Category: China

Biden trumps Trump’s truculent China Seas policy

Many had hoped that under new US President Joe Biden, the U.S. would moderate its goals and behaviour vis a vis China, especially where they militarily confront each other in the China Seas. But U.S. China policy has so far not only continued that of former President Donald Trump but even trumped its hypocrisy, condescension, confrontation and militarism.

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Apr 2, 2021
Australia must change its mindset, especially on international affairs

Australia’s mindset remained fundamentally unchanged since the days of British imperialism. Western countries, especially the United States and Britain, are still “our” people, while Asian states, above all China, are not. The world has changed and so must we. (more…)

Apr 1, 2021
Protests or riots? First-hand retelling of Hong Kong’s ‘democracy’ struggle

Western media’s perception of the 2019-20 Hong Kong democracy protests, to some the riots, is a carefully cultivated and curated version of events. Testimony of those who witnessed them first hand should not be pushed aside to give space to the dominant narrative of the media.

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Mar 31, 2021
Throwing stones in the Uighur glasshouse

On his last day at work for the Trump Administration, Mike Pompeo accused China of genocide against the Uighurs in Xinjiang province, which the Chinese Foreign Ministry vehemently denied. His successor as Secretary of State, Anthony Blinken, supports the accusation and has repeated it. (more…)

Mar 31, 2021
The true intent and spirit of the Sino-British Joint Declaration concerning Hong Kong.

On 12 March this year the G7 group of nations published a statement saying that Beijing’s proposal to change the electoral arrangements for Hong Kong’s legislature ( LegCo ) was, among other things, a breach of the Sino-British Joint Declaration: the agreement signed 36 ½ years ago to “settle” the question of Hong Kong’s future, ending the era of colonial rule. Their accusation is driven, not by fact and logic, but by an underlying mindset fixed in the past; a mindset formed in the days of European imperialism that sees Hong Kong as a foreign concession within China. (more…)

Mar 30, 2021
Why has there been a spike in anti-asian hate? The NY Times answers their own questions

A collage of panic-inducing anti-China headlines from the New York Times and other major publications can be seen as a factor in the rise of anti-Asian hate seen in western countries.

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Mar 28, 2021
The power of perspective: An insight to the ongoing fractured relationship between Beijing and Hong Kong

Hong Kong exists in two parallel universes; one to escape from because there is no freedom and justice; and one of peace and opportunity. (more…)

Mar 26, 2021
American overreach in Anchorage points to conflict with China

It’s fantasy to think that the US can still lay down the law as it attempted to in Alaska. Avoiding a Pacific war will take hard statecraft instead.
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Mar 25, 2021
Anchorage: Emerging Biden Policy on China

In his first few months, President Biden has had to focus on settling in his new administration and beginning to tackle the extremely challenging domestic issues he has inherited – especially Covid 19. His new team has begun to flesh out the general themes of foreign and defence policy set out in his election campaign. Biden has insisted on a cautious and systematic approach to the development of policy towards China and North Korea – for which the Anchorage meeting has been an important step.

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Mar 24, 2021
Marise Payne and Kurt Campbell believe their own propaganda about economic coercion by China

The Australian Government and our tame media complain continually about China’s ‘economic coercion of Australia. But the conflict with China has in many cases been provoked by Australia. The US has not looked at the facts and stumbles in blindly. (more…)

Mar 22, 2021
The Quad: an unlikely friendship with unfriendly motives

Sydney Morning Herald political and international editor Peter Hartcher has told us that a historic friendship meeting between Japan, the US, Australia and India – the Quad, has begun. However, it’s not particularly friendly, or historic. (more…)

Mar 22, 2021
Vaccine Diplomacy Is Paying Off for China

Beijing Hasn’t Won the Soft-Power Stakes, but It Has an Early Lead.

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Mar 21, 2021
Australia to welcome Hong Kong ‘democrats’: are they a proxy for others?

The Australian government has now welcomed Hong Kong “pro-democracy” leaders to settle in Australia, ahead of millions of desperate refugees fleeing wars and genocide. Such is the power of a label on general public and media gullibility.

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Mar 18, 2021
Australia has more to lose in a human rights ‘face off’ with China

China is stepping up human rights accusations against Australia following numerous condemnations Australia has made on the same grounds. Before intensifying criticisms of China’s human rights, Australia should recognize that this can be a double-edged sword.

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Mar 17, 2021
Will the Alaska meeting ease tensions or worsen relations between the US and China?

There is an important face to face meeting between the US and China on Thursday in Alaska. But our media seems disinterested.

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Mar 17, 2021
Ignorance and Prejudice on China is now entrenched in Australian media – Part 2

With a mainstream media climate like this on China and dissenting voices being discouraged, it is hard to see any early prospect of easing tensions.

The Australian people have been badly let down on China by our policy elites. (more…)

Mar 16, 2021
QUAD: A public relations exercise to disguise Big Pharma’s obstruction and to combat Chinese vaccine successes

QUAD (US, Japan, India and Australia) was regarded as a strategic bloc to contain China. However, the recent virtual meeting between President Biden and Prime Ministers Suga, Modhi and Morrison ,whilst highlighting the provision vaccines to the region was really about curbing Chinese vaccine successes- an expression of soft power. (more…)

Mar 15, 2021
The long Chinese march into Indonesia with vaccines

Chinese officials in Australia rarely miss an opportunity to chill relations by turning down the thermostat on our democratic values and way of seeing the world. Meanwhile, the Middle Kingdom’s men in Jakarta are playing a long and warming game.So far about four million have had their first vaccine shot and around 1.5 million needle two. (more…)

Mar 15, 2021
‘Ignorance and prejudice on China are now entrenched in Australian media’. Part 1

Ignorance and prejudice on China are now entrenched in Australia, fed by media repetition of false narratives; possibly encouraged by US and UK origin foreign influences; and enabled by stubborn and inept Australian political leadership. (more…)

Mar 15, 2021
The continuing mystery of the Belt and Road Initiative

It has been almost eight years yet enormous issues remain around the Belt and Road Initiative. Beijing knows them all but, with face saving widely recognized as the imperative of its foreign policy, prefers not to disclose them publicly. In fact, the BRI is not and never has been a strategy, but is an assemblage of constantly changing policy settings.

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Mar 11, 2021
The “Chinese” are a very diverse group.

The so-called “Chinese Australian community” is a myth. It is a much less homogeneous group than widely assumed in public debate. Recognising differences within the group would not deny their commonality but instead, serve the ultimate purposes of multiculturalism and social cohesion.

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Mar 10, 2021
Sunday essay: Sino American duet is turning into a Danse Macabre

Of late, the bilateral relationship has evolved into something akin to a Danse Macabre.

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Mar 7, 2021
A better Biden approach in the South China Sea

President Joe Biden’s Defense Department has created a taskforce to review US military relations with China and recommend any necessary changes. But what needs to be changed? (more…)

Mar 7, 2021
Being Chinese in Australia: the good, the bad and the ugly

A snapshot of the life for Chinese-Australians shows three quarters say they are happy living in Australia, yet in the past 12 months one in five has reported being physically threatened or attacked.

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Mar 4, 2021
The Year of the Ox more productive than Year of the Rat, but reset in Australia-China relations still unlikely

Oxen are more useful to humanity than rats. Here’s hoping that the year of the ox, which started on 12 February, will be better than the year of the rat. But, in terms of China’s relations with the West, and specifically Australia, it hasn’t started well. Several factors, especially differing concepts of human rights and the near-collapse of educational exchange are keeping the toxic atmosphere of 2020 very much alive. (more…)

Mar 3, 2021
China stands ready as the West fails its own test of moral leadership

Growing inequality, corruption and the monopolisation of power by a “rich-get-richer” self-serving elite have revealed democracy to be a sham. Meanwhile, China exports its vaccine to 27 overwhelmingly developing nations. From Covid to climate change to international trade and globalisation, Xi Jinping is trying to present China as a responsible global power.

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Mar 3, 2021
An unsentimental China policy: The case for putting vital interests first

Fifty years ago come July, US President Richard Nixon announced what would become his signature foreign policy achievement: the opening to China. The following February, in what the press called “the week that shook the world”, he flew to Beijing to meet Mao Zedong, the leader of communist China. So began a half-century of US engagement with Beijing. (more…)

Feb 25, 2021
Keeping an open mind: rules based order needs to be malleable

As countries like China continue to integrate into the world economy, the liberal “rules-based” order – centred around political governance and the military – needs to remain flexible.

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Feb 24, 2021
What is the Japanese Embassy in Canberra up to?

Is it trying to stoke anti-China sentiment in Australia? (more…)

Feb 19, 2021
People in glass houses should be careful about throwing stones

A group of Australian journalists in their never-ending hostility to China keep throwing stones at China for human rights breaches in Xinjiang, but largely ignore Australian and other breaches. Their ignorance of China explains a lot. (more…)

Feb 18, 2021