World Affairs
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China-Australia: What is the intelligent person supposed to think?
I speak Mandarin having studied it at University. A friend of mine, who also studied Chinese with me commented that Australia was foolish in becoming the aim of Beijing’s displeasure. He argues money is money and you don’t bite the hand that feeds you. I agreed with him. Another friend of mine said Chinese actions… Continue reading »
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War with China is not inevitable: A revolution in Australian foreign policy should be.
The Government’s warnings that war with China is inevitable are propaganda. There is no such inevitability. A decision to go to war is taken by humans. It is not determined by an iron law of history. Key questions are: why are we being softened up for this war now; has the Morrison Government already decided… Continue reading »
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Washington is playing a losing game with China
America’s latest policies toward China will prove self-defeating. US–China relations now exemplify Freeman’s third law of strategic dynamics: for every hostile act there is a more hostile reaction…. Continue reading »
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Whitlam, Keating, Anzac, and the drums of wars past
“I think the war against Hitler was justified. I don’t know whether the war against Wilhelm II was.” Thus spoke Prime Minister Gough Whitlam in a BBC TV interview with Lord Chalfont recorded in September 1973, and aired in December. It was screened in Australia in early January 1974. The transcript is in the Whitlam… Continue reading »
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Mike Pompeo and “The Xinjiang Genocide Determination”
On 19 January 2021, his last day in office, Trump’s Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, issued a “determination” that “the PRC, under the direction and control of the CCP, has committed genocide against the predominantly Muslim Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minority groups in Xinjiang”. On taking office, Pompeo’s successor Antony Blinken immediately agreed… Continue reading »
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Nothing could be Finer than to have a War with China in the Morning!
In the early sixties, in the midst of growing paranoia of the Red and Yellow Perils, portrayed by the Menzies Government as dagger-like arrows pointed at Australia’s heart, a TV variety show, perhaps Revue ’61 or In Melbourne Tonight, gave us comic relief with a parody on the Al Jolson song, ‘Carolina in the Morning’,… Continue reading »
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On the bandwagon: Australian media helps government peddle disinformation
There has, quite rightly, been criticism in the mainstream media of authoritarian states and their use of disinformation campaigns and cyber attacks. However, the US and its democratic allies decades ago pioneered the use of disinformation in their huge propaganda campaigns. China is just a beginner…. Continue reading »
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Is News Corp back onto weapons of mass destruction?
Australians born in the last century remember how the ‘war on terror’ began in 2001. The same con trick is being tried on us again, for war with China…. Continue reading »
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Abusive Israeli policies constitute crimes of apartheid, persecution
Israeli authorities are committing the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The finding is based on an overarching Israeli government policy to maintain the domination by Jewish Israelis over Palestinians and grave abuses committed against Palestinians living in the occupied territory, including East Jerusalem…. Continue reading »
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Understanding Beijing’s motives regarding Taiwan, and America’s role
John Culver retired in 2020 after a distinguished 35-year career at the Central Intelligence Agency. During that time, he analyzed East Asian affairs, including security, economic, and foreign policy dimensions. As national intelligence officer for East Asia from 2015 to 2018, he drove the intelligence community’s support to top policymakers on East Asian issues. He… Continue reading »
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Biden’s Taiwan Policy Is Truly, Deeply Reckless.Would the US allow Mexico to join a military alliance with Beijing?
In fact, polling suggests that while foreign policy elites in Washington overwhelmingly endorse going to war for Taiwan, ordinary Americans are deeply skeptical. A recent report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs found that while 85 percent of Republican leaders support sending U.S. troops to defend Taiwan from Chinese attack, only 43 percent of Republicans among… Continue reading »
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The unfinished Chinese civil war
Many frame China’s options against Taiwan as peace or invasion. This is a dangerous oversimplification…. Continue reading »
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China’s sanctions on Western think tanks
China’s sanctions on the prominent Washington-based think-tank the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) has prompted a great wailing and wringing of hands. While I empathize with those affected, I do take issue with some of their specific concerns…. Continue reading »
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More transparency needed around Uni’s audit into ‘foreign interference’
The University’s approach to ‘foreign interference’ puts its Chinese staff at risk. There’s a tension in the idea of the modern university, between the essentially borderless nature of knowledge production, and the rival claim that universities should serve the “national interest”…. Continue reading »
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The Other Swindled Partner
What were you doing in 2004 as the Australian Government’s fleecing of the Timorese people took shape?… Continue reading »
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Focusing purely on injustices in China and Russia with a Cold War mindset damages human rights everywhere
During the first Cold War between the West and the Soviet Union injustice and human rights increasingly became a central issue. This ought to have been a positive development, but it was devalued by partisan use and the issue turned into an instrument of propaganda…. Continue reading »
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Clear skies over Asia’s new foreign investment landscape
Compounding the fallout of the US–China trade war, the global pandemic and recession have caused considerable speculation on the future of foreign investment and global value chains (GVCs). But though there is likely to be some permanent change, it will probably not be as great as politicians expect…. Continue reading »
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Time to silence the drums of war
For many familiar with the excesses of Cold War rhetoric and the hyped-up fears used to justify our ill-fated interventions in Iraq and Afghanistan, the current China bashing is a case of déjà-vu. But the latest bout of politically contrived anti-China hysteria is especially troubling…. Continue reading »
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Democracy with Hong Kong characteristics
Hong Kong will hold elections to a newly enlarged Legislative Council in December. This is the first election held since Beijing enacted national security legislation for the territory in June 2020. It is doubtful that Hong Kong’s pro-democracy “pan-dems”, who dominated the former legislature, will win even a handful of seats. If they do, they… Continue reading »
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Human rights abuses on our doorstep but we say nothing.
We know this order will lead to more killing, more torture, more suffering of my people. The Speaker of the Indonesian House [of Representatives], Bambang Soesatyo, has urged the Government to “destroy them first. We will discuss human rights matters later”…. Continue reading »
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WTO and climate change – a clash of treaties
The emission reduction measures proposed by governments to meet their Paris Climate Agreement commitments will violate their legally binding WTO obligations. This clash of treaties will have deleterious consequences for both…. Continue reading »
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Biden’s speech to Congress – read his lips!
President Biden’s first address to Congress has provided a substantive and timely window into his ambitions for his term of office, but also the ideology which is driving him. Its central theme was “ We’re in competition with China and other countries to win the 21st Century”…. Continue reading »
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Please, no war with China
In an unprecedented speech, a senior public servant has floated the possibility, and even necessity, of Australia’s taking part in a war against China. This is profoundly shocking and worrying and is symptomatic of a new low in our relations with China…. Continue reading »
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The future of Australian coal: an Australia-China relations perspective
Despite rising tension, both Australia and China are having success looking further afield for buyers and sellers of key resources, but their resilience faces some stumbling blocks…. Continue reading »
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Where are the grown-ups? The talk about China and war is dangerous
“So what’s the plan?” asked an investor after I had spoken at the Lonsec Symposium about Australia-China relations. Days earlier, Defence Minister Peter Dutton talked war over the Taiwan Strait. His former department head said our “warriors” were ready to go fight…. Continue reading »
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Australia needs to draw a line between policy and posturing on China
The past few weeks have confirmed that the strategic parameters of our regional policy are basically sound. However, the self-righteousness of some of our statements and actions demonstrate overreach inconsistent with the national interest…. Continue reading »
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Japan’s looming climate showdown
That makes Suga’s new stance a significant reversal for Japan…. Continue reading »
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Boris Johnson’s shady deals and its links to former Chief Advisor Dominic Cummings
You do not need to stray far from the suburbs of Australia’s largest cities to know that if you poke a stick at a King Brown snake it will strike. So, when Downing Street officials learned that Boris Johnson was launching a less than discreet campaign of media spin against the prime minister’s former friend… Continue reading »
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Hong Kong judge concerned with US intervention in Hong Kong affairs
A former Hong Kong legislator from the Civic Party, Jeremy Tam, recently applied for bail in the High Court of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR). Mr Tam has been charged with subversion under the new National Security Law (NSL) which has applied in the HKSAR since July 1, 2020. The NSL was drafted… Continue reading »
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Killed and abandoned: the children of Afghanistan
US and Australian troops are preparing to leave Afghanistan with a debilitating legacy for millions of children. Simultaneous with news of troop withdrawals, Prime Minister Morrison has spoken of his taste for a laying on of hands as a means of healing. The children of Afghanistan would regard these events as at best confusing, and… Continue reading »
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