CSIS Pacific Partners Initiative

The latest issue of Southeast Asia from Scott Circle is available. http://cs.is/2bMey0x

Senior adviser and deputy director Murray Hiebert and associate fellow Phuong Nguyen offer a roadmap for strengthening U.S. relations with Myanmar prior to Aung San Suu Kyi’s visit to the United States on September 13-14.

Beginning with the establishment of an annual strategic dialogue, the authors further encourage empowering U.S. government agencies to assist Myanmar in policymaking, technical assistance, and educational opportunities to facilitate economic growth. In addition to economic capacity building, the authors also recommend limited military engagement in order to foster respect for civilian control of Myanmar’s military.

[President Barack Obama and Aung San Suu Kyi address international media during his visit to Myanmar in November 2014, courtesy of the U.S. government, public domain.]

Closing of geothermal power project may cost Australia non-conventional energy source: cs.is/2byDg99

Australian energy firm Geodynamics has shut down several test sites and generation plants in Australia’s south, recognizing that its geothermal power project is not financially viable.

Professor Martin Hand at the University of Adelaide said that Australia possesses unique geological features – such as large swaths of hot crust – that are conducive to generating geothermal power. This decision, therefore, might cost the country a potential non-conventional energy source. There are 46 countries producing significant geothermal energy from conventional systems — those near geysers and volcanic manifestations, for instance.

Geodynamics' chief executive Craig Wilkins admitted that new sources of energy require significant initial public funding. Once new energy sources are given a start, he said, “the cost curve quickly reduces.”

[Photo: A continental-scale interpretation of Australia's temperature field at 3.1 miles below the earth's surface. The large hot swaths within the Australian crust indicates the country's enormous geothermal potential. Image courtesy of Geoscience Australia. Source: Wikimedia. Used under a creative common license.]

Australian government computer networks penetrated in Chinese-sponsored cyber attacks: http://cs.is/2btaBQX

Australian government and corporate computer networks containing top secret plans for a geostationary communications satellite have been infiltrated by cyber attacks sponsored by China, an August 29 Four Corners investigation has revealed. It was also reported that Austrade and the Department of Defense’s research division have also suffered from a number of sophisticated cyber attacks by Chinese hackers in the past five years.

Three years ago, Australian satellite company Newsat Ltd. had to reconstruct its entire network in secret after being targeted in a comprehensive Chinese-linked cyber attack. Former Newsat IT manager Daryl Peters said plans for a Lockheed martin-designed satellite nicknamed Jabiru-1 was the likely target of the breach. However, these incidents only scrape the surface of the actual number of cyber attacks launched against the Australian government. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s cyber security adviser, Alastair MacGibbon, told Four Corners that the government experiences attacks on a “daily basis”, but not all incidents are revealed publicly.

[Photo: Cloud security. An August 29 investigation has revealed the extent of Chinese-linked cyber attacks on Australian and corporate networks. Image courtesy of Blue Coat Photos, flickr. Licensed under creative commons]