Middle power hedging in the era of security/economic disconnect: Australia, Japan, and the 'Special Strategic Partnership'.

The article focuses on how Australia and Japan, as middle powers in the Indo-Pacific, navigate the strategic dilemmas posed by the intensifying United States–China rivalry and the resulting "security/economic disconnect"—a divergence between their security dependence on the U.S. and economic interdependence with China. It refines the concept of "hedging" in International Relations to emphasize its multi-dimensional nature, applying this framework to the Australia–Japan Strategic Partnership as a mechanism for jointly managing risks across security, economic, and normative domains. The partnership exemplifies a "triple hedge" strategy: (1) limited security balancing alongside the United States; (2) economic engagement with China coupled with efforts to mitigate vulnerabilities from economic coercion; and (3) middle power diplomacy involving coalition-building and multilateralism to uphold a rules-based regional order. The article highlights both the strategic benefits and inherent limitations of this multifaceted hedging approach amid evolving regional power dynamics.