China
-
A member of the Parliamentary body that oversees intelligence agencies lends support to anti-China campaign
The compromised parliamentary intelligence committee illustrates the need for a standing royal commission to oversee Australia intelligence agencies. Continue reading »
-
Nuclear submarine operations in South China Sea endanger coastal countries
The accident involving a US nuclear-powered submarine in the South China Sea brings into scrutiny the ramifications of such an accident. The release of nuclear radiation could damage the food supply of many nations. Continue reading »
-
AUKUS is a stab in the back and a big mistake
By becoming little more than a US outpost, Australia is progressively sacrificing its role as an independent actor in the Asia-Pacific region, and diminishing its clout accordingly. Continue reading »
-
Dodging the debt trap: a better way to compete with China in our region
Australia could use a small fraction of the money committed to nuclear-powered submarines to co-operate with our friends in a more cost-effective and quicker way to check China’s regional influence. Continue reading »
-
The cringe comes back: has Australia misunderstood its place in Asia again?
With the ever-worsening Australia-China relationship, this may be the right time to examine what is it in the Australian cultural behaviour that has landed us in this predicament. Continue reading »
-
What really happened — not just in Wuhan — to spark the COVID-19 pandemic
After months of advance publicity, book extracts and a Sky News documentary, most of us already know where Sharri Markson and News Corp believe the COVID-19 pandemic began. Continue reading »
-
Tony Abbott in a China shop: Former PM’s ham-fisted Taiwan intervention
Former prime minister Tony Abbott’s poorly judged speech in Taiwan last week was inept diplomacy. The question is: who put him up to it? Continue reading »
-
Knowledge, skill and flexibility is missing in Australia’s response to China’s rise
Fear of China is rooted in Australian history. But today’s policymakers are ensuring that we will remain the ‘lonely continent’, adrift in an Asia we don’t recognise as part of ourselves, with our identity and geography at odds. Continue reading »
-
China, Taiwan and the US: the real terms of the deal
The US and China established full diplomatic relations in 1979, but that year the US Congress wrote its own script for Taiwan. Today, what the Chinese side interprets as word games by the US may wreak deadly consequences. Continue reading »
-
As Taiwan and the Mainland face off, Scott Morrison must keep calm
Political leaders on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have been facing off against each other. Taiwan has been called the most dangerous place on earth. Exaggeration, maybe, but Australia should be careful not to get involved in any confrontation. Continue reading »
-
Could AUKUS open a Chinese window to international leadership?
While there may still be quite a bit of debate about the strategic merits of AUKUS, there’s one thing most people agree about: China is not very happy. Continue reading »
-
China might react to the Quad and AUKUS with tried and true patience
With the Quad and AUKUS, the US and its allies — especially Australia — are clearly challenging China militarily. All eyes are now on China to see how it will react. It has many options. Continue reading »
-
China’s trade bid a chance to mend fences
Beijing can’t be happy with where its Australian relations have ended up. But Canberra should be wary of overplaying its hand. Continue reading »
-
Anti-China hysteria lies at heart of action against IMF’s Georgieva
IMF managing director Kristalina Georgieva’s fall would prove the fund has mere trappings of multilateralism — leaving others to go their own way. ..Many in the US Congress want Georgieva out because she is not a sworn enemy of Beijing. Continue reading »
-
US hostility towards Hong Kong exposed for all to see
In recent years, China’s achievements have surpassed all expectations, and the United States has become increasingly paranoid. Continue reading »
-
In competition between China and the US, Australian consumers choose China
Australia’s relationship with China involves many dimensions and Australia/China relations look a lot different from different perspectives. Continue reading »
-
When it comes to China, our media ‘experts’ need a lot of help
Since the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal our mainstream media experts have doubled down on the claim Beijing is expansionist. Since few of them can read or speak Chinese maybe I can help them. Continue reading »
-
China’s challenges and its plan for common prosperity
China’s economy was the first to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, being the only major economy to post positive growth in 2020, but it now faces a number of headwinds. Continue reading »
-
Crying wolf: How to stop talk of war with China
How might it be possible to stop talk of war with China? Are our civil and military leaders, and their loyal press simply “crying wolf”? Or is there a real and present threat that might justify war talk? Continue reading »
-
Paul Keating: Morrison is making an enemy of China and Labor is helping him
The Liberals, having no faith in the capacity of Australians and all we have created here, could not resist falling back, yet again, to do the bidding of another great power, the United States of America. Continue reading »
-
After initiating the coercion against China we are now with AUKUS in the front row in a new cold war.
Since we have decided to integrate our navy with America’s and be its ally in confronting China, we should expect to be viewed as an extension of a nuclear superpower and be targeted accordingly. Continue reading »
-
With allies like these, Australia doesn’t need enemies
As Australia’s trade dispute with China continues, allies who have pledged solidarity with Australia have been moving into the trade spaces from which we’ve been evicted. Hardly ‘protecting our back’ as the US boasts. Continue reading »
-
Anxious white men look to bonds of ‘blood and history’ in AUKUS
Apprehensive of loss, the leaders of white men’s countries are invoking pride of race to spruik the AUKUS alliance to secure their primacy of place over China in a fast-changing world. Continue reading »
-
There are much greater threats to Australian security than the Chinese military
As a middle power, Australia should be strengthening international organisations and a global community, rather than treating our alliance with the US as the foundation of our foreign policy. Continue reading »
-
Australia should learn from Korea on managing a relationship with China
China was the elephant in the room for the discussions Marise Payne and Peter Dutton had with their Korean counterparts in Seoul. Korea’s extremely complex bilateral relationship with China is so different from our own. Continue reading »
-
Obsessing over confrontation with China leads to arid policy grounds
Shaping Australia’s China policy is complex enough without chasing impractical outcomes. Peter Hartcher and Geoffrey Barker are concerned about the threat from China but pursuing a confrontational strategy has shortcomings. Continue reading »
-
History repeats as Morrison provokes China hostility
The official visit of Chinese President Xi Jinping in 2014 was the high point in Sino-Australian relations. It has been all downhill ever since. Continue reading »
-
The Singapore mouse that taught the China elephant
Compare Singapore’s dextrous diplomacy with the clumsy manner in which the Australian government handles its relationship with China. Continue reading »
-
Common prosperity should be valued in China and not disparaged by critics
Recent news on China has been replete with items about “cracking down” on the rich, celebrities, the use of videogames by young people and growing inequality. Continue reading »
-
What are the recent Chinese policy changes really about?
Something extraordinary seems to be happening in China recently, so extraordinary that many are scratching heads asking what this is all about? Continue reading »