- DETERRENCE: Joint press release of the seventh trilateral foreign ministers’ Meeting among the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China
- GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: 150,000 rally on May Day to oppose government’s labor reforms
- CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: The heat is on: climate change, extreme heat and bushfires in WA
- AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: ANZUS pact teetered over Nixon contempt for Whitlam
DETERRENCE: Joint press release of the seventh trilateral foreign ministers’ Meeting among the Republic of Korea, Japan, and the People’s Republic of China (31 March 2015)
At the 7th Trilateral Foreign Ministers’ Meeting on March 21, 2015, China, ROK and Japan decided to resume or strengthen trilateral ministerial and senior official cooperation in more than 20 issue areas including nuclear safety. nuclear security, and counter-terrorism consultation.
- Securing nuclear safety in Northeast Asia: ROK proposal on Northeast Asia nuclear safety mechanism, Park Yoon-won, NAPSNet Special Reports, Korean language version (5 May 2015)
- Nuclear terrorism risks in Northeast Asia: Japan’s reactor restart and spent fuel, NAPSNet Special Reports (23 March 2015)
GOVERNANCE AND CIVIL SOCIETY: 150,000 rally on May Day to oppose government’s labor reforms, Choi Woo-ri, Hankyoreh (2 May 2015)
Roughly 150,000 demonstrators protested against proposed labor reforms and government inaction regarding the Sewol ferry accident on this year’s May Day in Seoul, while in Japan protestors took to the streets in Yokohama against proposed revisions to the constitution. Clothing factory workers owed months’ back pay refused to work and marched in Guangdong, the 838th strike in China since January.
- Abe’s efforts to revise pacifist constitution encounter mass protest at home, Xinhua (3 May 2015)
- In China’s Guangdong, 1000 march on labor day over missing paychecks, Wong Lok-to, Radio Free Asia (1 May 2015)
CLIMATE CHANGE ADAPTATION: The heat is on: climate change, extreme heat and bushfires in WA, Will Steffen, Lesley Hughes and Alix Pearce, Climate Council of Australia Limited (2015) [12.24 MB, PDF]
Western Australia is experiencing a long-term increase in average temperatures and in 2014 the state recorded its highest ever annual average maximum temperature. Moreover, the number of heat-wave days in Perth has increased by 50% since 1950. Nine of Western Australia’s hottest Januarys on record have occurred in the last 10 years. The number of days per year with severe fire danger weather is projected to almost double in south west Western Australia by 2090 if global carbon emissions are not drastically reduced.
- Understanding bushfire: trends in deliberate vegetation fires in Australia: Western Australia, Colleen Bryant, Australian Institute of Criminology (2008) [3.13 MB, PDF]
- Health impacts of climate change: adaptation strategies for Western Australia, Jeff Spickett, Helen Brown and Dianne Katscherian, Environmental Health Directorate, Department of Health, Australia (2008) [782 KB, PDF]
AUSTRAL PEACE AND SECURITY: ANZUS pact teetered over Nixon contempt for Whitlam, Australian (1 May 2015)
Alliance issues dominate Australian defence policy, then as now. James Curran’s “Unholy Fury” documents Nixon’s and Kissinger’s contempt for Whitlam (“peacenik”/”bastard”) and his mild criticisms of the bombing of North Vietnam. PM Abbott has ignored Defence advice for retaining an autonomous national submarine-building capacity in favour of a Japanese build, strengthening an emerging “quasi-alliance”. And then again, Australia goes it alone with intel cooperation with Iran against IS.
- Unholy Fury: Whitlam and Nixon at war, James Curran, Melbourne University Press, (paper and e-book, 2015)
- Abbott acted against Defence advice on subs, Richard Baker and Nick McKenzie, Sydney Morning Herald (4 May 2015)
- Australia’s intel cooperation with Iran: eyes wide shut? Andrew Davies, The Strategist, (27 April 2015)
The Nautilus Peace and Security Weekly Report presents articles and full length reports each week in six categories: Austral security, nuclear deterrence, energy security, climate change and security, the DPRK, climate change adaptation and governance and civil society. Our team of contributors carefully select items that highlight the links between these themes and the three regions in which our offices are found — North America, Northeast Asia, and the Austral-Asia region.
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- Editor: Arabella Imhoff
Contributors:
- Deterrence: Peter Hayes
- DPRK: Roger Cavazos
- Governance and Civil Society: Dyana Mardon
- Climate Change Adaptation: Saleem Janjua
- Austral Peace and Security: Richard Tanter