Asia Rising

La Trobe Asia

4.6 (17)
Politics
Updated Semiweekly

Asia Rising, the podcast of La Trobe Asia which takes a critical look at the key issues facing Asia's states and societies.

2d ago

Event: Australia's Submarine Cable Challenge

"The seabed is becoming a battlefield," Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles warned at the Shangri-La Dialogue in May, and "we have been slow – collectively slow – to recognise [submarine cables] as the strategic targets they have become." Some 16 privately operated submarine cables carry around 99 per cent of Australia's international data – the financial transactions, government communications and cloud services on which the country's economy and security depend. Recent incidents in the Baltic Sea and around Taiwan suggest that state actors are actively probing this infrastructure, and history suggests Australia's cables would be among the first targets in any regional conflict. Yet submarine cables barely rate a mention in Australia's key strategic documents, responsibilities are fragmented across Commonwealth agencies, and these agencies have no means of ensuring priority repairs even in a national emergency. What must Australia do to secure its submarine cable network? And how can it seize the opportunity to become an Indo-Pacific preferred cable hub? A La Trobe Centre for Global Security event, co-hosted with AIIA Victoria and the Australia India Institute. The Melbourne launch of Connected & Protected: Building Australia's Submarine Cable Resilience, the most comprehensive assessment of Australia's submarine cable network to date, and Dr Bashfield's newly published short book Submarine Cables (Cambridge University Press, 2026) Speakers: Dr David Brewster (ANU National Security College) Dr Samuel Bashfield (La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 10th August, 2026.
2d ago

Event: Screening South Asia: Cultural Bridge, Critical Lens

South Asian cinema shapes how millions of people around the world encounter the region’s cultures, languages, and identities. For many, film provides a gateway to South Asian languages and literature, and to cultural conversations that cross national, regional, and diasporic borders. But what does South Asian cinema say about the societies it represents? Beneath the spectacle, song, and romance, filmmakers across the region - including those working within Bollywood - have long grappled with questions of gender, caste, ethnicity, class, beauty, and skin colour. How do these tensions sit alongside cinema’s power to foster cross-cultural empathy and identification? And what can film reveal about the complexity and diversity within South Asian cultures themselves? Co-presented by La Trobe Asia and the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, this event brings together researchers and practitioners to explore South Asian cinema as both a cultural bridge and a critical lens. Panel: Dr Ian Woolford (Hindi Studies, La Trobe University) Dr Divya Rama Gopalakrishnan (History, La Trobe University) Dr Phebyn Joseph (Hindi Studies, La Trobe University) MJ Bently (Partnerships Manager, Indian Film Festival in Melbourne) Matt Smith (La Trobe Asia) Recorded on 7th August, 2026.
6d ago

Event: Creeping Censorship in Asian Media

From digital regulation and political pressure to economic influence and self-censorship, media freedom in Asia is being shaped by a range of subtle and evolving constraints. Rather than outright bans on reporting, many observers point to a process of "creeping censorship"—the gradual narrowing of space for independent journalism and public debate. How are these pressures playing out across Asia? What do they mean for journalists and media organisations? How are the changing political, technological, and economic realities reshaping the region's information environment? Panel: Dr Lupita Wijaya (Research Fellow, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Dr Nasya Bahfen (Senior Lecturer, Journalism, La Trobe University) Phebyn Joseph (Hindi Lecturer, Language Studies, La Trobe University) Recorded on 30th July, 2026
Jul 27

Interview: Australia's Submarine Cable Security

Almost every email you send, every video you stream, and every financial transaction you make travels not through satellites, but through a vast network of cables lying on the ocean floor. Submarine cables are the invisible capillaries of the global internet — and increasingly, they are at the centre of great power competition in the Indo-Pacific. Guest: Dr Samuel Bashfield (Research Fellow at the La Trobe Centre for Global Security) COME TO OUR EVENT: Is the Seabed a ‘Battlefield’? Australia’s Submarine Cable Challenge Monday 10th August, 6:00 - 7:00PM AEST 356 Collins St, Melbourne Register on the AIIA Vic website Recorded on 17th June, 2026.
Jul 21

Event: The Real Costs of AUKUS

The AUKUS agreement between Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom is set to reshape Australia's military and strategic future through the acquisition of nuclear-powered submarines. But the implications of AUKUS extend far beyond defence, with significant consequences for Australia's economy, diplomacy, industry, and foreign relations. As the project moves from ambition to implementation, important questions remain. Can Australia deliver an undertaking of this scale and complexity? What are the costs, risks, and strategic trade-offs involved? And if the project does not proceed according to plan, what alternatives are available? The launch of the new issue of Australian Foreign Affairs. Panel: Professor Bec Strating (Director, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Hon Peter Khalil MP (Assistant Minister for Defence, Australia) Assoc. Professor Yee-Fui Ng (Director (Higher Degree by Research), Monash University) Dr Samuel Bashfield (Research Fellow, La Trobe Centre for Global Security) Recorded on 20th July, 2026.
Jul 6

Interview: US Engagement With Pacific Island Nations

The United States has, over recent years, significantly deepened its engagement with Pacific Island nations — reopening embassies, renewing funding compacts, and positioning itself as a committed partner in a region of growing strategic importance. Since the return of the Trump administration in January 2025, questions have been raised about the continuity of that commitment, and what a changed US posture means for the Pacific and for the countries that share an interest in its stability. Guest: Professor Alan Tidwell (Director of the Center for Australian, New Zealand and Pacific Studies, Georgetown University) Recorded on 28th May, 2026.
Jun 12

Interview: The Continued Repression of Uyghurs

An escalating crisis faces the Uyghur in China. The newly enacted Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress legalises forced assimilation, erases linguistic rights, and expands state surveillance. It provides a permanent legal framework for the ongoing campaign of mass re-education camps, long-term imprisonment, and cultural erasure of China's minorities. Guest: Yalkun Uluyol (China Researcher, Human Rights Watch) Host: Emeritus Professor James Leibold (Asian Studies, La Trobe University) Recorded 22nd May, 2026.
May 30

Interview: Pragmatic China and Multilateral Organisations

Over the past decade, China has launched a remarkable number of multilateral initiatives — from the Belt and Road to BRICS to a suite of so-called Global Initiatives covering development, security, and civilisation. Western analysts have tended to read these as evidence of a Chinese project to displace the existing international order. Guest: Dr Joel Ng (Senior Fellow and Head of the Centre for Multilateralism Studies at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Nanyang Technological University in Singapore) Book: The Dragon’s Emerging Order: Sinocentric Multilateralism and Global Responses Recorded on 27th March, 2026.

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Trailer

Podcast miniseries: The Catch

The Catch. A podcast miniseries about modern slavery and forced labour in the offshore fishing industry in the Asia Pacific Region. Available now on all podcast platforms. Hosted by Bec Strating, produced by La Trobe Asia.

4.6

out of 5

17 Ratings

Great Podcast!

11/24/2020

JTBis

As an American I hadn’t heard of La Trobe University prior to subscribing to Matt Smith’s “Emperors of Rome” podcast series. Looking for more fresh content, I decided to check out La Trobe’s other offerings and have been really pleased with the Asia Rising podcast. Asia wasn’t on my radar as a podcast listener but this podcast got me hooked. The guests on the show are superb. It’s also a real plus to learn about contemporary Asia from a non-American perspective in order to get a more neutral take, or at least one with less posturing. Love the theme music!
Lots of good info

12/19/2019

Smell what the Brock is cookin

I'm a Yank and thus suffer from an extremely inward-facing and myopic news media, so there aren't a lot of ways for me to learn about the contemporary Asian political landscape. It's been a joy listening to Asia Rising the past few years. I've learned a ton about India under modi, water rights along the Himalayas, the aftemath of the recent Thai coup, and all sorts of other interesting topics. Matt Smith and the various other hosts do well to bring out the best of their many interesting guests. I learn something new everytime I listen, which pleases me to no end. Highly recommended.
The world through their eyes

09/13/2018

ClarkDN

Asia can be enigmatic for those in the west like myself. This podcasts brings in experts on various topics and really makes the complicated understandable. Very nice production! La Trobe is an Australian university, which gives them a unique perspective and voice.
Sponsored by China?

03/15/2019

Mikka R.

Caveat emptor: this podcast presents some balanced viewpoints and others which come straight from the PRC propaganda. Many speakers simply refuse to acknowledge China’s influence operations in Australia as a danger or their influence over ASEAN members as a concern. Maybe because their livelihoods depend on not seeing it?