9DASHLINE — Articles

Beijing uses border villages to secure territorial claims

Written by Harry Thursby-Pelham

With India constructing roads and border villages leading up to the LAC in response to China’s construction, it looks like tensions on the border will continue in the foreseeable future.

Emerging Issues9DLMarch 30, 20239DashLine, Beijing uses border villages to secure territorial claims, Harry Thursby-Pelham, Tibet, Tibet Autonomous Region, India, China, LAC, Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress, 19th Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Congress, India-China border, India-China border dispute, Plan for the Construction of Well-off Villages in the Border Areas of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) (2017-2020), xiaokang, 'xiaokang’ villages, People’s Republic of China, fortification, permanent infrastructure, disputed Tibetan border region, Tibet’s history, Mongols, British India, Qing Dynasty, Simla Convention, McMahon Line, Tibetan-Indian Border, Line of Actual Control (LAC), Arunachal Pradesh, suzerain, independence, 1962 Sino-Indian War, South Tibet, occupation, sovereignty, nuclear weapons, military, modern warfare, globalisation, international community, United Nations, uti possidetis, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Deng Xiaoping, ‘biding one’s time’ (tao guang yang hui), hard power, infrastructure, ethnic minority, rural revitalisation, Shigatse, Lhokha, Nyingchi, Ngari, Indian Foreign Ministry, Tibetans, Han Chinese, Global Times, South China Sea, Philippines, 2015 Hague Tribunal, Exclusive Economic Zone, judicial legitimacy, Woody Island, New Delhi, Beijing, international law, Indian Union Cabinet, Vibrant Village Programme, Galwan Valley, BEIJING USES BORDER VILLAGES TO SECURE TERRITORIAL CLAIMS

Forum: The Rules-Based International Order in the Indo-Pacific

In recent years discussions among scholars, analysts, and policymakers have focused on the nature, transformation, and/or ostensible crisis of the rules-based international order. We invite three experts to offer differing perspectives on these ongoing debates in the context of the Indo-Pacific in this Forum for 9DASHLINE.

Emerging Issues9DLFebruary 8, 20239dashline, Forum: The Rules-Based International Order in the Indo-Pacific, rules-based international order, NON-ALIGNMENT, VAN JACKSON, Indo-Pacific, strategic non-alignment, Sri Lanka, Asian political economy, minor powers, sovereign debt, India, worker precarity, East Asian development model, global economic order, Sino-US competition, United States, China, spheres of influence, zero-sum, Indonesia, East Timor, Singapore, Pacific Island nations, Non-Aligned Movement. As great powers try to, great powers, Cold War, hedging, Third-World politics, FLEUR JOHNS, Multilateral, automated socio-technical systems, diplomacy, Automatic Identification System (AIS), mangrove forests, Indo-Pacific lionfish, ecology, GEORGE LAWSON, international order, Covid pandemic, war in Ukraine, costs of living, Western power, liberal, AUKUS, Taiwan, Myanmar, financial crisis

The Bougainville Autonomous Region: Balancing independence and foreign relations

Written by Dr Lucas Knotter

While it is tempting to view the relatively small island of Bougainville as merely drifting into the geopolitical whirlwinds of more powerful actors in the region, we should not forget that Bougainville also maintains considerable leverage in relation to these actors.

Pacific, Emerging Issues9DLJanuary 31, 20239dashline, Bougainville, Bougainville Autonomous Region, Lucas Knotter, Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit, APEC, Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific, FTAAP, Antony Blinken, Papua New Guinea, US, James Marape, China, Xi Jinping, Pacific islands, Pacific island states, trade partner, Friend to all; Enemy to None, PNG, China-US tensions, Autonomous Region of Bougainville, ARB, 2019 referendum, PNG-US-China geopolitics, sovereignty, 2001 Bougainville Peace Agreement, Ishmael Toroama, Era Kone Covenant, post-referendum agreements, Bougainville independence, international recognition, independence, Panguna copper mine, natural resources, anti-colonial struggles, Australia, mine workers, environmental destruction, Bougainville Civil War, Sam Kauona, Belt and Road Initiative, Solomon Islands, 2021 unrest, Beijing, Global Fragility Act, GFA, 2015 Bougainville Mining Act, Taipei, Sovereign Wealth Fund, Richard Marles, defence

Counter-polarisation and political expediency in Indonesia

Written by Greg Fealy, Sally White, and Burhanuddin Muhtadi

If we place the 2021 survey results beside data from other credible surveys over the past decade, it is possible to conclude that the high point of polarisation occurred during and between the 2014 and 2019 elections, but has since declined.

Papua New Guinea in 2022: Key issues and future challenges

Written by Teddy Winn

The challenge for the incoming government will be to continue upholding PNG’s foreign policy practice of ‘friends to all, enemies to none’ while not destabilising existing bilateral arrangements the country has with its regional partners, including its closest and long-time partner, Australia.

Bitcoin to bombs: Illicit money and the preservation of Kim Jong-un

Written by Casey Babb

If he is going to be compelled to behave differently, or if regime change is the end goal, policymakers, practitioners, and cyber experts need to cut off North Korea’s digital “bank robbers”.

Indonesia: The cost of repressing Islamists

Written by Nava Nuraniyah

The attack on an Ahmadiyah mosque in Sintang, West Kalimantan on 3 September is but one indication that the existing anti-radicalism campaign has merely served as a political weapon to target government enemies, rather than defending minorities.

Australia’s place in the contest for technological leadership

Written by Jennifer Jackett

Australia has a critical stake in how the US navigates strategic and economic trade-offs of technology cooperation and competition with China.