Contemporary Australia has some sorry echoes of a less-liberal past, especially as our relations with China continue to deteriorate
Category: China
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Fear and loathing of China is poppycock
Australia seems often to act like a junior gang member who is hyper anxious to impress the leader of the gang….Annoying China is good politics but bad leadership. (more…)
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China tells Australia to ‘reflect on its own deeds’ as it imposes new import bans (SCMP 6.11.20)
Chinese importers advised to stop buying Australian barley, sugar, red wine, timber, coal, lobster, copper ore and copper concentrates. Foreign ministry says moves are justified and blames Canberra for downward spiral in relations. (more…)
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Australia-China relations: a downward spiral that can be reversed
Is the current state of Australia-China relations inevitable? Understanding why there’s been a rapid deterioration over the last five years offers ideas for how tensions could be managed more effectively.
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Australia-China ties are at their lowest point in history, former ambassador says (ABC Nov 4, 2020)
A former Australian ambassador to China has called on the Federal Government to rethink its relationship with Beijing amid what he calls “the greatest power shift that has occurred in modern history”.
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Australia’s anti-China witch hunt isn’t just harmful, it turns people against each other as governments escape scrutiny (SCMP Nov 1, 2020)
This isn’t banter or trolling – this is cancel culture that seeks to extinguish the opinions of those who don’t conform to the view of certain politicians or media outlets. It is a phenomenon that has the ironic and harmful effect of undermining democratic values, including the right to free speech.
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Why Australia must steer clear of America’s moral crusade against China (SCMP 28.10.20)
America’s global standing is in decline, on the back of its single-minded pursuit of military might and consistent flouting of the rules-based order it helped create. Anti-China enthusiasts in Australia also need to view China’s record in a historical context. (more…)
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Finding our place in the new world order – book extract (AFR 30.10.2020)
Central to understanding the emerging world order is to comprehend China’s strategic intentions and potential. The question of whether China is an expansionary power or not becomes crucial in understanding how the new order will unfold. (more…)
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What does loving China mean? The Communist Party decides (SCMP Oct 25, 2020)
“My country, right or wrong” seems to be the mantra to which Chinese people must adhere whether via indoctrination in schools or by command of the national security law. However, noted the British writer G.K. Chesterton in a 1901 essay, that phrase was “the last thing” that a true patriot would say. Patriotism involved principles and behaviour, not to be conflated with the specific actions of one’s national government. (more…)
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The main game must be to get US, China relations on a better footing
Whoever wins the imminent US Presidential election, US-China relations will continue to be the most important geo-political issue for the world, and for Australia. (more…)
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ASPI’s Broadcasting Corporation?
Is ABC management complicit in letting senior on-air talent promote the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and its sponsors, without declaring conflicts of interest? (more…)
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Threats or inducements in dealing with China?
The day after US State Secretary Mike Pompeo announced he’ll be visiting India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia this month to try and keep the Indian Ocean nations on side, his rival for the region’s attention ,China, was making its pitch courtesy of an Indonesian think tank. The approaches were remarkably unalike – one a clenched fist, the other an apparently open hand. (more…)
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Our ignorance of China is a disgrace
It’s a disgrace that after half a century or so of multiculturalism, it is still possible that Australian Chinese can be made to feel disloyal merely on the basis of their ethnic background. That’s exactly what happened when right-wing Senator Eric Abetz asked three Chinese-heritage Australians before a Senate committee whether they were willing unconditionally to condemn the Chinese Communist Party.
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Indonesia Can Lead the Way for ASEAN on US and China – Just say ‘No’ to both.
The U.S. has been pressing many Southeast Asian states to join it in its efforts to politically and militarily contain China. Indonesia – the de facto leader of ASEAN – can show the way for ASEAN members by just saying “no” to requests and actions from both the U.S. and China that it judges are contrary to its interests.
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Shenzhen is overtaking Hongkong
Hong Kong people, most of whom have only the barest acquaintance with the city only twenty miles away, look down on Shenzhen as a poor dirty cousin. Reality is rapidly running away from this perception…. A gradual realisation has crept upon the world in the past few years that the new Silicon Valley is Shenzhen. (more…)
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“When a scholar meets a soldier …”: Why I’ve decided not to speak to the senate inquiry on diaspora communities in Australia (ABC Oct 21, 2020)
What purpose does Senator Abetz’s questioning of Chinese Australians serve, other than to make them feel that they will never belong, no matter how long they have lived here or how hard they have tried?
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‘Loose talk’ by MPs worsens China tensions: China is not an enemy: Houston ( AFR Oct 16, 2020)
Former Defence Force chief Angus Houston says ‘‘loose talk’’ by MPs has made tensions with China worse than necessary and has called for an urgent reset in the relationship between Canberra and Beijing. China is our partner. China is not an enemy. Let’s get that straight.
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Why are the loyalties of Chinese- Australians questioned constantly in the public arena?
In my opening statement to the Senate Committee, I talked about the toxic environment for Chinese-Australians who engage in public policy debates right now. In particular, I mentioned that one of the reasons Chinese-Australians are choosing to remain silent is because they don’t want their loyalties to be questioned constantly in the public arena.
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Quad is built on wobbly foundations(Asia Times 5.10.2020)
With Australia, India, Japan and US set to meet in Tokyo to collectively counter China, it’s not clear Beijing represents a threat. (more…)
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Will Australia Seize back the China Crown?
While the outcome of the US elections remains unclear the future direction of US-China relations also remain uncertain. This presents a new opportunity for Canberra to mend some bridges with Beijing if it wishes to do so. (more…)
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Olive branches dampens the sound of distant war drums
With the hospitalization of Trump, the world went into temporary recess from the Cold War and China sends an olive branch to Australia to dampen the sound of distant war drums. As the SCMP suggests, there is still hope for peace and mutual understanding.
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China is opening the door. Will Australia walk through it? (AFR Oct 7, 2020)
The Financial Review’s interview with a top Chinese diplomat would have been approved at the top. The Morrison government is obdurate if it does not take up the gesture.
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A Sinologist’s view on Australia’s relations with China
My memory of the time I spent in Australia, while directing the University of Sydney China Studies Centre from 2012 to 2015 was a largely positive and happy one. Looking from the UK, where I am now based, I have to acknowledge a sense of shock and sadness.
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Cui Bono from the decline in Australia/China relations?
The dramatic decline in Australia China relations has paralleled the rise in the anti-China rhetoric from the Trump administration, capped by its naming of COVID as “the China virus”. Who benefits from this situation? Hint: it’s not China and it’s not Australia.
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Do US Intelligence Probes Against China Violate the ‘International Order’ ?
The U.S. stands accused of violating that ‘international order’ by flying military spy planes under civilian “false flags” of other countries while collecting intelligence on China’s defenses. The U.S. may not only be violating international norms but also undermining confidence that it will abide by any agreements it enters.
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China diplomat urges end to ‘confrontation’ (AFR Oct 5, 2020)
One of China’s top diplomats has called for an end to ‘‘confrontation and abusive language’’ in increasingly hostile exchanges between Australia and China, saying the relationship can be salvaged through better communication by both countries.
She blamed the Australian media for creating an ‘‘unfriendly atmosphere’’ and stirring up anti-China rhetoric. (more…)
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Clear-eyed responses as well as assessments needed on the PRC
Being clear-eyed about China under Xi Jinping is one thing. But managing the relationship effectively also requires Australia to be clear-eyed about the effectiveness of our policy options in response. (more…)
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The Struggle with China is not a Replay of the Cold War: Remarks to the Asia American Forum
Washington has declared war on China. The administration and its allies hope that the war will be “cold,” but have no strategy for keeping it so. I find it noteworthy that the most belligerently anti-Chinese members of the current U.S. Senate are also its youngest.
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The scary picture of a failed Australia-China trade relations ?
The mainstream newspapers in Australia do not shed much light about the real situation of the Cold trade war between Australia and China. If we look hard enough, we may find factual reporting about this subject in an English language published off-shore, in Hong Kong.
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Australian media in the Asian Century
The struggles and contradictions in media understanding of China. (more…)