Shiro Armstrong

Australia, Catalonia

Editor at East Asia Forum

Professor at the ANU. Editor of @east_asia_forum and Director of @AJRC_ANU.

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Articles

Australias economic security depends crucially on working with Asia

3 weeks ago | johnmenadue.com | Shiro Armstrong

Australia has unveiled a new National Interest Framework which integrates security considerations into domestic economic policy, aiming to secure economic resilience and security amidst changing global power structures and increasing geopolitical tensions. But Australia has not yet placed strategic economic diplomacy at the forefront of the framework.
Economic Security and New Industrial Policy

2 months ago | onlinelibrary.wiley.com | Shiro Armstrong |Mireya Solís |Shujiro Urata

1 Introduction New geopolitical realities are reshaping the world economy. The United States and China have moved away from an era of engagement to one of great power rivalry. Under Xi Jinping, China has doubled down on state intervention to achieve self-sufficiency in core technologies and has flexed its economic influence abroad through carrots (such as infrastructure finance) and sticks (economic coercion).
Trump’s trade madness risks global depression if retaliation’s not measured

2 months ago | eastasiaforum.org | Shiro Armstrong |Tom Westland

Donald Trump — a man whose career is so thoroughly littered with scams that other scams to which he is not personally connected nonetheless orbit around him like small satellites — has no concept of mutually beneficial trade, which is the most fundamental principle of economics. For him, every interaction has a winner and a loser, and the United States cannot let itself be a loser in any circumstances.
How Australia and Japan can keep global trade going

Nov 16, 2024 | afr.com | Shiro Armstrong

China is likely to retaliate against US President-elect Donald Trump’s threatened 60 per cent tariffs because it cannot afford to look weak. The European Union might also hit back, especially if the US withdraws support for Ukraine.
Kishida was better on the foreign stage than at home

Sep 1, 2024 | afr.com | Shiro Armstrong

By the end of this month, Japan will have a new prime minister, after Fumio Kishida announced his departure in mid-August. Kishida lasted almost three years at the helm, becoming Japan’s eighth-longest-serving post-war prime minister. He was never really popular, and former prime minister Shinzo Abe cast a long shadow over his premiership, as he does over Japanese politics. This is especially true after Abe’s assassination in July 2022. Loading...
Indonesia’s Starlink expansion must balance connectivity and security

Aug 6, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | Karl P Sauvant |Kati Suominen |Shiro Armstrong |Karl Gading Sayudha

In May 2024, Indonesia became the third Southeast Asian country to license Starlink operations, following the Philippines and Malaysia. In early June 2024, Indonesian Investment Minister Bahlil Lahadalia announced that Elon Musk’s Starlink had invested approximately IDR 30 billion (US$1.8 million) in Indonesia. No details have been provided on how the investment will be utilised, aside from it being an initial investment fund provided by the company when it began operations in the country.
Australia’s economic security depends crucially on working with Asia

Aug 5, 2024 | johnmenadue.com | Shiro Armstrong

Australia has unveiled a new National Interest Framework which integrates security considerations into domestic economic policy, aiming to secure economic resilience and security amidst changing global power structures and increasing geopolitical tensions. But Australia has not yet placed strategic economic diplomacy at the forefront of the framework.
Australia can’t afford for economic security trump trade in Asia

Jul 29, 2024 | afr.com | Shiro Armstrong

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has set out a new National Interest Framework that is designed to help guide policy development and check the drift that has seen national economic resilience and security considerations increasingly dominate economic policies without constraint or clear logic.
China sees mixed results wooing Europe

Jul 29, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | Alicia Garcia-Herrero |Shiro Armstrong |Rahul Jaybhay |John Deighton

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s European tour, his first in five years, was a true reality check for Europeans. Not only did Xi take his time to visit the continent, but his choice of destinations — Serbia, Hungary and France — was telling. French President Emmanuel Macron was an important target for Xi due to his recent harsher stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine and strong support for the European Union’s economic security strategy, which aims to reduce dependence on China.
Getting the economics back into economic security

Jul 28, 2024 | eastasiaforum.org | Shiro Armstrong |Rahul Jaybhay |John Deighton |Leora Kornfeld

The weaponisation of trade by the major powers, the return of geopolitics and a much more uncertain international environment has brought economic security policies into fashion, mostly in advanced economies. High trade shares are now seen as a source of vulnerability and many countries are trying to diversify away from their fundamental comparative advantage and economies of scale in international markets in the name of economic security.