The head of Britain ’s Royal Navy has joined Australia in questioning US bureaucratic hurdles facing the three-country Aukus project to supply Australia with nuclear-powered submarines.

Southeast Asia was in the spotlight with Anwar Ibrahim finally becoming Malaysia’s prime minister, while Singapore repealed its anti-gay law Section 377A.

Former Australian PM Kevin Rudd could help US, Australia, China adopt ‘more realistic and pragmatic approach’ towards managing their ties, experts say.

Rudd, who speaks fluent Mandarin, completed a doctorate on the world view of China’s President Xi Jinping this year. His appointment comes as Canberra and Washington are deepening security cooperation in response to a rising China.

When China was at a critical crossroads in 1989, Jiang helped lay the groundwork for an economic transformation, and it largely hinged on improving relations with Western countries.

Former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said there are indications China will emulate a ‘Hong Kong model’ in its zero-Covid policy, with an easing of restrictions by the middle of 2023.

Rudd’s comments come as Western nations criticise the Solomon Islands-China security deal that they believe will lead to Beijing bolstering its military presence in the Asia-Pacific region.

Former Australian prime minister says China is dealing with ‘self-inflicted’ problems, including ‘poor policy choices’, and that economic growth is the Communist Party’s top challenge this year.

The former Australian prime ministers also blamed hawkish government ministers and conservative media for inflaming tensions with Beijing.

A revocation of the deal on national security grounds could have serious financial and commercial ramifications, but experts say there is no ‘immediate imperative’ to terminate the lease.

Kevin Rudd also says the US secretary of state has been ‘salting the earth in the US-China relationship’.

Asian-Australians are asking why their Prime Minister did not issue a stronger response to his party colleague Eric Abetz’s ‘McCarthyist racism’.

Senator Eric Abetz demanded that three Chinese-Australians denounce the CCP during an inquiry, sparking accusations he was waging a ‘McCarthyist campaign’.

Kevin Rudd’s remarks came in a wide-ranging talk he gave touching on the South China Sea, Taiwan, his successor’s China failures and the danger of diplomatic disengagement.

Kurdish migrant Behrouz Boochani has forged an unlikely career from a Pacific detention centre – as an author, speaker and human rights campaigner

We cannot recall many political leaders who were able to lead their party back into power after a decade in the wilderness, save their country from recession and job losses in the global financial crisis with fearless stimulus measures, give the elderly their biggest pension rise ever and democratise the country's oldest political party with reforms that gave rank-and-file members a say in who leads it. That is from the CV of Kevin Rudd, former Australian Labor Party leader and prime minister. Yet he has just quit national politics at age 56 because he has no future in it. Sadly, he exhausted a huge fund of goodwill from the party and public.

Pressure was building yesterday on defeated Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to quit politics, with senior figures within his Labor Party saying he would be a destabilising influence.

Embattled Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd warned on Thursday he was nowhere near being “dead and buried” after a debate in which election rival Tony Abbott asked: “Does this guy ever shut up."