One feature of the Australian government’s 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper was the balance struck between tough talk on China’s challenge to US hegemony in Asia and the message that regional military modernisation posed no threat to Australia. Despite the dysfunction roiling Australian politics since then, this judgment still holds. Both the current Morrison government and the Labor Party opposition are showing signs of finding a strategic path through this era of sturm und drang. They know that keeping faith with the American alliance requires scepticism towards aspects of President Trump’s foreign policy, and that ... (full story)