At a time when China is becoming increasingly more important to the Australian economy as well as to our stability and security in the Asia-Pacific, the overall decline in Australia’s China knowledge capability runs counter to our national sovereign interests. (more…)
David S G Goodman
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An education strategy to combat Australia’s “China threat”
In recent years a contemporary China Threat narrative has emerged in Australia and elsewhere related to defence capabilities. An equally important China Threat though, is ignorance. Our knowledge of China and our Chinese communities has declined dramatically over the last thirteen years. How can we combat this threat? (more…)
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Australia’s fear of China: renewed trust a matter of dialogue and respect
Fear of China is currently dominant in Australia’s public discourse, as reflected in recent opinion polls, surveys, and mainstream media. Fear of China is of course not new in Australia. It was a driver of Federation at the end of the 19th Century and the first act of the new Federal Parliament was long recognised as ‘The White Australia Policy.’ (more…)
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Australia and the New China Threat: Globalised political opportunism
The development of a China Threat in Australian political discourse is nothing new. The apparent threat of being swamped by Chinese migrant workers played a major role in bringing the colonies together at the time of Federation, resulting in the Commonwealth’s ‘White Australia Policy’ as the first act of the new parliament. (more…)
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Is Xi Jinping’s support as strong as his predecessors?
Chinese President Xi Jinping is central to the Communist Party, and also part of a historical trajectory that includes Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping.
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Australian engagement with the PRC: universities need more, not less
The current global political environment in the Anglophone world is becoming increasingly suspicious of involvement of any kind with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). For students and staff in Australian universities the likely resultant disengagement is not simply wrong in principle, it is dangerously misleading. (more…)
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The illiberal moment: ASPI’s ‘The Influence Environment’
Last year’s report from ASPI (the Australian Strategy Policy Institute) on Chinese-language media in Australia is a doubly unfortunate manifestation of the profoundly illiberal moment that has now become a worldwide phenomenon and which now clearly infects Australia’s relations with China. (more…)