APSNet 4 May 2009

1. Defence white paper: Ambitious, cautious … and risky
2. Australian opposition wants China deal blocked
3. Indonesia: Kalla-Wiranto to run in July polls
4. Beijing gives Frank Bainimarama cold comfort
5. Dili tycoon deal triggers alarm
6. Conditions towards Zero – 11 Benchmarks for Global Nuclear Disarmament
7. Why Pakistan is the main game

1. Ambitious, cautious … and risky, Daniel Flitton, Age, 2009-05-02

Rather than reading this document as the “Defence” white paper, shift your perspective subtly. Instead, see it as Australia’s white paper for “War”. Now you can begin to imagine how Australia’s neighbours might regard the plans.

• Defending Australia in the Asia-Pacific Century: Force 2020, Defence White Paper 2009, Department of Defence, 2009 [PDF, 1.8MB]
• Defence White Paper 2009, Department of Defence, May 2009
• Military build-up ‘risks new Asian arms race’, John Garnaut, Michelle Grattan and Anne Davies, Age, 2009-05-04
• Kevin Rudd’s push for missile supremacy, Patrick Walters, Australian, 2009-05-02
• Military ambitions, Cameron Stewart, Australian, 2009-05-02
• Coalition may bar defence increase, Mark Dodd, Australian, 2009-05-04

2. Australian opposition wants China deal blocked, Reuters, 2009-05-01

Australia should veto China’s planned $19.5 billion investment in miner Rio Tinto, Australia’s main opposition Liberal Party said. Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull said the investor, China’s state-owned Chinalco, was effectively an arm of the Chinese government and would have a conflict of interest as both a customer and influential part-owner of Australian resources.

• Power Balances in Asia: The Coalition Perspective, Malcolm Turnbull, Lowy, 2009-05-01 [PDF, 128KB]

3. Kalla-Wiranto to run in July polls, Jakarta Globe, 2009-05-02

Outcast Vice President Jusuf Kalla and his former internal Golkar Party rival Wiranto are the first pairing to announce they will contest the July 8 presidential elections. The pairing, a match-up almost unthinkable even a month ago in the wake of last month’s legislative elections, expects to go head-to-head with the heavily favored incumbent President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his yet unnamed partner.

4. Beijing gives Frank Bainimarama cold comfort, Rowan Callick and Christian Kerr, Australian, 2009-05-02

China is indicating it is not prepared to place its crucial relationship with Australia at risk by filling Fiji’s international relations vacuum. Fiji was due to be the first country suspended from the 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum from this morning because of its failure to schedule elections by May 1 for later this year. The military-installed Government says it will not hold elections until September 2014.

5. Dili tycoon deal triggers alarm, Lindsay Murdoch and Tom Hyland, Age, 2009-05-03

The deal to give Tomy Winata, who amassed a fortune through businesses operated on behalf of the Indonesian military, the go-ahead for East Timor’s largest private project has raised renewed questions about commercial decisions by the Government in Dili. The lease follows a Government decision to give notorious Jakarta gangster Hercules Rozario Marcal a contract to develop a supermarket on the Dili waterfront and comes amid reports of widespread corruption in Dili.     

• Gangster nets key Dili project, Lindsay Murdoch, Age, 2008-08-05

6. Conditions towards Zero – 11 Benchmarks for Global Nuclear Disarmament, Hirofumi Nakasone, Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2009-04-27

Japan will do its utmost so that the 11 benchmarks for global nuclear disarmament can be accomplished. We plan to propose these benchmarks at the 2010 NPT Review Conference. I hope that the International Commission on Nuclear Non-proliferation and Disarmament will draw up a set of realistic, action-oriented proposals that will guide all countries toward a world free of nuclear weapons at its final meeting.

• Australia-Japan civil society cooperation for nuclear disarmament, Nautilus Institute

7. Why Pakistan is the main game, Hamish McDonald, SMH, 2009-05-02

Until the newly refocused army is swung into a broader campaign against Islamist armed militants along the Afghan border, a lot of doubts will remain in Western capitals that the Pakistan military has abandoned its double game of being simultaneously an American ally against terrorism, collecting a lot of US aid from it, and a promoter of the main Islamist outfits fighting the West.

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