One part of China's Belt and Road Initiative is a high-speed train project from Kunming, China through Southeast Asia to Singapore. This project suggests that China's partner countries can have substantial agency and shape projects to suit their own interests.

Violence has erupted across Northern Ireland as tensions between the Protestants, Unionists, and Loyalist and the Catholics, Republicans, and Nationalists intensify. The region has struggled towards reconciliation, and only with effort from the UK government and the EU will conflict subside.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: two-way Trans-Tasman travel bubble announced, Exercise La Perouse kicks off, the Services Exports Action Plan and Australia […]

The Iran-China bilateral 25-year Comprehensive Strategic Partnership was signed in Tehran by foreign ministers Javad Zarif and Wang Yi on 27 March. The agreement highlights political, strategic, and economic winners and losers.

In Timor-Leste, floods and landslides after cyclone Seroja, coupled with the COVID-19 pandemic, have created a dangerous dynamic. The next stage of the crisis will be hard to navigate as poverty-stricken Timorese struggle with fresh water, health services, and sufficient nutrition. 

With the threat of right-wing extremism accelerating due to the pandemic, understanding the gendered element of the threat is essential countering radicalisation. Misogynist rhetoric is not only pushing men to the far right, but women too.

Two years after the fall of Sudanese dictator Omar al-Bashir, the future is still unclear. There is a chance that Sudan can avoid a repeat of the past tragedies.

Also discussed in this episode: the humanitarian crisis in Papua New Guinea after a devastating outbreak of COVID-19 and what makes the defence minister portfolio so uniquely challenging for the newly appointed Peter Dutton.

This week in Australian foreign affairs: sharing Australian-made AstraZeneca doses with our Pacific neighbours; supporting PNG and Timor-Leste; diplomatic appointments; the latest Five Country Ministerial Meeting; and more.

This week Raúl Castro resigned as First Secretary of the Communist Party of Cuba.  This changing of the guard is provoking local and global reflection on his performance and how it has positioned Cuba for the future.

The Sino-Iranian Comprehensive Strategic Partnership is another move by Beijing to extend its power across the globe. For Iran, it is about further strengthening the country’s position in the Middle East.