.
Read more ➡️ bit.ly/4fDSiq7
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'Companies whose supply chains are using forced Uyghur labour could find themselves in breach of international and domestic laws that prohibit the importation of goods made with forced labour or mandate disclosure of forced labour supply chain risks’ bit.ly/2ThtFYB
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Australia should start planning for acquisition of at least 12 submarines of the French Suffren design. The current AUKUS plan for eight nuclear-powered attack submarines (SSNs) has always been flawed, and now its risks are piling up', writes Peter Briggs. aspistrategist.org.au/aukus-…
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In an interview with The Strategist, Mick Ryan @WarintheFuture talks to @Brendan_ASPI about the potential for a major Russian offensive, 🇷🇺’s military capabilities & supplies, the role of the Wagner Group and what this conflict tells us about future military capabilities. 🧵
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Australia must be ready to fight its corner as Taiwan tensions rise | Peter Jennings | bit.ly/36iP2yK
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The China Defence Universities Tracker by
@ASPI_ICPC's @alexjoske is now live. Read the report bit.ly/37wA9aW and use the tracker unitracker.aspi.org.au for a comprehensive resource on the defence & security links of over 160 🇨🇳universities and research institutions
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Why China is a national security threat to Australia | Andrew Forrest | bit.ly/43Fer0N
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Uyghurs for sale: ‘re-education’, forced labour and surveillance beyond Xinjiang | @xu_xiuzhong @DaniellesCave @jleibold @KelseyMunro @Nrg8000 | bit.ly/2x2JUjp
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ANZUS at 70: ‘Blood brothers’—American and Australian soldiers in 1918 | Mitchell Yockelson | bit.ly/3D5uUi7
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The Norwegian frigate sinking 'raises questions about the survivability of modern warships with their lightweight construction and a design emphasis on their weapons and sensors rather than on ship integrity and damage control.' bit.ly/2SyXcte
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On reports ASPI is being targeted by China's state-backed hackers, @BassiJustin tells @thenightlyau: “This revelation is a sad reminder that the Chinese Communist Party will try to suppress any source of legitimate criticism, at home and abroad.”
Read ⤵️ thenightly.com.au/australia/…
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SPEAKER ANNOUNCEMENT 📢
@DrSJaishankar, External Affairs Minister of India, will deliver the keynote address at the inaugural Raisina @ Sydney, focusing on the importance of the 🇦🇺-🇮🇳 relationship to the Indo-Pacific. @raisinadialogue @orfonline
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🚨 COMING SOON 🚨
In September, ASPI will launch a major expansion of the China Defence Universities Tracker — the go-to global tool for understanding the military, security and technology risks linked to Chinese universities and research bodies.
Here’s what’s new 👇 🧵 1/5
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'The time of cowboy technology capitalism is over', @orfonline's @samirsaran tells #TheSydneyDialogue 2022.
@ASPI_org will continue the conversation about future technologies at #TheSydneyDialogue in April. More info ➡️ tsd.aspi.org.au
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'After losing 80% of its global market share for smartphones, Huawei was left with no choice but to sell off its smartphone unit... With its latest move, the US is now aiming to do to all of China what it did to Huawei' writes @carlbildt bit.ly/3MZYknk
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Widodo’s defence budget won’t give Indonesia the force it needs | David Engel | bit.ly/3T6e9uD
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Peter Jennings warns 'We don’t know how far Xi will take his use of the ideology of ‘struggle’ to mobilise aggressive nationalism, but this is now a central element of his rule. Australians in China need to be conscious of the personal risk this creates'
bit.ly/2M2kwll
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In an interview with @SBSitalian @DariImpio discusses her research on the @ASPI_ICPC 'Mapping China's tech giants' project & notes that societies are becoming exponentially dependent on 🇨🇳's technology companies
Read the article & listen to the interview: bit.ly/3vTUsKp
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🚨 NEW PROJECT 🚨
ASPI is excited to launch the Critical Technology Tracker, a world-first data study of high-impact published research & the movement of global talent. The project includes a report & interactive website which maps the flow of talent
🖥️: techtracker.aspi.org.au/
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The purpose of the @ASDGovAu is to ‘defend Australia from global threats and help advance Australia’s national interests. We do this by mastering technology to inform, protect and disrupt,’ remarks @MikePBurgess
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“Defenders would attack China’s piers. Almost every beach where China might want to build floating piers is overlooked by terrain that would turn the unloading zones into kill zones”, writes Erik Davis. aspistrategist.org.au/floati…
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ASPI's #StrategicVision2020 virtual conference begins this week!
Join Stan Grant in conversation with the Hon. John Howard and the Hon. Kim Beazley @GovHouseWA to discuss Australia's strategic outlook amidst a period of global uncertainty.
Register now: bit.ly/3evL07m
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This @smh article features our new report 'Singing from the CCP’s songsheet' revealing 'the Chinese government has become more ambitious & sophisticated in its use of influencers to try to manage public opinion'.
Read more ➡️ bit.ly/3NmhaGP
smh.com.au/world/asia/the-hi…
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'The real voice of Russia often goes unheard… The mass protests in Moscow and other cities in 2019 show that while formal power remains in the hands of Putin and his party, Russians are ready to assert their rights and demand democracy' says @SobolLubov bit.ly/2FSVjDD
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‘I guess my last comment would be to say Taiwan, as a successful democracy of 23 million people, its future should matter to Australia as a successful democracy of 25 million people’ says Peter Jennings on @SkyNewsAust bit.ly/3mpvzDe
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'If Australia had a squadron of 12 B-21s, it could dispatch a flight of three aircraft carrying around 30 long-range anti-ship missiles in the morning and follow it up with another in the afternoon' writes @Marcus_ASPI bit.ly/3hP1ooA
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‘Biden is fond of saying that America will lead by the power of its example, but it may be a long time before that example is one the world again admires’ writes @RichardHaass bit.ly/3a2NNG2
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With Chinese warships nearby, Australia needs to step up as a maritime power | @JAParker29 | bit.ly/41vXhnS
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.@ASDGovAu tweeted for the first time today: 'Long time listener, first time caller.' ASD is out of the shadows, and 'that’s the way I intend it to stay' notes @MikePBurgess
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“Appeasing Russia at Ukraine’s expense would amount to a major strategic loss for the United States and thus a victory for its adversaries”, writes @carlbildt. aspistrategist.org.au/a-hill…
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Of the 97 elections and 31 referendums reviewed, foreign interference was identified in 20 countries: 🇦🇺, 🇧🇷, 🇨🇴, 🇨🇿, 🇫🇮, 🇫🇷, 🇩🇪, 🇮🇩, 🇮🇱, 🇮🇹, 🇲🇹, 🇲🇪, 🇳🇱, 🇲🇰, 🇳🇴, 🇸🇬, 🇪🇸, 🇹🇼, 🇺🇦 and 🇺🇸 | @FergusHanson and @elisethoma5 bit.ly/2VJcAJQ
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
The @ASPI_ICPC @ASPI_DC report 'Frontier influencers: The new face of China's propaganda' explores the role of YouTube influencers from Xinjiang, Tibet & Inner Mongolia in the Chinese Communist Party’s increasingly sophisticated global propaganda campaign.
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🚨 SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT 🚨
@ASPI_org & @orfonline are pleased to announce the inaugural Raisina @ Sydney Dialogue. Hosted in Sydney, discussions will focus on the importance of the 🇦🇺-🇮🇳 partnership amidst contestation & competition in the Indo-Pacific.
More details below🧵
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ASPI’s Peter Jennings on the escalation in Taiwan, ‘Whatever Biden does about Taiwan, he will expect Japan and Australia to be there…There is no exit strategy from our own region’ | Read this @smh article: bit.ly/36utUFx
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'There’s no evidence of a coup in China and no reason to even slightly think there has been one... Xi's decade of intense political consolidation behind him can't be overturned by a missed meeting or a few cancelled flights' @Nrg8000 tells @Telegraph ⬇️ telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2…
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‘The lesson for Australia and all democracies is that making concessions to Beijing’s wolf-warrior behaviours will only encourage more coercion’ writes Peter Jennings
bit.ly/2ZyRldn
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When dealing with China, Australia must prioritise security over economics | @raji143 | bit.ly/43GaWdR
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'The scale of the inverse relationship between the magnitude of suffering that has occurred in Ethiopia and the minimal coverage and engagement by the international community is harder to square' writes @jrfjeffrey bit.ly/3KgT24u
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‘The unravelling and eventual elimination of a European state would threaten all Europeans’ security, not to mention undermining global stability and opening a Pandora’s box of other issues’ writes @carlbildt bit.ly/3IbvOgd
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Nuclear-powered submarines are vital to Australia’s defence | Kim Beazley | bit.ly/3MRy1Sm
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A video filmed by China's Baishan City Public Security Bureau documents a full-scale PRC police operation in Fiji, with raids & the extradition of 🇨🇳 citizens.
Read how @ASPI_CTS's @DariImpio & @anudpa's @GraemeKSmith found the footage & what it means for Indo-Pacific stability ➡️ bit.ly/3ISHDZW
Fiji’s prime minister has called on China to retreat from the South Pacific as an investigation by The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and 60 Minutes uncovers a police sting showing Beijing’s desire to operate overseas.theage.com.au/world/asia/rai…
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ASPI's Executive Director, Peter Jennings says 'the nature of the threat needs to be explained to the public in clear terms... information sharing between like-minded democracies, especially through the Five Eyes alliance, will be more vital' | @australian bit.ly/2QCFgPd
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
Edited by @AlexBristowASPI, 'Full tilt: The UK's defence role in the Pacific: Views from The Strategist' features a selection of articles exploring the relationship between 🇦🇺 and 🇬🇧 , and Britain's role in the Indo-Pacific.
📕 Read: bit.ly/4cV5rcB
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
In 'Truth and reality with Chinese characteristics', @He_Shumei, Tilla Hoja, @YvonneLau_ASPI and Lilly Min-Chen Lee find that the Chinese Communist Party seeks to harvest user data from globally popular Chinese apps, games and online platforms, to “gauge the pulse of public opinion”, gain insight into societal trends and preferences, and thereby improve its propaganda.
🔖 Read the report now 👉 bit.ly/44lz4Rb
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‘China has identified the beleaguered garrison at Second Thomas Shoal as a weak link among the South China Sea features physically occupied by the Philippines and, by extension, the US-Philippines alliance’, writes @graham_euan. aspistrategist.org.au/high-n…
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
ASPI's new report 'Cultivating friendly forces: The Chinese Communist Party’s influence operations in the Xinjiang diaspora' by Lin Li & @jleibold explores the CCP's united front network & its influence in the Xinjiang diaspora
📕 Read: bit.ly/3NNeUpf
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Out of 44 critical technologies examined by Dr @Jamie_Gaida, Dr Jennifer Wong Leung, @saarobin & @DaniellesCave, China leads in 37 technologies, with the U.S. leading in the other 7 technologies, and coming second in most of the technologies that China leads in.
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Chinese electric vehicles are a rolling security threat | @BassiJustin and Tilla Hoja | bit.ly/3ZiQiOa
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Ukraine’s drone raid on Russian naval base was tactically innovative but not revolutionary | @alessionaval | bit.ly/3NUAJon
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At least 60 facilities have seen new construction since mid-2019 and 14 facilities remain under construction at mid-2020, according to the latest satellite imagery available
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'Peace will come only when he is defeated—only when the Ukrainians (with Western help) have succeeded in defending themselves, and when Russians see that Putin’s insane war has jeopardised their own futures', writes @carlbildt. aspistrategist.org.au/putins…
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LIVE NOW 📢
Join us now at The Sydney Dialogue for a keynote address from former Prime Minister of Japan, @AbeShinzo, including an introduction by former Prime Minister of Australia, John Howard.
Follow this thread for highlights, & watch #TSD2021 live: tsd.aspi.org.au/live
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Incredible new research from @ASPI_ICPC researchers, @fryan @DaniellesCave & @Nrg8000, maps China's re-education camps across Xinjiang and finds that the network has more than doubled in the last year bit.ly/2JsS4DT
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🚨 Major ASPI project launching tomorrow 🚨
ASPI's Critical Tech Tracker, a year-long project, shows which countries are ahead in 44 key technologies across defence, space, robotics, energy, biotech, AI & quantum.
We're proud to launch it at @raisinadialogue on Thursday 🚀
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'After Australia called for a probe into China’s handling of the outbreak, Xi’s government punished it with a raft of informal sanctions' writes @Chellaney bit.ly/3FzPSWr
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‘Whatever Biden does about Taiwan, he will expect Japan and Australia to be there. There is no exit strategy from our own region’, writes ASPI’s Peter Jennings in this @australian article
bit.ly/2NI5cLH
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Today Ukraine marks its 31st year of independence and 6 months since Russia’s invasion.
We asked our experts & @AmbVasyl about recent developments in the conflict, the future of Western support for 🇺🇦 & long-term implications of the war
Read their thoughts in the 🧵 below ⬇️
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🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨
In 'An Australian maritime strategy: resourcing the Royal Australian Navy', @JAParker29 calls for an urgent expansion of the Royal Australian Navy fleet to adequately protect Australia’s vast maritime interests.
📕: bit.ly/47sR2ld
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‘If the spectre of China exploiting its pharmaceutical clout for strategic ends were not enough to make the world rethink its cost-cutting outsourcing decisions, the unintended disruption of global supply chains by Covid-19 should be,’ writes @Chellaney. bit.ly/2IL8aJo
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‘In China, national priorities are established by the government and then funded by the state; in India, they emerge from seemingly endless discussions and arguments among myriad interests, and funds have to be found where they can' writes @ShashiTharoor bit.ly/38HNejk
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