In US-China tug of war, Australia puts itself first
Australia 's identity has been defined by distance – geographical, political, psychological. Now, with global tensions rising, Prime Minister
Anthony Albanese is testing whether that distance might yet be a source of strength.
Advertisement
The answer, he seems to believe, lies in recalibrating Australia's relationships to friends and rivals alike. As both critics from the political left and independent observers assail the cost and risks of
Aukus – and the right demands ever-greater defence spending – Albanese has chosen his moment to assert a new doctrine: not America first, nor China first, but Australia first.
In doing so, he has looked to the past for inspiration. At last weekend's commemoration of wartime leader John Curtin, Albanese delivered a speech that signalled this new direction, just days before his arrival
in Beijing for a state visit
He lauded Curtin as the 'father' of the US-Australian alliance – now 'a pillar of our foreign policy' – not only for turning to Washington following
Britain 's disastrous surrender of
Singapore to invading Japanese forces during World War II, but for insisting that Australia's foreign and defence posture must be rooted in strategic reality, not tradition.
A sculpture of John Curtin, Australia's wartime prime minister from 1941 to 1945, is seen in Fremantle near Perth, Australia. Photo: AFP
'Curtin restored in Labor what he revived in Australia: unity and purpose in times of crisis and uncertainty; ambition and cooperation in pursuit of opportunity, and above all, the confidence and determination to think and act for ourselves – to follow our own course and shape our own future,' Albanese said last Saturday of his long-ago predecessor as Labor party leader.
Advertisement
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
South China Morning Post
23 minutes ago
- South China Morning Post
Hong Kong public universities agree to return more funding if asked
Hong Kong's eight public universities have promised to return more recurrent funding allocated to them if asked by the government within the next three academic years and to follow Beijing's guidance. In new documents signed with their funding body, the universities also agreed that the government had the right to reduce the amount of their regular allocation if they failed to meet their commitments or had any major deficiency in institutional governance. The University Grants Committee (UGC), a government advisory body that allocates funding for higher education institutions, uploaded the university accountability agreements it signed with each institution in June. In an unprecedented move in February, the government revealed in its budget that the eight public universities would be asked to return HK$4 billion (US$509.6 million) from their reserves that they had saved from previous government funding. Earlier, university chiefs had indicated a willingness to do so. The budget also stated that authorities would only offer the eight public universities HK$68.1 billion in the coming three school years, falling short of the HK$70.9 billion proposed by the UGC, resulting in a 4 per cent average reduction rate. The new clauses specified that the government would not only be allowed to claw back the money, but also exert fuller control of the funding granted to the universities.
South China Morning Post
2 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Inflation, political turmoil won't put investors off Japanese property
Japan has entered a period of profound change. Inflation has returned after decades of deflation and stagnation. Japan's relations with the United States, which helped underpin the post-war global order, have deteriorated dramatically. A culturally homogenous nation is experiencing an epic boom in tourism More surprisingly, a country renowned for political stability is at risk from the anti-establishment populism that has upended politics in other advanced economies. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition partner Komeito lost their majority in the upper house of parliament in an election on July 20. New parties – in particular a hard-right, anti-immigrant party called Sanseito – made strong gains by capitalising on public disquiet over the surge in prices and the influx of foreign tourists and migrants, accentuating the double-edged sword of inflation. The two sides to rising prices – especially their causes and side effects, which include the 28 per cent fall in the yen versus the US dollar since March 2022 – are particularly apparent in Japan's property sector. The prospect of a virtuous cycle of rising prices and wages that stimulates domestic demand and facilitates structural reforms is one of the big themes in Asian real estate. Private equity fund KKR, a big investor in Japanese real estate, said last year that 'Japan's economic reawakening and the big shifts occurring in Japanese society make for attractive investment opportunities'. The country's commercial property investment market accounted for more than a third of transaction volumes in the region in the first quarter of 2025. Moreover, rental growth has taken hold, with rents for grade A offices in Tokyo increasing at one of the fastest paces among the major office markets in the Asia-Pacific region in the second quarter of 2025. Rent increases in Japan's professionally managed rental housing, or multifamily, sector have become a key driver of investment, helping to compensate for the sharp fall in rental yields.
South China Morning Post
3 hours ago
- South China Morning Post
Sara Duterte impeachment ruling sparks constitutional storm in Philippines
Monday's opening of the Philippines ' Congress has been thrown into chaos by a Supreme Court ruling that effectively killed the long-awaited impeachment trial of Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio. Advertisement The Supreme Court's decision, delivered late on Friday , quashed the Senate's long-delayed trial on a technicality, ruling that the impeachment violated the constitutional 'one-year rule' against multiple proceedings within a year for the same official. The fallout has cast a pall over what would otherwise have been a self-congratulatory celebration, in the form of the president's state of the nation address to Congress on Monday. On Sunday, the presidential palace issued a statement stating that President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr 's administration 'respects but disagrees with the ruling'. The 15-member court's decision does not exonerate Duterte-Carpio, nor does it bar future impeachment attempts, but – if followed – it effectively postpones any new proceedings until 2026. Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio speaks during a press conference in Manila on February. Photo: AP Of the 14 justices who concurred, 12 were appointed by the vice-president's father, former leader Rodrigo Duterte . Justice Marvic Leonen, who delivered the majority opinion, was appointed by the late president Benigno Aquino. Even Marcos' lone appointee joined the majority. Only one justice abstained, citing 'official business'. Advertisement
