http://hdl.handle.net/10453/35362 2026-04-15T04:06:45Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/194404 Title: Australia Authors: Austin, G Abstract: Australia has served as an international partner for Western security and intelligence interests for over a century, even before its national independence in 1901. It sent troops to fight with the British Empire in South Africa in 1889 and with the colonial powers, including the US, in the Boxer rebellion in China in 1900. This positioning of Australia was strengthened significantly since then by alliances with the US and the UK in two world wars, especially against Japan from 1941 to 1945, and by Australia s subsequent participation in most US-led foreign wars (Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan). Australia has partnered closely with the US in strategic competition with China, including in cyberspace, since at least 2011. As a result, over eight decades, Australia has become ever more deeply engaged in the most powerful cyber military and intelligence alliance in the world-the Five Eyes. This position was further transformed and strengthened in 2021 under the auspices of the AUKUS agreement. At the same time, new forms of multilateral cyber diplomacy with a hard security focus affecting Australia began to emerge, for example, with Ukraine, within NATO, and with major Indo-Pacific powers apart from China. These hard security interests of Australia in cyberspace have now pushed into the shade what had become a creditable level of international citizenship in support of the development of cyber norms within the framework of the United Nations and other multilateral settings. The main policy challenge for Australia now is to reconcile different strands of international cyber policy to secure its basic needs national defence, economic prosperity and domestic human security-while contributing to the good order of the region and the world. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/193879 Title: Development of Aromatic Organic Materials for High‐Performance Lithium‐on Batteries: Strategies, Advances and Future Perspectives Authors: Wang, T; Fu, C; Liu, X; Gu, W; He, D; Liu, X; Lu, J; Liu, Y; Wang, C; Pang, H Abstract: Ever since lithium (Li) ion batteries were successfully commercialized, aromatic compounds have attended every turning point in optimizing electrolytes, separators, and even electrode materials. However, the contribution of aromatic compounds has always been neglected compared to other advanced materials. At the same time, designing next-generation Li-ion batteries with higher flexibility, solid-state electrolytes, high energy density, and better coulombic efficiency has imposed stricter duties on aromatic components. In this review, we first systematically introduce the history of aromatic compounds that promote the development of Li-ion batteries. Typical applications of aromatic compounds in Li-ion batteries (e.g., separators, electrolytes, binders, and electrodes) are discussed in detail, and corresponding design characteristics are systematically analyzed. Finally, we suppose conjectures and prospects orientally designing aromatic compounds in the next generation Li-ion batteries. 2025-12-15T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/193352 Title: The 'soft' uses of 'hard power': the people's liberation army and 'military operations other than war' Authors: Clarke, M Abstract: Through an examination of the treatment of MOOTW in official doctrinal and defense policy statements and ‘semi-authoritative’ Chinese military writings this paper argues: (i) that MOOTW have become integrated into China’s military strategy as a means of protecting ‘overseas interests’, enhancing PLA operational experience and supporting China’s broader diplomatic and strategic objectives; and (ii) the manner in which this integration has occurred is emblematic of the iterative nature of Chinese strategic doctrine informed by perceptions of shifts in the contemporary global security environment and their impact on China’s national interests. The paper concludes however that while China has made significant strides in embedding MOOTW into the PLA’s mission, its ability to meet these objectives is constrained both by the fact that its primary strategic focus remains East Asia and its capability development is geared to ‘counter-intervention’ of outside powers in that sphere. 2025-03-04T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/10453/193238 Title: Australia and the Path Not Taken: The Declining Independence and Influence of Middle Powers Authors: Beeson, M Abstract: Australian foreign policy has famously been distinguished by the search for ‘great and powerful friends’. However, Australia's relationship with its current notional protector and key ally—the United States—has generally had more costs than benefits and, I argue, has consequently not been in Australia's much-invoked ‘national interest’. Examining this rather counter-intuitive outcome sheds a revealing light on the challenges that face ‘middle powers’ as they try to navigate a path between their ‘great’ counterparts. Australia is especially illuminating as the great powers in question are the US and China. To understand why Australia has found itself an ‘entrapped’ ally, we need to examine the specific historical circumstances that have helped to create a distinctive ‘strategic culture’, one that imparts a degree of path dependence, shaping and constraining an ideational milieu that effectively defines what is judged to be an appropriate, even ‘realistic’ response to security challenges. In short, I argue that Australia demonstrates how and why the potential influence of middle powers is decreasing as they willingly forgo opportunities to play a more creative, constructive and independent role in the evolving international order. 2025-01-01T00:00:00Z