When you hear that malevolent old fool Donald Trump tell the United Nations that climate change is “the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world”, it’s hard to resist throwing up your arms in despair. If mighty America won’t set a good example, what hope is there for the rest of us? (more…)
Category: China
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China is likely to surpass its new emissions target. Australia should emulate its energy plan
In an address to the UN General Assembly last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping announced China’s target to reduce carbon emissions by 7-10% from their peak by 2035, with the goal of achieving even higher levels. (more…)
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Liveable cities of China
No Chinese city appears on the annual lists of the most liveable cities in the world. Is this due to ignorance or to a pervasive anti-China bias?
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Revitalising the UN’s foundations
The United Nations grew out of the global co-operation which defeated fascism. It was conceived as a multilateral organisation to deliver a global rules-based order. (more…)
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Why the planet now needs China
The World Bank’s Reboot Development report has belatedly confirmed what scientists have warned for decades: humanity is breaching the safe operating limits of the Earth. (more…)
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Confucius Institute decline signals China’s soft power shift
While Chinese soft power is thriving in the so-called “Global South”, it is waning elsewhere. (more…)
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The rise of China and learning the correct lessons from history
Given that the only certainty in international affairs these days is uncertainty, we should probably be circumspect about projecting how the world might look decades down the track — let alone how our current moment might be portrayed in the rearview mirror of history. (more…)
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China’s giant military parade didn’t surprise just the West
China’s recent display of its newly acquired military might surprised not only international observers, but also its own seasoned diplomats. (more…)
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Climate change, not China, is the real threat in the South Pacific
Countries of the South Pacific have good reason to encourage China and other countries to assist them with infrastructure. And there is nothing that Australia should, or could, do about it. (more…)
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A nation of narcissists
Narcissism is the open-and-shut condition of the elites who fashion and execute American foreign policy. And they are utterly incapable of seeing their country as it is. (more…)
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If we want to win the Pacific, we must first listen – and stop blaming China for everything
A 9 September editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald, titled China and Australia in a high-speed race to win control of the Pacific, offered a vivid picture of the daily contest for influence in the region. (more…)
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Australia’s media coverage of a military parade in Beijing confounds engagement
The 3 September military parade in Beijing, celebrating victory in World War II, is not a cause for hysterical histrionics. In Beijing, there was no equivalent to waving of the Nazi “Blood Banner” (Blutfahne) as in the intoxication of the 1934 Nuremberg rally. (more…)
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Xi’s parade tips the diplomatic balance sheet in Asia
Beijing’s rapid military transformation and capacity to ultimately confront the US and its allies in policy and military terms was on full display recently. (more…)
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China hysteria masks Australian insecurity
The recent China panic stories raging across the Murdoch media, the Nine newspapers, the ABC and even the usually steadier Guardian are remarkable. (more…)
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Southeast Asia pragmatic on China’s rise
In China this week, the former Australian foreign minister on the global power shifts changing the world, and regional responses. (more…)
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Miners want to go green, then we hear News Corp’s ‘China!’ scream
Another week, another national security threat, cooked freshly with local ingredients, News Corp’s signature technique, a lot of aged China-threat cliché, and a hint of unprofessional typo. (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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Beijing invited me to their special celebration. Here’s why I’m happy to go
When Australians at their Bakelite radios heard of China’s victory over Japan in 1945, they knew this was the triumph of an ally. World War II had started with the Rape of Nanjing in 1937 and the Chinese lost 20 million people resisting the invasion. (more…)
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I fear ignorance about China
The United States and its allies like Australia, have become terrified by the prospect of their citizens learning more about China through the exchange of ideas and people. They apparently do not trust their citizens to assess information from multiple competing sources and reach an acceptable conclusion. (more…)
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Australia is one trade deal away from backing authoritarians, says Taiwan
In the grand tradition of diplomatic overreach, Taiwan’s deputy foreign minister recently offered some sweet and spicy talking points to our media: semiconductors are tanks, China is akin to WWII Germany, and if Australia doesn’t fast-track Taiwan into the CPTPP, we might all wake up speaking Mandarin under a fascist AI regime, as reported by News Corp and 7 News. (more…)
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MAGA 2.0: Making China great again
In Donald Trump’s make-believe world prices are falling, the economy is booming, he is bringing peace all around the world, and gas costs less than US$2 a gallon. (more…)
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Managing a mature Australia-China relationship
The Australia–China bilateral relationship remains strong, despite Australian concerns about China’s commitment to a free and open rules-based trading system. Trump’s disruptive tariffs demonstrate that Australia must balance its relationship with the United States while ramping up cooperation on regional economic and trade issues with China. (more…)
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Australia and Taiwan caught between Trump and Xi’s great-man fantasies
If there was any doubt in Canberra that the traditional political alignment with the US is in turmoil, the past week or so confirms it irrefutably. (more…)
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Shared vision, greener together: China and Australia unlock opportunities in eco initiatives
On 9 April, Swatten, a subsidiary of Sieyuan Electric which is headquartered in Shanghai, China, made an appearance at Booth 58 of the Smart Energy 2025 expo in Sydney. (more…)
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Why China commemorates its WWII victory
On 3 September, China will hold a major parade at Tiananmen Square in the heart of Beijing to commemorate the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War. Global leaders will attend the event and the Chinese military will showcase its latest weapons and regiment arrangements. (more…)
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Breaking: Chilling ‘News Virus’ sweeps Australia
Chikungunya is a virus first identified in 1952 in what is now Tanzania, carried by mosquitoes, long since a globetrotter. (more…)
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China’s consumption weighed down by weak expectations
China’s economy registered a respectable GDP growth rate of 5.3% in the first half of 2025. (more…)
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Why Western hegemony is over
The tariff truce between China and the United States is set to end in August. What do you forecast will happen after that? And what will happen to trade relations between China and the US for the rest of US President Donald Trump’s second term? (more…)
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Beijing steps up as Washington steps back
US President Donald Trump’s tariffs are having two broad impacts on the global economy – they are eroding international confidence in US leadership and disrupting global supply chains, and causing rapid geographic restructuring of international trade. (more…)
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Is the ‘China threat’ real or trumped up?
In recent years, the ‘China threat’ theory has become a prominent theme in Western political discourse. (more…)