Latest news with #LowyInstitute
South China Morning Post
11 hours ago
- Politics
- South China Morning Post
Asean credibility at stake amid soaring Thailand-Cambodia border tensions: analysts
Asean risks a fresh blow to its already dented credibility if it fails to de-escalate tensions between Thailand and Cambodia , analysts have warned, as a deadly border skirmish and a political leak threaten to trigger broader regional fallout. Advertisement 'A full-blown border war between Thailand and Cambodia will damage Asean's credibility,' Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow at the Lowy Institute's Southeast Asia programme, told This Week in Asia. 'The regional organisation is already under fire for being perceived as not effective in dealing with the Myanmar crisis.' Since its founding in 1967, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been credited with helping avoid conflict among its members. But that legacy now faces a critical test, observers say, amid a weeks-long stand-off following a May 28 clash that left one Cambodian soldier dead – the first fatal border flare-up since 2011. Tensions intensified after a phone call between Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra and former Cambodian leader Hun Sen leaked on Wednesday, revealing informal efforts to calm the situation. In the recording, Paetongtarn referred to Hun Sen as 'uncle' and urged him to disregard a Thai military commander, saying: 'He just wants to look cool … but in truth what we want is peace.' 03:41 Thai government hangs by thread as leaked phone call shreds PM Paetongtarn's credibility Thai government hangs by thread as leaked phone call shreds PM Paetongtarn's credibility The leak triggered political backlash in Thailand, where critics accused Paetongtarn of undermining the military and appearing overly deferential to Hun Sen. The uproar led to the withdrawal of a key coalition partner and intensified scrutiny of the Shinawatra family's close personal ties with Cambodia's ruling elite. Advertisement Paetongtarn later defended the call as part of a negotiation tactic but apologised for the resulting 'public resentment'.
New Straits Times
2 days ago
- Business
- New Straits Times
New Zealand halts aid to Cook Islands over China deals
WELLINGTON: New Zealand's government halted aid to close partner the Cook Islands on Thursday because of a row over agreements the Pacific island nation struck with China. New Zealand "paused" the payments and would not resume them until the Cook Islands took "concrete steps" to restore trust, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said in a statement. The self-governing Cook Islands, a country of 17,000 people, has a "free association" relationship with its former colonial ruler New Zealand, which provides budgetary assistance as well as help on foreign affairs and defence. Cook Islands caught New Zealand off guard in February when it signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership agreement with China covering deep-sea mining, regional cooperation and economic issues. Peters' spokesman pointed to the "lack of consultation" surrounding the "agreements signed by the Cook Islands and China" as a reason for the aid pause. "Trust and meaningful engagement are fundamental to free association," he said. New Zealand provided US$116 million (NZ$194 million) to the Cook Islands over the past three years, according to government figures. It has paused a planned US$11 million development assistance payment for the next financial year. "New Zealand will also not consider significant new funding until the Cook Islands Government takes concrete steps to repair the relationship and restore trust," Peters' spokesman said. "New Zealand hopes that steps will be taken swiftly to address New Zealand's concerns so that this support can be resumed as soon as possible." The pause in funding comes as New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing on Friday. Speaking to reporters on Thursday morning, Peters said the funding pause was not timed to coincide with Luxon's trip to China. Peters said he discussed New Zealand's concerns about the Cook Islands agreement during a meeting with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi earlier this year. Cook Islands Prime Minister Mark Brown did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Brown survived a no-confidence vote in February over the deal with China, blaming "misinformation" from New Zealand for destabilising his country. "It becomes very clear this is not about consultation. This is about control," he said at the time. Former Australian diplomat Mihai Sora said Cook Islands was being "a bit cute." "And it's not surprising that New Zealand has reacted in such a way," the Lowy Institute analyst told AFP. "New Zealand obviously wants to repair its relationship with Cook Islands. It wants to block China from gaining increased strategic access to the Cook Islands, but also essentially to its immediate neighbourhood. "But if Cook Islands pushes closer to China in a way that threatens New Zealand's national security, it's really not possible to have such intimate ties." New Zealand also announced this year it would review aid to climate-threatened Pacific nation Kiribati, one of China's closest friends in the region. The review came after Kiribati's president brushed off a planned meeting with Peters at the last minute. "This was especially disappointing because the visit was to be the first in over five years by a New Zealand minister to Kiribati," Peters' office said at the time. "For this reason, we are reviewing our development programme in Kiribati."
RNZ News
4 days ago
- Politics
- RNZ News
Christopher Luxon ranked Australia's most trusted world leader in new poll
More Australians had faith in Christopher Luxon than their own Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Photo: RNZ / Marika Khabazi Australians trust NZ Prime Minister Christopher Luxon more than any other leader on the world stage, according to a new poll. The Lowy Institute - an Australian geopolitics think tank - reported that 44 percent of surveyed Australians had "some confidence" in their closest neighbour's leader to "do the right thing regarding world affairs", while 19 percent said they had "a lot of confidence", a total of 63 percent. More Australians believed in Luxon than their own Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who earned the confidence of only 60 percent of Australians, the Institute reported. Luxon's predecessors - Jacinda Ardern and Chris Hipkins - also topped the list in this ranking over the past two years. On a net basis - subtracting those with not too much or no confidence - Luxon ties with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on 49 percent. Luxon's net confidence rating also beat French President Emmanuel Macron (37 percent), UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer (36 percent), and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy (27 percent). US President Donald Trump scored -47 percent, while Russian President Vladmir Putin scored -80 percent. New Zealand also topped the institutes "feels thermometer", measuring Australians' warmth towards other nations, "at a very warm 85° in 2025, a position it has held in all of the 15 years it has been included". The prime minister's office declined to comment. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero , a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
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Business Standard
5 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Australians equally distrust both Donald Trump, Xi Jinping, survey finds
Australians are equally distrustful of both US President Donald Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, according to a new survey, complicating Canberra's task of managing ties with its key security ally and biggest trading partner. A new survey released by the Lowy Institute think tank in Sydney showed that 72 per cent of respondents said they didn't trust Trump to act responsibly in global affairs, just edging out the 71 per cent who said they didn't trust China's Xi. When asked whether Trump or Xi would be a better partner for Australia, the two leaders were tied at 45 per cent apiece. The results come as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese attends a Group of Seven meeting in Canada, where he could hold his first face-to-face meeting with the US president. Albanese will be hoping to negotiate an exemption on US steel and aluminum tariffs for Australia, as well as trying to secure Trump's support for Aukus following the announcement in Washington of a review of the security accord. Subscribe to The Bloomberg Australia Podcast on Apple, Spotify, on YouTube, or wherever you listen. Albanese's balancing act with Trump is a difficult one. Australians' faith in the US has deteriorated following the president's return to the White House. Trust in America as a global player has fallen to just 36 per cent, by far the lowest result in the Lowy survey's 20-year history. Yet despite an aversion to Trump, Australians aren't ready to move away from the US as the nation's primary security partner. The survey showed consistent support for the US alliance, with 80 per cent of respondents saying America was important for Australia's security.
The Sun
5 days ago
- Business
- The Sun
Australia's Albanese says he will press AUKUS, Indo Pacific security in Trump meeting
SYDNEY: Increasing the number of nuclear powered submarines operated by Australia, Britain and the United States will make the Indo Pacific more secure and was in the United States' interests, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday. Albanese will meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time on Tuesday in Calgary on the sidelines of the G7 meeting, with tariffs and Washington's snap review of the AUKUS treaty to transfer nuclear submarines to Australia weighing on the talks. 'Having Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States all having increased nuclear-powered submarines, in our case conventionally armed, is something that will make the Indo Pacific area more secure,' Albanese told reporters in Calgary. 'That is in the interests of the United States,' he added. Albanese said he will highlight to Trump the financial support Australia is providing to the U.S. industrial capacity to build new submarines under AUKUS, the access the U.S. submarine fleet will gain to maintenance yards in Australia, and the existing U.S. military presence in Australia's northern city of Darwin. Australia was a trusted U.S. partner in the Pacific region to promote peace and security, he said. Albanese has rebuffed a U.S. request to commit to lifting defence spending from 2% to 3.5% of gross domestic product, saying instead Australia would spend what was needed for its defence capability. Around 10% of Australia's steel and aluminium is exported to the United States, and Albanese said he would also raise the issue of Trump's tariffs on the sector, which Australia views as 'acts of economic self harm'. 'Exports are still going in there, they are just paying more for them,' he told reporters. Albanese met with Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday, and said they had discussed Canada's interest in joining AUKUS's so-called Pillar Two to develop advanced defence technology. Australia wants to increase its defence relationships, including with Canada which was a long-term ally with shared values, Albanese said. 'In an uncertain world what people are looking for is certainty, relationships, trusted relationships, Australia and Canada are just such partners,' he said. Albanese will also hold talks with the EU on a proposed defence pact, and seek progress on EU free trade talks. An annual poll by the Lowy Institute think-tank released on Monday showed falling public sentiment in Australia towards the United States, with 36 per cent of people surveyed saying they trust the United States to act responsibly, a 20-point drop since last year. The poll showed two-thirds of respondents supported AUKUS.
