U.S., Australia Sign Rare Earths Deal as Trump Promises Submarines

By Danny Kemp with David Williams in Sydney U.S. President Donald Trump signed a deal on rare earth minerals Monday with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, and said Washington's key ally would get its coveted nuclear-powered attack submarines. ...

Australia Chides China Over Mid-Air Incident

Australia on Monday rebuked Beijing for "unsafe" military conduct, accusing a Chinese warplane of dropping flares near an Australian surveillance plane over the South China Sea. The Australian Poseidon was flying a surveillance patrol over the South China Sea on Sunday ...

Australia, Papua New Guinea Delay Mutual Defense Treaty

Australia and Papua New Guinea will not sign a long-awaited mutual defense treaty as expected on Wednesday, the two countries said. The deal was set to see the two nations commit to defending each other from armed attacks as they face ...

Papua New Guinea, Australia Will Commit to Mutual Defense to Counter “Emerging Threats”

A new defense treaty between Australia and Papua New Guinea commits to defending each other if they are attacked in the face of "emerging threats", a copy of the deal seen by AFP on Tuesday showed. The pact -- seen as ...

Australian Police Charge Chinese National With ‘Foreign Interference’

Australian police said Monday they had charged a Chinese national with "reckless foreign interference", accusing the woman of spying on a local Buddhist group for Beijing. Assistant police commissioner Stephen Nutt said the woman had been covertly gathering information on the ...

Analysis from Cobus van Staden

How to Lure Chinese Financing Back to the Global South: Report

Global South countries face increasing financing pressure, endangering their ability to keep developing while also implementing measures to deal with a growing climate crisis. The disruption of global trade is coupled with a larger megatrend: flows of international capital to the developing world have turned negative. This means that countries are now routinely paying more to service loans than they receive in disbursements.

The vast majority of Global South borrowers ...

‘Dialogue’ Must Be at Heart of China, Australia Ties, PM Tells Xi

By Sam Davies with Steven Trask in Sydney "Dialogue" must be at the heart of ties between Canberra and Beijing, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday as he met President Xi Jinping in the Chinese capital. ...

Australia PM in China to Boost Trade Despite Regional Angst

By Peter Catterall Anthony Albanese arrived in Shanghai on Saturday to kick off his second visit to China as Australian prime minister, seeking to bolster recently stabilised trade ties even as geopolitical tensions remain high. ...

China Says Australian PM Albanese to Visit This Week

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will begin a six-day visit to China on Saturday, his office and Beijing said. China lifted a ban on Australian rock lobster in December, the last barrier in a broader, multibillion-dollar trade war that erupted under ...

Australia Says China Anxiety, Geography Driving Closer Indonesia Ties

Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that security anxiety over China was partly driving deepening ties with Indonesia in a region riven by rivalry between Beijing and Washington. His visit to meet counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin in Jakarta came weeks after ...

Chinese Ambassador Lashes Australian Plan to Buy Back Key Port

China's ambassador to Australia has condemned a push to block a Chinese company running a strategically important Australian shipping port, calling it "ethically questionable." The Landbridge group was granted a 99-year lease on the northern port of Darwin in 2015, a ...

Australia Rebuffs China’s Appeal to ‘Join Hands’ in Trade

Australia rebuffed China's appeal to "join hands" to defend trade on Thursday, as Beijing looks for partners to help it blunt U.S. tariffs now ratcheted up to 125 percent. Ambassador Xiao Qian urged Australia and other trading partners to "jointly respond ...

Australia to Buy Darwin Port Lease From Chinese Firm: PM

Australia plans to buy back control of its strategic northern port of Darwin from the current Chinese leaseholder, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Friday. China's Landbridge group was granted a 99-year lease on the port in 2015, a widely criticised decision ...
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