ASPI Podcast: Policy, Guns & Money

This week at ASPI has been all about space security. We were delighted to be joined by Lieutenant General Nina Armagno, Director of Staff, Headquarters at U.S. Space Force, and Lieutenant General John Shaw, Deputy Commander at U.S. Space Command for a series of space-focused events. To continue the conversation, ASPI’s Bec Shrimpton asks General Armagno and General Shaw about opportunities and competition in space, the difference between U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force, and how Australia and the United States can work together to make sure space is secure and sustainable for all. Guests (in order of appearance): Bec Shrimpton: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/bec-shrimpton Lt Gen Nina Armagno: https://www.spaceforce.mil/SFB/Display/Article/2387835/lt-gen-nina-m-armagno/ Lt Gen John Shaw: https://www.spacecom.mil/Leaders/Bio/Article/2433977/lt-gen-john-e-shaw/ Background music: Phychic by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk

In the second episode of ASPI’s special series ‘What’s In A Name? The Australia-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’, Dr David Engel and Dr Gatra Priyandita speak to Dr Arianto Patunru and Nicola Yeomans, two people who were instrumental in the Partnership’s creation. They explore the economic dimensions of the Australia-Indonesia relationship, existing trade barriers and how to improve public-private partnerships. Guests (in order of appearance): Dr Gatra Priyandita: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/gatra-priyandita Dr David Engel: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/david-engel Dr Arianto Patunru: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/academic/arianto-patunru Nicola Yeomans: https://www.kwm.com/sg/en/people/nicola-yeomans.html Music: Psychic by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk

‘What’s In A Name? The Australia-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership’. In a new special podcast series, ASPI’s Dr David Engel and Dr Gatra Priyandita explore the Australia-Indonesia Comprehensive Strategic Partnership and the ‘five pillars’ supporting it. In the coming weeks, David and Gatra will be joined by leading thinkers on the Australia-Indonesia relationship to discuss the historical background behind and future of the Partnership. In this week’s episode, they speak to Professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar and Allan Gyngell AO about Australia-Indonesia relations, the aspirations for the Partnership and its potential, and the different approaches the two countries take to foreign policy. Guests (in order of appearance): Dr David Engel: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/david-engel Dr Gatra Priyandita: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/gatra-priyandita Professor Dewi Fortuna Anwar: Allan Gyngell AO: https://crawford.anu.edu.au/people/visitors/allan-gyngell Music: Psychic by Ketsa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk

This week, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Chinese President Xi Xinping on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Indonesia. This was the first time an Australian Prime Minister met with President Xi since Malcolm Turnbull in 2016. David Wroe speaks to Dr Alex Bristow about the significance of the meeting and what this means for the bilateral relationship, as well as other developments from Summit Season so far. At the 2015 G20 Summit, world leaders recognised the risks that state-sponsored cyberespionage posed to the long-term economic growth of nations and their prosperity. Following on from their briefing note to this year’s G20 Leaders’ Summit, Dr Ben Stevens speaks to Dr Gatra Priyandita and Bart Hogeveen about why ICT-enabled IP theft still remains an important issue that affects developed and developing nations alike. Mentioned in this episode: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/State-sponsored-economic-cyberespionage_briefing-note Guests (in order of appearance): David Wroe: https://twitter.com/davidwroe Dr Alex Bristow: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/dr-alex-bristow Dr Ben Stevens: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/ben-stevens Dr Gatra Priyandita: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/gatra-priyandita Bart Hogeveen: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/bart-hogeveen Eclipse-6 by Michikawa, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk

Fergus Hanson speaks to Rick Rossow about the trajectory of the US-India relationship and lessons for Canberra in how Washington and New Delhi have approached their relationship. They also discuss India’s domestic and foreign policy priorities, including on data security. Staying on the theme of India’s foreign policy, Baani Grewal speaks to Akriti Vasudeva and Dr Teesta Prakash. Their conversation covers the US-India relationship, India-Australia ties, the potential of the Quad and the priorities for these relationships given the rapidly changing strategic environment. With COP27 under way, climate policies and addressing climate challenges are again in focus for governments around the world. Dr Robert Glasser speaks to Professor Joshua Busby about climate and security, how the US Department of Defense is factoring climate change into their planning, and lessons learned for the Australian government. Guests (in order of appearance): Fergus Hanson: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/fergus-hanson Rick Rossow: https://www.csis.org/people/richard-m-rossow Baani Grewal: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/baani-grewal Akriti Vasudeva: https://www.stimson.org/ppl/vasudeva/ Dr Teesta Prakash: https://twitter.com/Teesta_P Dr Robert Glasser: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/robert-glasser Professor Joshua Busby: https://sites.utexas.edu/busby/ Music: "eclipse-6" by Michikawa, via TribeOfNoise: https://prosearch.tribeofnoise.com/artists/show/24793 Image: "Hurricane Sam churns in the Atlantic Ocean" c/ NASA. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hurricanes/images/index.html

This week, Moscow claimed that Kyiv is planning to use a dirty-bomb, allegations that the US, UK and French foreign ministers have condemned as “transparently false”. Given the renewed focus on nuclear threats, Dr Alex Bristow asks Kelsey Hartigan about progress on non-proliferation issues, risk reduction and the links between integrated deterrence and non-proliferation. The LAND 400 Phase 3 project and the suitability of infantry fighting vehicles to the ADF’s future needs are hotly contested. ASPI’s Dr Marcus Hellyer speaks to Dr Albert Palazzo about the ADF’s proposed acquisition of the vehicles and whether the scenarios in which they might be deployed merits such an expensive purchase, something Dr Palazzo wrote about his recent ASPI report ‘Deciding the future: the Australian Army and the infantry fighting vehicle’. Pakistan recently experienced its worst floods on record – with over 9 million people displaced and over 2 million homes destroyed. Will Leben speaks to Pakistan’s High Commissioner His Excellency Mr Zahid Hafeez Chaudri, about the impacts and long-term threats of climate change for Pakistan, the role of the military in disaster response and climate compensation. This week the Albanese government delivered its first Federal Budget. Senior analyst Marcus Hellyer explains why the government has kept its defence powder dry in this week’s budget, setting the scene for some very difficult decisions in the first half of next year. Mentioned in this episode: ‘Deciding the future: the Australian Army and the infantry fighting vehicle’: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/deciding-future Guests (in order of appearance): Dr Alex Bristow: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/dr-alex-bristow Kelsey Hartigan: https://www.csis.org/people/kelsey-hartigan Dr Marcus Hellyer: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/marcus-hellyer Dr Al Palazzo: https://researchcentre.army.gov.au/about-us/contributor-biographies/albert-palazzo Will Leben: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/will-leben H.E. Mr Zahid Hafeez Chaudri: https://www.pakistan.org.au/high-commissioner/ David Wroe: @davidwroe (Twitter) Music: "The Moon Drops" by Nathan Moore

Peter Tesch was until two months ago one of Australia’s most senior and experienced national security and foreign affairs officials. His roles included Ambassador to Moscow and, most recently, Deputy Secretary for Strategy, Policy and Industry at the Department of Defence. As such, no one in Australia has a better understanding of Vladimir Putin’s grip on power, his ambitions for Russia and the enormity of the quagmire he has created for himself with his brutal but incompetent invasion of his smaller neighbour. Peter joined ASPI’s David Wroe for this special conversation on Russia and Ukraine. Music: "The Thought of You" by TrackTribe

In this special episode of Policy, Guns and Money, Justin Bassi speaks to Lisa Curtis, Senior Fellow and Director of the Indo-Pacific Security Program at CNAS, and former senior director for South and Central Asia on the US NSC, and Bec Shrimpton, Director of ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue and former Senior Advisor - Major Powers to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Women. They discuss deterrence – what it is, how it works, whether we have or lack it - and how the US and Australia can work together to achieve their deterrence goals. Guests (in order of appearance): Justin Bassi: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/justin-bassi Lisa Curtis: https://www.cnas.org/people/lisa-curtis Bec Shrimpton: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/bec-shrimpton Music: "this feels different" by Independent Music Licensing Collective (IMLC) via the FreeMusicArchive.org

The Chinese Government is using popular Uyghur and other minority influencers on YouTube to promote a sanitised image of frontier regions such as Xinjiang that is starkly at odds with the picture that has emerged internationally of severe human rights abuses. Fergus Ryan and Daria Impiombato speak to David Wroe about their latest report ‘Frontier influencers: the new face of China’s propaganda’, which identifies an increasingly sophisticated propaganda and disinformation campaign and calls for action from social media platforms. Read the report at; https://www.aspi.org.au/report/frontier-influencers Music: "Carrie White" by Filmy Ghost (Sábila Orbe) via the FreeMusicArchive.org

This week, senior Chinese Communist Party officials are meeting in Beijing for the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party, where Xi Jinping will secure a third term as head of the Chinese Communist Party. In this special episode, Dr Samantha Hoffman and Charlie Parton provide insights into the Party Congress – what it is, the importance of ideology and why it matters, as well as initial takeaways from President Xi’s speech and what to expect from the rest of the Congress. Guests: Dr Samantha Hoffman: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/samantha-hoffman Charles Parton OBE: https://rusi.org/people/parton-obe Music: "Up from Here" by Maarten Schellekens - via the FreeMusicArchive.org