Tag: China 

 China and the Technology Race

To deliver rising living standards to its citizens, China needs to move up the production value chain. Technological progress and innovation are at the heart of this. That is why US measures to restrict China’s access to technology are viewed by Beijing as far more serious than tariffs: the former is tantamount to an attempt at containment. China spends nearly the same amount the US does on research and development (R&D), closing in on $US500 billion every year.   (more…)

Contemporary China cannot be comprehended without understanding the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).   With 85 million members it represents a tiny share of the total population (1.4 billion) but is the world’s largest political party.  (more…)

 China: Social Changes that Impact Relations with Australia

The economic takeoff that has pushed China up to become a middle-income country has certainly brought great social changes. Economic development has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of absolute poverty, but one marked social change is increasing disparity as a result of sharp stratification of social classes.   (more…)

China.  Chinese Australians are feeling the heat, whether they support China or Australia

Chinese migration to Australia has always been an essential part of Australian multicultural history. Various diasporic Chinese communities in Australia have played important roles in Australia’s political, social, cultural and economic maturations. Yet now their loyalty to Australia has been unfairly questioned.  (more…)

 China. Developing Its Border Relations

The twin concerns in Australia about the People’s Republic of China (PRC), relating to increased economic dependency and tensions over politico/security policy, are common throughout the Asia Pacific region.   (more…)

How Chinese National Identity Impacts Relations with Australia.

What is most striking about Chinese national identity is its stability in the pre-modern past and its fluidity in the modern era. Its dramatic transformation since the mid-19^th century is part of China’s tumultuous socio-political change under the impact of traumatic encounters with foreign powers.  (more…)

Spying. Lobbying. Corruption. Debt trap diplomacy. It seems Australia’s relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have sunk to an all-time low. It is therefore all the more important to understand that country. Criticisms of its present government and of the Chinese Communist Party are often justified but not when they are based on flimsy evidence, supposition and innuendo. This is no basis for a serious relationship, which Australia certainly needs. (more…)