VCE Global Politics Revision: Weapons of Mass Destruction, Ukraine Crisis, China, and Australia

Comprehensive fill-in-the-blank revision flashcards covering VCE Global Politics topics: Weapons of Mass Destruction, the Russo-Ukrainian Crisis, China's National Interests, and Australia's Regional Foreign Policy.

The political philosophy asserting that global actors prioritize their own national interests and power over the common good in an anarchic international system is known as __________.

Realism

The political and philosophical ideology positing that all human beings belong to a single moral community that transcends national boundaries is known as __________.

Cosmopolitanism

The military doctrine where two or more nuclear-armed actors are deterred from attacking due to the certainty of complete annihilation on both sides is called __________.

Mutually assured destruction (MAD)

In 2022, under the Biden administration, the United States announced a plan worth __________ to renew and modernize its nuclear arsenal.

$$\$1.5\text{ trillion}$$

In 2023, Russian President Vladimir Putin suspended Russian participation in negotiations regarding the bilateral nuclear arms reduction pact known as the __________.

New START agreement

In 2017, the UN Security Council passed __________, placing strict restrictions on North Korean coal, iron, and seafood exports following its 6th nuclear test.

Resolution 2375

The coalition of hundreds of non-governmental organizations that campaigned for the adoption of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) in 2017 is __________.

ICAN (Int. Campaign Against Nuclear Weapons)

In 2017, ISIS deployed projectile-capable chemical weapons containing chlorine and __________ against soldiers in northeastern Syria.

sulfur mustard

Under Article VI of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), all state parties commit to pursuing negotiations on __________.

disarmament

According to the Arms Control Association in 2025, Russia held the world's largest nuclear stockpile, consisting of __________ nuclear weapons.

$$5,580$$

In July 2021, Vladimir Putin outlined his historical justification for intervention in an essay titled 'On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians', declaring that Russians and Ukrainians are __________.

'one people - a single whole'

The collective defense principle of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), stating that an attack against one ally is considered an attack against all, is enshrined in __________.

Article 5

Following its full-scale invasion on 24th February 2022, Russia formally announced the annexation of __________ Ukrainian border regions in September 2022.

$$4$$

Due to international economic sanctions and the EU embargo on seaborne crude oil, Russia's GDP contracted by __________ in 2022.

$$2.1\%$$

In 2023, Germany committed to supplying __________ Leopard 2 tanks to bolster Ukraine's military capabilities.

$$18$$

In March 2025, the Trump administration instituted a total freeze to 'pause and review' US aid to Ukraine, which had previously supplied __________ since February 2022.

$$\$65.9\text{ billion}$$

In February 2025, the UN General Assembly adopted Resolution ES-11/7 condemning Russian aggression, which saw 93 votes in favor, 18 against, and __________ abstentions.

$$65$$

In 2022, Ukraine instituted proceedings against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of __________.

Genocide

In 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin under Article 8 for the unlawful deportation and transfer of __________.

children

In 2023, Vladimir Putin visited ICC member state __________, which refused to execute the Rome Statute arrest warrant due to its economic reliance on Russian fuel.

Mongolia

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy condemned an August 2022 Amnesty International report scrutinizing Ukrainian defensive positions in populated areas as exhibiting __________.

'immoral selectivity'

Following the March 2, 2025 London Summit on Ukraine, Russian Senator Konstantin Kovachev rejected the proposed ceasefire parameters and dismissed the conference as __________.

'fruitless'

China's defense expenditure exceeded __________ in 2024, enabling significant technological and naval power projection.

$$\text{USD } \$225\text{ billion}$$

Between 2020 and 2022, China donated over __________ doses of Sinopharm and Sinovac vaccines to countries across the Indo-Pacific.

$$50\text{ million}$$

In 2017, ASEAN and China established the Framework for a __________ in the South China Sea to manage regional maritime disputes.

Code of Conduct

In 2019, the __________ severed 36 years of official diplomatic relations with Taiwan to establish diplomatic ties with the PRC.

Solomon Islands

In 2017, after facing difficulties repaying infrastructure debts of $\$1.4\text{ billion}$, Sri Lanka leased __________ to a Chinese state-owned enterprise for 99 years.

Hambantota Port

The Chinese government justifies its internment of over 1 million Uyghurs in Xinjiang by arguing that it is combating the 'three evils' of separatism, extremism, and __________.

terrorism

In February 2025, regional tensions escalated when a flotilla of three Chinese warships carried out live-fire exercises 346 nautical miles off the coast of __________, Australia.

Eden

Following Australia's call for an independent COVID-19 origin inquiry in 2020, China imposed an anti-dumping tariff of __________ on Australian barley.

$$80.5\%$$

Under the IA-CEPA trade agreement implemented in July 2020, Australian grain producers gained tariff-free access to export __________ tons of feed grains to Indonesia.

$$500,000$$

In the 2019 independence referendum supported by Australian diplomatic and financial assistance, __________ of Bougainville voters chose independence from Papua New Guinea.

$$98\%$$

Australia pledged __________ over 10 years to establish a Papua New Guinea NRL team from 2028 as an exercise in sports diplomacy.

$$\text{A}\$600\text{ million}$$

In January 2017, Malcolm Turnbull secured a commitment from the Trump administration to honor an agreement to consider resettling __________ refugees from Australia's offshore facilities.

$$1,250$$

In November 2025, Australia funded the construction of police facilities in Arawa and Buin through the PGK$27.5\text{ million}$ __________.

Bougainville Police Infrastructure Project (BPIP)