12 December 2023

Australias China knowledge capability: gratitude, dismay, hope

A visceral emphasis on fear over engagement has marked Australias approach to China since 2015. Only 17 Australians graduated with Honours degrees in China Studies between 2017 and 2021 across the entire country. This year no grants were awarded by the Australian Research Council for China-related research or collaborative research involving Chinese institutions. Will the Albanese Labor government follow in the steps of Whitlam, Hawke, Keating and Rudd, by valuing knowledge and engagement over ignorance and fear?

27 August 2022

The Chinese economy: fact, fiction, faith and flexibility

The Chinese economy has long been a source of contention, with predictions of its imminent collapse pitted against portrayals of its strength and resilience.

6 January 2021

Searching for silver linings in relations with China

In a year that has been harrowing in so many ways, these last few weeks have been particularly unpleasant for many of us involved in the increasingly ugly and fractious China debates. Well before Senator Abetzs alarming inquisition into the loyalties of three Chinese-Australians, I had been reflecting on my own part in these debates, and on the role of the Australian Centre on China in the World (CIW) and the China Story Project as well. This is my attempt to articulate some of those reflections in writing.