UN Human Rights Commissioner Michelle Bachelet’s recent visit to China did not impress an international press that has made the treatment of the mainly Muslim Uighur people of Xinjiang province a major ground for the West’s political attacks on China. Their negative comments have missed the main point of the visit, which has opened a new avenue for valuable dialogue. (more…)
Tag: China
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Bachelet in China: Will the truth about Xinjiang be uncovered?
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet arrived in China on 22 May, the first such high-level visit since 2005. During her six days in China she will visit the far west province of Xinjiang where the Uighur minority people have been subject to several rights violations, as admitted by her office last year. Foreign Affairs spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on 22 May that Bachelet’s visit was private and was “to enhance exchanges and cooperation… and promote the international cause of human rights.” (more…)
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The US is priming Asia-Pacific for war
For Washington, containing China is more important than risking the lives of millions in the region. Such a war will, after all, be fought on the other side of the world, so far as ordinary Americans – already sold on the evil of communist China and the benevolence of their own country – are concerned. (more…)
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Getting the Australia-China Relationship back on track
While we should not yet abandon hope for a more realistic, nuanced and sophisticated China policy under the Labor government, Prime Minister Albanese’s initial statements from Tokyo in response to an overture from PRC Prime Minister Li Keqiang are not encouraging. (more…)
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David Goodman and others – An Open letter to the New Government on relations with China
To Prime Minister Albanese and Foreign Minister Wong, (more…)
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With a new Australian government and foreign minister comes fresh hope for Australia-China relations
An Albanese government in Canberra means an improved trajectory in Australia-China relations is a real possibility. Sure, there will be no “re-set” like we saw in the heady days of 2015. The world has changed; Australia and China certainly have. (more…)
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The Solomons have quite simply forgotten their place
The disciplines and sub-disciples of Political Science and International Relations are frequently embarrassed by their collective inabilities to provide comprehensive understandings of events ostensibly within their purview because, as disciplines, they suffer from constrained, even constipated imaginations. (more…)
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Government loses foreign policy edge
The last time a foreign policy/defence issue went really bad for a Liberal Party Government was just over half a century ago – but it also concerned China. Needless to say, the Labor Party was accused of being soft on China. A recurring theme: from the early 1960s the Menzies Government’s election campaigning always included (and sometimes relied heavily upon) fear of the threat of communism generally and specifically of the threats posed by the Soviet Union as well as Communist China. (more…)
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Australia is still in Fear of China
The former eminent Australian diplomat Sir James Plimsoll once described China as “a big fact”. It is big, and it is a fact, and we have to get used to it.
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We can be friends of the US without being vassals
A manifesto for a new incoming foreign minister. (more…)
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Johnny Mok: Is Hong Kong’s rule of law in decline?
Hong Kong’s global ranking on the rule of law is close to the UK’s and has changed little since 2015 (more…)
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The Taiwan dilemma: A stark choice
American foreign policy seems to be moving inexorably towards recognition of Taiwan as a sovereign nation. This would greatly heighten the danger of armed conflict between the US and China and would make Taiwan not more but less secure. The incoming Australian Foreign Minister should consider policy options and their long-term consequences carefully, for our sake and also for Taiwan. (more…)
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William Xu and Li Bingcun: Three senior Australian judges show confidence in HK’s legal system
Three Australian judges－William Gummow, Anthony Gleeson and Robert French－stated in an email to the South China Morning Post that they support the judges of the Court of Final Appeal in their commitment to judicial independence. The Canadian judge, Beverley McLachlin, also intends to stay on, according to media reports. (more…)
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“South Flows the Pearl” Book launch speech about Chinese Australian voices
Chinese people have been in this country almost as long as the British. …Unfortunately, from the 1980s on, following an increase in immigration from Hong Kong, South-East Asia and mainland China, there have been new waves of racism, so that even today the Chinese community still feels marginalised. (more…)
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The Chinese seem to have given up on Morrison
We think it can’t get worse, then it does. Scott Morrison mocks the idea of talking to the new Chinese Ambassador, at least not until China agrees to have dialogue with Australian government ministers. (more…)
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How Russia teaches China by counter example about the weaponisation of the global economy
Moscow may have launched a hot war in Ukraine, but the West has declared total financial warfare on Russia. That is a unique learning experience for Beijing, one it will take full advantage of in the years ahead (more…)
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China’s military expansion
China’s military expansion is modest .It was recently reported that there are now four Chinese military installations outside of China’s borders and Wikipedia was used to support the claim. (more…)
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Australia-China relations: will “face” trump trade?
China’s refusal to deal with Australia at Ministerial level is likely to frustrate its effort to join an important Pacific trade agreement. (more…)
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China’s elite gag on ‘Vlad the Toxic’
China’s top people see a successful country standing tall in the world. Now their leader is tarring it all by association with the wrecker and war criminal in Moscow. (more…)
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China’s Ukraine dilemma
China has clearly been vacillating about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, abstaining from votes in the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly and in various public pronouncements avoiding any reference to “war” or “invasion.” (more…)
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Hong Kong’s assured future beyond 2047 by China is a fillip for everybody
Local people, foreign investors and the commercial world can now put their minds at rest. It will be business as usual after 2047, not least for the common law legal system and the rule of law (more…)
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Russia, China and the Game of Weiqi. Ukraine is not a predictor of Taiwan
Scott Morrison is beating up fear of an Arc of Autocracy in a bid to boost his electoral chances. This short-term objective will not help Australia win the complex game of Weiqi chess currently being played in our region. The Russian invasion of Ukraine is not a predictor of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan, and neither situation directly threatens Australia to the extent Morrison would have you believe. (more…)
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The Chinese face of globalization
The Six Faces of Globalization is an important new book, which prompts reflection on how Western media outlets have shaped our understanding of globalization and how China’s distinctive perspective on globalization may be yet do likewise. (more…)
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Australia descends further into toxic relations with China despite a generous gesture by the new Ambassador
Australia descends further into toxic relations with China despite a generous gesture by the new Ambassador
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Hysteria over China
On the 14 February I had an opinion piece published in the, CPC owned Global Times, which looked at the prospect of an improvement in relations between China and Australia. (more…)
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Cognitive dissonance fuels US antipathy to China
Cognitive dissonance, occurring when a deeply entrenched belief encounters countervailing facts, can cause the holder of the belief to deny or reinterpret the facts. (more…)
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PM’s playing of China card trashes national interest.
Geopolitics Recent rhetorical pyrotechnics reveal the dissolution of any prudent, rational, bipartisan dimension in the Morrison government’s China policy. (more…)
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It is hard to dismount from a Tiger
The well-known Chinese proverb, “When you’re riding a tiger, it’s hard to get off” is a particularly apt description of Australia’s relations with China in 2022, the Year of the Tiger according to the Chinese calendar. (more…)
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So was it the most-watched or least-watched Winter Olympics?
There were global campaigns from the United States to make the Beijing Winter Olympics the “least-watched” Winter Olympic Games in history. (more…)
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The Coming War on China
The Coming War on China is John Pilger’s most recent film – his 60th documentary and arguably his most prescient. Completed in the month Donald Trump was elected US President, the film investigates the manufacture of a ‘threat’ and the beckoning of a nuclear confrontation.