China
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Peter Drysdale and Shiro Armstrong: Australia must find common purpose with China
Both nations depend heavily on a multilateral trading system. Strengthening it together is a way of managing their troubled bilateral relationship. Continue reading »
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A word on war with China
Professor Hugh White argues, in an essay, ’If growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia do?’ published in Pearls and Irritations on 26 June, that, ‘..the very real possibility that a war with China launched to preserve the US’s position in Asia might end up destroying it, just as the Continue reading »
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If growing US-China rivalry leads to ‘the worst war ever’, what should Australia do?
Should Australia join the United States in a war against China to prevent China taking the US’s place as the dominant power in East Asia? Until a few years ago the question would have seemed merely hypothetical, but not anymore. Continue reading »
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Reflections on Criminal Justice in Hong Kong since 1997
The judiciary, the prosecutions division and the police force have all faced great challenges since 1997, and they have all learnt from their experiences and emerged stronger.That is not what the anti-China media have told us. Continue reading »
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Anti-China is in the Australian DNA
Is there any hope for Australia-China relations? I have spent most of a 60 year career on the periphery of those relations – in Canberra, Hong Kong, Moscow and Japan, with some time in China mainly during the crucial Cultural Revolution period. Continue reading »
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China, a country of the mind
China has always been a country of the mind, a big Rorschach test into which we pour all our dreams or hopes of good and evil. But it has rarely matched those dreams. Continue reading »
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China’s peace keeping soft power and its new MOOTW regulations
On 15 June President Xi Jinping signed into force new regulations regarding China’s Military Operations Other Than War usually abbreviated as MOOTW. Eryk Bagshaw of the Sydney Morning Herald immediately declared them to be “an expansion of his country’s military capabilities, giving the defence forces the power to protect its interests abroad”. The Herald offers Continue reading »
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US hysterics over a Cambodian naval pier
The Chinese navy will struggle to threaten the region or launch a war from a tiny pier earmarked for upgrade at the Ream Naval Base. Continue reading »
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Is America’s ‘Strategic Ambiguity’ over Taiwan a thing of the past?
During President Biden’s recent visit to Tokyo for the Quad meeting, he said the US would intervene militarily in defence of Taiwan, if China were to attack it. Continue reading »
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How reliable is the ‘research’ of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on forced labour in Xinjiang
My Paper concludes that, at best, the work of Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch amounts to junk research. Continue reading »
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Bachelet in China: Insights into Human Rights and Xinjiang
UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s recent visit to China did not impress an international press that has made the treatment of the mainly Muslim Uighur people of Xinjiang province a major ground for the West’s political attacks on China. Their negative comments have missed the main point of the visit, which has opened a Continue reading »
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Bachelet in China: Will the truth about Xinjiang be uncovered?
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet arrived in China on 22 May, the first such high-level visit since 2005. During her six days in China she will visit the far west province of Xinjiang where the Uighur minority people have been subject to several rights violations, as admitted by her office last Continue reading »
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The US is priming Asia-Pacific for war
For Washington, containing China is more important than risking the lives of millions in the region. Such a war will, after all, be fought on the other side of the world, so far as ordinary Americans – already sold on the evil of communist China and the benevolence of their own country – are concerned. Continue reading »
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Getting the Australia-China Relationship back on track
While we should not yet abandon hope for a more realistic, nuanced and sophisticated China policy under the Labor government, Prime Minister Albanese’s initial statements from Tokyo in response to an overture from PRC Prime Minister Li Keqiang are not encouraging. Continue reading »
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David Goodman and others – An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China
To Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong, Continue reading »
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With a new Australian government and foreign minister comes fresh hope for Australia-China relations
An Albanese government in Canberra means an improved trajectory in Australia-China relations is a real possibility. Sure, there will be no “re-set” like we saw in the heady days of 2015. The world has changed; Australia and China certainly have. Continue reading »
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The Solomons have quite simply forgotten their place
The disciplines and sub-disciples of Political Science and International Relations are frequently embarrassed by their collective inabilities to provide comprehensive understandings of events ostensibly within their purview because, as disciplines, they suffer from constrained, even constipated imaginations. Continue reading »
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Government loses foreign policy edge
The last time a foreign policy/defence issue went really bad for a Liberal Party Government was just over half a century ago – but it also concerned China. Needless to say, the Labor Party was accused of being soft on China. A recurring theme: from the early 1960s the Menzies Government’s election campaigning always included Continue reading »
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Australia is still in Fear of China
The former eminent Australian diplomat Sir James Plimsoll once described China as “a big fact”. It is big, and it is a fact, and we have to get used to it. Continue reading »
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We can be friends of the US without being vassals
A manifesto for a new incoming foreign minister. Continue reading »
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Johnny Mok: Is Hong Kong’s rule of law in decline?
Hong Kong’s global ranking on the rule of law is close to the UK’s and has changed little since 2015 Continue reading »
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The Taiwan dilemma: A stark choice
American foreign policy seems to be moving inexorably towards recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign nation. This would greatly heighten the danger of armed conflict between the US and China and would make Taiwan not more but less secure. The incoming Australian Foreign Minister should consider policy options and their long-term consequences carefully, for our Continue reading »
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William Xu and Li Bingcun: Three senior Australian judges show confidence in HK’s legal system
Three Australian judges-William Gummow, Anthony Gleeson and Robert French-stated in an email to the South China Morning Post that they support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence. The Canadian judge, Beverley McLachlin, also intends to stay on, according to media reports. Continue reading »
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“South Flows the Pearl” Book launch speech about Chinese Australian voices
Chinese people have been in this country almost as long as the British. …Unfortunately, from the 1980s on, following an increase in immigration from Hong Kong, South-East Asia and mainland China, there have been new waves of racism, so that even today the Chinese community still feels marginalised. Continue reading »
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The Chinese seem to have given up on Morrison
We think it can’t get worse, then it does. Scott Morrison mocks the idea of talking to the new Chinese Ambassador, at least not until China agrees to have dialogue with Australian government ministers. Continue reading »
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How Russia teaches China by counter example about the weaponisation of the global economy
Moscow may have launched a hot war in Ukraine, but the West has declared total financial warfare on Russia. That is a unique learning experience for Beijing, one it will take full advantage of in the years ahead Continue reading »
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China’s military expansion
China’s military expansion is modest .It was recently reported that there are now four Chinese military installations outside of China’s borders and Wikipedia was used to support the claim. Continue reading »
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Australia-China relations: will “face” trump trade?
China’s refusal to deal with Australia at Ministerial level is likely to frustrate its effort to join an important Pacific trade agreement. Continue reading »
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China’s elite gag on ‘Vlad the Toxic’
China’s top people see a successful country standing tall in the world. Now their leader is tarring it all by association with the wrecker and war criminal in Moscow. Continue reading »
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China’s Ukraine dilemma
China has clearly been vacillating about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, abstaining from votes in the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly and in various public pronouncements avoiding any reference to “war” or “invasion.” Continue reading »