Foreign Relations

Only ten years ago, it would have been impossible to say that the cooperation between Australia and India was particularly active. But since then, the two countries have intensified their efforts to collaborate with one another, with notable success. The reason for India’s and Australia’s increased interest in deepening their partnership is the concern felt by both about China’s growing might and ambitions in the Asia-Pacific region (APAC).

Oceania is a region with a relatively small land area, a small population and very few confirmed mineral resources. That is why Oceania rarely makes world news, which local populations accustomed to living a quiet life are probably fairly content with. And although there may not be many “hot” spots in Oceania, there are places where temperatures are far higher than the regional “average”. Bougainville Island is one of these places, located about 800 km east of the island of New Guinea.

New Zealand is well-known for being a safe and quiet island nation that is stable and prosperous, and is rarely featured in news reports of global media outlets. Still, on account of the changes that are happening in the entire Asia Pacific area, such as the increasing role played by China and USA’s weakened influence in the region, even such a fairly small country felt the need to get involved in regional political processes to ensure it can continue its peaceful existence despite these changes.

Chinese President Xi Jinping became the first high-level official from the PRC to pay an official visit to Myanmar in 20 years. He had been invited by President Win Myin and was in the Southeast Asian nation from 17 to 18 January of this year. And although the focus of the talks between the Chinese Head of State and Myanmar’s true leaders was on economic cooperation, it was the political implications of the visit that garnered most attention from commentators.

From 11 to 15 January of this year, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe was on a scheduled tour of a number of Greater Middle Eastern (GME) nations, a region of growing importance in Japan’s foreign policy course. This is evidenced by, for instance, the increasing frequency of visits by high-level government officials from Japan to the GME and vice versa.

A Japanese delegation headed by Minister for Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi and Minister of Defense Taro Kono paid a visit to India between November 20 and December 1, during which talks were held with their Indian counterparts, Minister of External Affairs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, in what was the first round of the 2+2 Ministerial Dialog.

The creation of forums in powerful Asian nations aimed at promoting discussions about various issues that arise in relationships among leading participants of the Big Game is becoming one of the signs pointing to the shift of the center of global processes from the Euro-Atlantic region to that of the Indo-Pacific.

Africa is a vast continent, rich in natural and labor resources. For many centuries, it was divided into spheres of influence between powerful European nations. After World War II, the process of decolonization and the emergence of independent African states took place, which the USSR supported while the West stood in opposition. After Cold War ended, both sides temporarily weakened their influence on the continent, which China took advantage of by launching a large-scale economic expansion in Africa.