Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity. (more…)
Wanning Sun
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Australia’s fragile multicultural consensus under threat
Anti-immigration rallies around Australia in late August and mid-October exposed public divides over migration, social cohesion and national identity. (more…)
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Understanding Australia-China research mobility
Australia’s research partnership with China is a significant component of its scientific output, particularly in engineering, technology and applied sciences. (more…)
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A tale of two lists: How geopolitics shaped the attendance of China’s parade
On 3 September 2025, a large-scale parade will be held in Tiananmen Square to mark the 80th anniversary of what has been dubbed by Beijing the “Victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War”. (more…)
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How Chinese diaspora voters reshape Australian and US politics
Chinese diaspora communities in Australia and the US both face racism and loyalty suspicions under “China threat” narratives, yet their voting has diverged. (more…)
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Albanese can afford to ignore noises and focus on delivering goods for voters
Although few can fault the prime minister for trying to generate more imports and exports with our biggest trading partner, everyone — ranging from an obscure Chinese social media influencer wannabe to Australian opposition luminaries such as Barnaby Joyce — has an opinion about the visit, and everyone seems to be ready to offer the prime minister a wealth of warnings and free advice. (more…)
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Everybody is responsible for social cohesion, from politicians to teenagers on the street
On 3 June, Australia’s Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke, issued a joint statement with Multicultural Affairs Minister Anne Aly, announcing the establishment of an Office for Multicultural Affairs within the Home Affairs Department. (more…)
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Chinese Australians’ rejection of the Liberal Party: Ten moments
The rejection of the Liberal Party by Chinese Australian communities in the election was comprehensive and unambiguous. (more…)
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DeepSeek’s success challenges assumptions about Chinese tech companies – and the US-China competition
The release of the new DeepSeek-R1 artificial intelligence (AI) model has shocked the tech world. (more…)
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Chinese-Australian and Chinese-American views on news: A comparative study
In recent years, media speculation about a possible conflict between the PRC and the US — and Australia’s role in the war as an ally of the US — has gained significant momentum in both countries. Both Chinese-Australians and Chinese-Americans face the geopolitical reality of living in a country that increasingly sees the PRC as a hostile nation. Possibly for this reason, they share a range of sentiments and views. (more…)
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Why Australian politicians are flocking to ‘Little Red Book’ to engage with Chinese voters
Wen Li, a graduate student living in Brisbane, ran for the seat of Mansfield as a Greens candidate in the recent Queensland election. Li promoted his policies on Xiaohongshu, one of the most popular Chinese social media platforms. When he lost, he posted a message on the platform announcing his desire to run in the next federal election. (more…)
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AUKUS, the China threat and Chinese-Australian communities
The recent election of Donald Trump to the US presidency has cast further doubt on the feasibility of the AUKUS trilateral security partnership, particularly Australia’s acquisition of nuclear submarines under Pillar I. Yet the AUKUS trilateral security partnership has become a fait accompli without the Australian public having expressed much in the way of opposition, or even a desire for more information about the program forecast to cost up to $368 billion, despite a lack of debate or public consultation by successive Australian governments. (more…)
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Anxious Democrat voters find new ways to self-medicate as election looms
Standing in the tiny foyer of a small theatre that had seen better days on a residential street in inner-city Philadelphia, I asked a fellow theatre-goer standing next to me, “Are you looking forward to some comic relief?” (more…)
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‘When a weasel makes a courtesy call on a hen’: a ‘pro-China’ Dutton and Chinese-Australian voters
When I asked Jocelyn Chey about her experience at the lunch in Parliament House in honour of Chinese Premier Li Qiang, she said, “I thought the best part of the lunch was Dutton’s speech through gritted teeth about how everyone wants relations with China to improve.” (more…)
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TikTok tensions are a new front in US–China tech wars
The US Congress’ decision to push TikTok towards sale or ban due to national security concerns has garnered support from nearly 40 per cent of Americans and 59 per cent of Australians, but its impact could lead to job losses and deepen the tech divide between US and China. TikTok is seen as a litmus test for dealing with China in the lead-up to the 2024 US election, with both parties aiming to appear tough on China. The platform has also played a significant role in shaping younger users’ social and political views, leading some to see it as a threat to established narratives. (more…)
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Labor appreciates Chinese-Australians’ contribution, but whose job is it to stop sinophobia?
The statement released by the Prime Minister’s office concerning the visit of Chinese Premier Li Qiang notes that there will be a ‘community event to recognise the significant contributions of the over one million members of the Chinese-Australian community to our nation’s multicultural success story’. But what Chinese-Australians truly desire is to be treated as equal, rights-bearing Australian citizens, free from mistrust and suspicion.
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‘We’re all trained to be good obedient children, but what do you want?’ Delving into the inner lives of women in neoliberal China
Yuan Yang is what migration academics call a “1.5 generation migrant” – meaning she was born in her country of origin and then migrated to another country as a child. (more…)
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If TikTok is banned in the US or Australia, how might the company – or China – respond?
TikTok’s owner is once again navigating troubled waters in the United States, where the US House of Representatives has issued an ultimatum: divest or face shutdown within six months. (more…)
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Chinese Australians are happy ScoMo’s leaving politics. Is this an opportunity for the Liberals?
This level of dislike for Morrison among Chinese Australians should come as no surprise, given that the roughest patch in Australia-China relations happened during his reign. But now he’s gone, can Peter Dutton begin to mend fences? (more…)
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Is a re-set likely in our media’s China coverage?
Andy Park, the host of Drive on ABC Radio National, asked one of his guests the following question about Albanese’s visit to China: ‘Scoring an invitation to go to Beijing is obviously a coup for Mr Albanese. Obviously, much was said and done under the table diplomatically speaking. … Do you think the average Australian thinks it’s the right direction for Australia’? This is a good question indeed. (more…)
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Decoupling in the knowledge production sphere threatens Australia’s future
An intimate and complex understanding of China is now one of the most important prerequisites for understanding and furthering our national interests. For the two nations of China and Australia, to allow tensions and misunderstandings to provoke a decoupling in the knowledge production sphere –whether it be in the sciences, the social sciences or the humanities – would be extremely unwise, from the point of view of securing Australia’s future. (more…)
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Pearls and Irritations refuses to follow the pack mentality of the mainstream media
A tonic for readers who are drowning in news about China, climate change and socioeconomic problems, but who are starved of alternative and critical perspectives. (more…)
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Chinese voters’ disillusionment over Labor and AUKUS
When Labor and the Liberals share similar strategies regarding China and national defence, why should Chinese-Australian voters stay loyal? (more…)
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Australia’s multicultural framework can no longer be separate from geopolitics
A new multicultural framework needs to recognise that the well-being of Australia’s multicultural communities is closely related to, and inevitably affected by, geopolitics, and by Australia’s foreign policy towards migrants’ countries of origin. It is no longer viable to conceptualise foreign policy and multicultural affairs as two separate entities. (more…)
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Sixty-three per cent of Chinese-Australians report mental anguish from English-language media’s “biased reporting”
New survey results from the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS find that 91% of Chinese-Australians are concerned by the Australian English-language media’s tendency to engage in speculation about war with China, because they believe such speculation could become a self-fulfilling prophecy; and about six in ten (63%) respondents reported feelings of emotional and mental anguish in response to the media’s “biased reporting” on PRC related issues. (more…)
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Pearls and Irritations refuses to follow the pack mentality
A tonic for readers who are drowning in news about China, climate change and socioeconomic problems… (more…)
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Australia may ban WeChat – but for many Chinese Australians, it’s their ‘lifeline’
One morning in February 2021, I was woken by a WeChat call from my brother in China. Mum had died the previous night, he told me. I wasn’t shocked to hear about Mum’s death – she had been very ill for a couple of years. (more…)
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The troubled love lives of China’s rural migrants
For the past decade or so, the Western media has been critical of the Chinese state, the Chinese government and the Chinese Communist Party. This criticism has been made in the context of a small number of issues, such as human rights in Xinjiang, political dissent in Hong Kong and Western citizens detained in China. (more…)
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‘The media normalises war-mongering’: how Chinese Australians respond to talk of war in mainstream media
Early this month, the Daily Mail published a story online implying three Chinese men taking photos at the Avalon Airshow in Melbourne were spies. After complaints and an open letter condemning the paper for racially profiling the Chinese communities and throwing around baseless accusations, the story disappeared from the Mail’s site without explanation. (more…)
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Red Alert: news media ‘Sleep-Walking’ into US war propaganda
One of the best-known writers on public opinion, Walter Lippmann, tells us that every conflict is fought on two fronts: the battlefield and the minds of people via propaganda. ‘We must remember that in time of war what is said on the enemy’s side of the front is always propaganda, and what is said on our side of the front is truth and righteousness’. (more…)