Human rights in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are under increased threat. The PRC government ignores international representations. This begs the question: should Australia even attempt to intervene? What do we risk by doing so? The easy course would be to do the minimum and restrict our representations to cases where Australian citizens and Continue reading »
China
The call issued by Bob Carr and Gareth Evans for a ‘comprehensive détente between the US and China is timely and constructive. But as with all things to do with peace and war, the issues are complex and the way forward strewn with difficulties. China-US tensions are indeed a matter of deep concern. They can Continue reading »
China’s Belt and Road initiative (BRI) operates on a huge scale and is the focus of rarely halted negative coverage across many prominent outlets in the Global West. A new extended article in the leading US journal, Foreign Policy, however, provides a measured, informed exception to this general rule. Parag Khanna recently argued in a Continue reading »
There is clear evidence that US efforts to build a coalition of allies in our region is directed at containing Chinese power and developing the capability to eventually confront the Chinese military. That scenario is a nightmare for Australia. We now find certain elements of a Labor government flirting with containment and confrontation with China Continue reading »
Let’s not reject forty years of cooperation and exchange with China. Australia has greatly benefitted from trade, investment, cultural exchange and collaboration over these decades. Now, as the United States and Europe threaten to raise tariffs, erect barriers to exchanges and prioritise security concerns, it is time to remember when we espoused multilateralism and openness. Continue reading »
Late last year, a colleague sent me a letter decrying some of my writings about China, notably the last newsletter of 2023. This newsletter is my response to him. The situation in China is the cause of a great deal of consternation amongst the left. I am glad you have raised the issue of Chinese Continue reading »
Regularly, Western media claims that China’s run is near an end and that collapse is just around the corner. So constant has this become, it is like a broken gramophone record. Recently predictions of this collapse have been couched around the indebtedness of some major players in the Chinese property market. The ‘inevitable collapse’, however, Continue reading »
America insists on treating China as an economic threat, but the reality is that China’s economic advancement has benefited us all. Instead, the stagnation of wages and manufacturing job losses experienced by Trump supporters in the US largely reflects the impact of technological change. For the best part of forty years, from the late 1970s Continue reading »
In the increasingly geopolitically charged waters of international trade and investment, Chinese technology enterprises are navigating a particularly turbulent current in Australia. The growing scepticism and regulatory scrutiny they face reflect a techno-geopolitical uncertainty, with Australia caught between its economic interdependence with China and strategic alignment with the United States. China’s pivot from a major Continue reading »
Taiwan’s presidential election has strengthened its democracy, but could led to increased tensions with China