Colin Heseltine
Colin Heseltine was Australian Ambassador to the Republic of Korea (2001-05), head of Australia’s representative office in Taiwan (1992-97) and deputy head of mission in the Australian embassy in Beijing (1982-85 and 1988-92). He was also a board member of Sino Gas and Energy (2011-18).
Colin's recent articles
26 August 2023
China: The challenge of complexity
All of us here can probably agree that we are currently living in a time of greater strategic uncertainty and challenge than at any time since the end of World War II, and certainly since the end of the Cold War in the late 1980s. China is seen as being at the epicentre of this.
1 June 2023
The inconvenient truths in the rise of China
In charting the way ahead for Australia-China relations, Canberra needs to present the risks posed by increasing Chinese military power in realistic rather than hawkish terms, writes Colin Heseltine.
30 December 2021
Development, sovereignty, ideology and the new Great Power Competition
A speech by one of the most substantial figures in US academia sets out a framework for peaceful co-operation between China and the US this century.
6 July 2021
Xi Jinping's CPC centenary speech: Is there cause for alarm?
A speech to commemorate 100 years of the Communist Party of China by its leader Xi Jinping prompted another flurry of anxiety in the Australian media over the China threat. But former diplomat Colin Heseltine argues Xis speech was aimed at a domestic audience and departed little from standard lines on national security issues.
24 April 2021
Another own goal in Australias relations with China
The Federal Government is not providing a strategic narrative about its position towards China.Is it too cynical to suggest that is because a very large number of Australians now view China in such negative terms that pushing back, irrespective of the cost, is seen positively?
31 August 2020
Opposition to Victorias Belt and Road Initiative Is it Valid?
The feverish opposition to the Victorian governments MoU over the Belt and Road Initiative is nonsensical and shows a worrying lack of understanding from those who should know better. If we are to avoid drifting into a global backwater, we have to find ways to integrate our economy into these new developments.