China
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Tensions over Taiwan
Ma Ying-jeou warns that William Ching-te Lai is leading cross-strait relations into “a major crisis”. Continue reading »
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Misinformation in politics: Anti-China Media Watch
The ABC reveals Chinese social media is again facilitating foreign interference in our elections, Dutton is the true champion of China relations, while Chinese hospitals are overcharging Aussies for lifesaving surgery. Continue reading »
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Geopolitics, Australia-China-US relationship and its impacts on Australian-Chinese voting priorities
The recording to the UTS ACRI panel discussion can be accessed via this link: Continue reading »
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Australia-China relations: A question of trust
Let’s restore the trust in China that we once enjoyed. This was the key message I presented to an online forum titled Does China Threaten Australia’s Peace and Security hosted by the Australian Peace and Security Forum on 18 March. Following is a condensed version of my talk. Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
As media campaigning ramps up for the forthcoming election, Peter Dutton avoids the question of his polling while Media Watch reveals the Liberal Party connections of Freya Leach and Juice Media produces a satirical clip on majority government. On global tensions, Professor Keyu Jin from the London School of Economics speaks about China and the Continue reading »
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The Manichean moment is over
If Donald Trump has done nothing else, he should have convinced Australian strategic thinkers that the long-standing mantra of China-bad/America-good is no longer appropriate. Continue reading »
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Figuring out China: It’s still complicated
I visited Beijing in December for the first time since COVID, at the invitation of Renmin University and the Beijing Municipal Government. As well as attending the major conference they were hosting, I was keen to catch up with members of the network of public administration scholars I had helped to establish 15 years ago. Continue reading »
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Smart appliances, smarter economy: Reviving China’s growth through innovation
Describing my grandfather as frugal is an understatement. Over the years, I have watched him patch and mend, prolonging the life of everything from leaky kettles to threadbare armchairs. My attempts to convince him to part with aging household items were always met with the same stubborn reply: “It still works.” Continue reading »
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Rethinking China
Just about everything that is uttered about China in the West is done so in the deeply underlying presumption that everyone out there, in the wonder lands of democratic Christendom, most assuredly believes that, as a godless communist state, China is inherently evil and that its singular ambition is to take over the world. Continue reading »
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Any old Chinese port in a storm: Anti-China Media Watch
Reports on the financial distress of Landbridge, the Chinese-owned company with a 99-year lease for the Port of Darwin, lack perspective and analysis. Penny Wong goes soft on China and ASPI goes unchecked. Continue reading »
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Escaping Thucydides’s trap: A discussion between Graham Allison and Henry Huiyao Wang
During the recently concluded Munich Security Conference, Professor Graham Allison from Harvard University met Dr Huiyao Wang, founder and president of the Centre for China and Globalisation based in Beijing, to discuss Dr Wang’s new book (“Escaping Thucydides’s Trap: Dialogue with Graham Allison on China-US Relations”) which is grounded on and develops arguments made in Continue reading »
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Australia’s defence: Navigating US-China tensions
A significant intelligence failure to detect live-firing by Chinese warships near Australia, has exposed Defence weaknesses, and the fact that when it counts, we are all alone. Continue reading »
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Australia’s China diplomacy: Is it ready for a world without US certainty?
President Trump’s emerging foreign policy ideology is forcing US allies, including Australia, to reassess their strategic positions. As American leadership becomes increasingly transactional, Canberra must navigate a shifting global order by balancing security concerns with economic resilience, forging new regional partnerships, and maintaining strategic flexibility in an era of geopolitical uncertainty. Continue reading »
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Telling Chinese stories the Chinese way: Why is Ne Zha 2 more than a blockbuster?
One day in February, I had just finished watching Ne Zha 2 when I checked my phone and discovered that the animated film had already grossed more than US$1.38 billion globally – a figure I never imagined a Chinese animated film would earn. Continue reading »
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Trade and tariffs: Reality and fantasy
Donald Trump’s recent actions with respect to the use of tariffs as a weapon to re-industrialise America demonstrates not only an utter failure to understand the economics of that move but also the geo-economic realities of the world in which those actions are being taken. Continue reading »
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The only enemy the US has in the drug war is itself
No one wakes up one day and says to him or herself that today is the day I’ll become a drug addict – society pushes people, in some cases high disposable wealth creates a sense of boredom from which the stimulus of recreational drugs is a form of escape, in others it’s peer pressure, we Continue reading »
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Media paladins of Fortress Australia
You have to admire Australian media. While the rest of us are busy paying $8 for a flat white and wondering how to stretch a pack of IndoMie for a week, our intrepid journalists are fearlessly focused on the real threats – like Chinese naval ships operating in full compliance with international law. Continue reading »
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Global capitals eye future with investments in China’s tech industry
A dozen days ahead of this Chinese New Year, a large-scale exhibition opened at the Hong Kong Museum of Art. Continue reading »
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Falun Gong leaders disprove immortality by inconveniently dying
According to US Congressman Scott Perry, I’m part of an online strategy designated by Xi Jinping in December of last year to fight Falun Gong’s growth. If only I were that important! Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
The Chinese Embassy in the US underlines the country’s differences with the US. Marco Rubio and Boris Johnson refer to the war in Ukraine as a proxy war, while Rubio also reaffirms Trump’s warning to Hamas. Ohad Kozminsky of the Jewish Council of Australia shares his views on Western colonialism and Gaza. Continue reading »
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The Australian jellyfish: Anti-China Media Watch
The Australian labels Albanese a “jellyfish” in the face of Chinese naval vessels, ironically the barbs came from a faceless columnist. Kudos to The Australian for keeping tabs on a US nuclear submarine in our waters, but the headline act for the Murdoch masthead was hosting its own event for weapons makers and China hawks. Continue reading »
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Russophobia and Sinophobia: projection, narcissism and denial
There is a certain cadence to decline, a rhythm of arrogance and desperation, of miscalculation and delusion. The late-stage empire, unmoored from reality yet clinging to myths of its own indispensability, lashes out at perceived threats not because they are real, but because it cannot conceive of a world in which it is no longer Continue reading »
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A five-minute scroll
Trump give his first views on China policy. Sarah Henderson criticises ABC for including Jewish Council of Australia in their programs.The LNP has confirmed that Australians will pay to see their GP under Dutton. Penny Wong welcomes 25 Somare-Whitlam scholars to Australia and a call for truth to be a key factor in political advertising. Continue reading »
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The Chinese invasion begins: Anti-China Media Watch
Is a flotilla of Chinese ships on a reconnaissance mission for a future invasion of Australia or, as the Australian Defence Force admits, is China doing to us what we’ve been doing to them for decades? Continue reading »
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Jeffrey Sachs’ explosive address at the EU Parliament sends shockwaves across Europe!
Jeffrey Sachs, the American economist and public policy analyst who is also a professor at Columbia University, gave an unconventional address to the EU Parliament last week. Below is a short version of his comments; the full version is here. Continue reading »
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What US wants for Ukraine must serve as a warning to Taiwan, Australia and others
So, US Secretary of Defence Hesgeth has made it clear that what most of us knew three years ago will come to pass. Continue reading »
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An empire in denial
History rarely surprises those who pay attention. The trajectory of the current geopolitical order — from the war in Ukraine to the economic realignments centred on China and the Global South — follows patterns as old as recorded time. Yet, in the West, political elites and media institutions remain bewildered. How could the unchallenged dominance Continue reading »
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Jerry Cohen: An inspiring scholar
The leading US journal Foreign Policy has just published an extended profile, written by Jonathan Landreth, of Professor Jerome A. Cohen, entitled: “The Last China Hand. Jerry Cohen will be 95 in July this year. The article lucidly explains how he “has spent a lifetime trying to understand the People’s Republic of China”. Continue reading »
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The fragility of Australia’s security
This time it’s different. America has detailed plans for Australia to play a role in breaking China. Not unlike the role of Ukraine against Russia. Or countless other parallels. That’s what is in the pipeline for Australia. Decades of war at oscillating levels, designed to drain China, mounted largely by America’s friends in Asia, under Continue reading »
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China: Still ahead of the curve in the global economic game
US President Donald Trump’s decision to first place, and then delay, a 25% tariff on goods from neighbouring Canada and Mexico, along with his hitting China with an additional 10% tariff increase has made quite a splash in the news. Continue reading »
