Tonga discusses debt with China, Australia’s Wong to visit

David Beckam

SYDNEY, June 1 (Reuters) – Australia’s foreign minister Penny Wong will travel to the Pacific island kingdom of Tonga on Friday, days after her Chinese counterpart visited and discussed Tonga’s heavy debts to Beijing, Tonga’s government said. Wong will also visit Samoa for its 60th anniversary of independence celebrations, in […]

Analysis: Australia’s International Travel Development

David Beckam

Hans Mitterlechner is a director at aviation consultancy ASM Australasia, a partnership between ASM Global and Three Consulting. Australia and Tourism Australia isn’t an easy international travel destination—far away from most source countries, relatively expensive and burdened with not necessarily easy visa procedures. Yet, Australia remains a bucket list […]

Strategic divergence: Australia’s Southeast Asia challenge

David Beckam

Australia’s relationships with countries in Southeast Asia are not bad. The prime minister or foreign minister could happily turn up in any regional country and receive a warm welcome. Last year, Australia signed a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) – one of just two […]

Australia’s mainstream media neglected Asia’s Covid stories

David Beckam

Covid-19 has been particularly disastrous for the United States, the United Kingdom and Southeast Asian nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. These countries have experienced extraordinarily high case numbers and deaths, hospitals full and turning away patients, government lockdowns, and morgues and cemeteries needing more space for the […]

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