How should we interpret the significance of the drills? Did China overreact to Lai Ching-te’s inaugural speech? (more…)
Tag: China
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Western decline: Denial and anger at China’s vitality
In her work, ‘On Death and Dying’ Elisabeth Kübler-Ross wrote of the stages one goes through on being told one is dying. She called these ‘Five Stages of Grief,’ of adjusting to reality: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. (more…)
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AUKUS: Beazley, Richardson, Dibb are old men pushing ignorant economics
On 28 May, a Defending Australia Summit was held in Sydney by “The Australian Newspaper” which showcased three former Australian defence officials who seemed confused by their old age and indulged in ignorant and historically romantic group think. (more…)
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Shaping the policy debate: how does the British media present China?
The almost total lack of any positive coverage of China in the British media further closes off the scope even for making arguments that policy should reflect opportunities from dealing with China. (more…)
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Neutrality would keep us out of a U.S. – China war
Neutrality offers Australia a foreign policy alternative which would keep us out of a U.S.-China war. Although this position is favoured by over two thirds of Australians, the presence of U.S. military bases on our soil and the government’s embrace of the AUKUS pact, block its adoption. (more…)
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Chips and geopolitics: the unexpected rise of Huawei in AI technology
In 2023, Nvidia held a 90% share of China’s AI chip market, with sales of $7 billion. Now, less than a year later, Nvidia is cutting prices to compete with Huawei in China and move its “Made for China” H20 AI chipset off the shelves. What went so wrong, so fast? (more…)
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The price of Biden’s new China tariffs
This is the opening move in a protectionist regime the U.S. president will extend significantly to prove his bona fides as a Sinophobe. (more…)
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China and US should seize the opportunity of Shangri-La Dialogue for military talks amid tensions
Chinese Minister of National Defence Dong Jun is set to visit Singapore from May 31 to June 2 to attend the Shangri-La Dialogue at the Shangri-La Hotel. (more…)
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Clutching at straws: America will not maintain its economic dominance
Although rarely acknowledged, China is the world’s biggest economy, and it will most probably continue to grow faster than the US, its main competitor. (more…)
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As China-Australia ties fray, should Canberra keep its friends close, its enemies closer?
If China is indeed a power to be worried about, wouldn’t Australia want to know as much about it as possible, perhaps even know what it is up to? Blocking or reducing interaction with China or other countries only reduces Australia to a petty, hollow state that is susceptible to misunderstandings. (more…)
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Washington’s hope: will rabid penguins eat the BRI?
China keeps building infrastructure in other countries that is needed by those other countries. Surely this is sinister. But all is not lost. As Joe Biden wonders if cannibals may have eaten his uncle Ambrose during World War II, Washington discovers remarkable new instruments in its geopolitical tool kit. (more…)
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US vs. China: Who really stands for peace?
Thousands of innocent civilians are dying– men, women, children– being bombed to death as they sit in their homes. Thousands of Ukrainian and Russian men have been unwillingly drafted into the military, torn from their families, forced to kill each other, and forced to die. Images and videos of cold-blooded genocide plague our news in a constant loop, and our government has the audacity to sit in their comfy little chairs and not only deny what is happening, but to also order more money sent to continue these horrors. (more…)
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Ghost shark
The Ghost Shark, a new underwater drone being developed for the Australian Navy, could kill off the deeply flawed plan to acquire eight nuclear submarines for a projected cost as much as $360 billion. (more…)
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Living in fear: Can Australia protect its citizens from our dangerous American ally?
The Extradition hearing of Dan Duggan, an Australian citizen and father of six who has been held in solitary confinement for 19 months in breach of U.N. conventions at the request of the United States, will be held this Friday in a Magistrate’s Court in Sydney. (more…)
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New US trade salvo at China shows an emotional West playing with fire
Those who curb real trade and expand financial sanctions don’t seem to understand the likeliness of a destructive outcome for all. The West is wrecking the foundations of its prosperity. (more…)
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Southeast Asia, China, and the Belt and Road Initiative: Still going strong?
Relations between great powers and their neighbouring regions are often fraught. The cases of the United States and Latin America, or the European Union and North Africa, come to mind. For instance, tensions related to immigration from Latin America and North Africa, has led to the rise of right wing populism in the United States and Europe, respectively. This has fuelled the rise of populist politicians such as Donald Trump in the United States and Marine Le Pen in France. In China’s case, economic engagement has helped to stabilise and strengthen its relationship with Southeast Asian countries, despite ongoing disputes in the South China Sea. One important facet of this engagement is the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which China launched 11 years ago. (more…)
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Polly Waffle policy
Some readers will remember the Polly Waffle snack bar. This favourite was a hollow crunchy biscuit tube, coated with chocolate and filled with fluffy marshmallow. After a significant break in production, the Polly Waffle has been re-introduced to the Australian market. Many of us waited with bated tastebuds to sample the resurrected Polly Waffle. (more…)
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Australia’s crucial knowledge gaps in China expertise: Strategies for the future
Australia’s most severe China knowledge gap is the virtual collapse of University-level advanced Chinese language study, together with the study of Chinese society, politics and culture. This is the major finding of a report, Australia’s China Knowledge Capability, published in 2023 by the Australian Academy of the Humanities. (more…)
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Playing defence Mini-Me for the US will cost Australia dearly
The complaint by Canberra about the latest Chinese military flare-up close to China’s coast is not only hypocritical but highly escalatory. (more…)
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Our great leap backward in China trade ignores China specialists
Last month Prime Minister Albanese cheerfully welcomed the Chinese government’s removal of import duties on Australian wine. (more…)
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The journey and the destination: Colin Mackerras and China
Right now, knowledge and understanding of China and its culture, its people and its history could help get relations back on a sound footing, but sadly teaching and research in schools and universities has fallen to a critically low level. (more…)
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If China became a democracy, would it still be rejected by the West?
Over the last few years, I have wondered about what drives the relentless Western animosity towards China. It seems a very logical question to ask if one wants to understand the world today. But you will be hard pressed to find this explained in commentary provided by the Western media. What one gets is screaming daily headlines, like one recently found in the FT:“US seeks to isolate China with help of Allies.” (more…)
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The State Department report on human rights
Blinken knew exactly what he was doing, he could have delayed the release but he chose, instead to release the State Department’s “2023 Country Report” on the eve of his arrival in China. (more…)
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The ‘Future Made in Australia’ plan for solar panels relies on a crucial ingredient: Help from China
Twenty-three years ago, a Chinese-Australian solar scientist moved from Sydney to Wuxi to build China’s solar panel manufacturing industry from scratch, using technology developed in Australian universities. (more…)
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China: Beyond socialism and capitalism – LSE Economist Keyu Jin explains the Middle Kingdom
The Westminster Town Hall Forum in Minneapolis in the US recently hosted the leading economist, Professor Keyu Jin, from the London School of Economics, where she spoke insightfully on where China has come from – and why – and where it is headed – and why. (more…)
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Our biggest China lie
Three things: China is winning from Gaza; China growing at 5 per cent now is better than China growing at 7 per cent a decade ago; and Australia’s biggest China lie is that we’re spending half a trillion dollars on boats to protect our sea lanes. (more…)
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China studies in crisis: Time for change
At a time when China is becoming increasingly more important to the Australian economy as well as to our stability and security in the Asia-Pacific, the overall decline in Australia’s China knowledge capability runs counter to our national sovereign interests. (more…)
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American hypocrisy over Tibet and Gaza boggles the mind
The world would be a better place if US politicians exercised the same conscientiousness over Palestine as they have over the Chinese autonomous region. (more…)
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America bombs while China builds
It is sometimes said that America bombs while China builds. What’s the evidence, and where are the statistics? (more…)
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Driving the dragon: China’s adaptive policymaking
China’s economic policymaking over the past few decades is a fascinating example of adaptive planning and strategic foresight. From pivoting away from reliance on globalisation to emphasising domestic infrastructure and poverty alleviation, tilting towards the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), and now focusing on “high-quality development” (simultaneously upscaling advanced manufacturing while deflating the property bubble), China has demonstrated a sophisticated capacity to recalibrate its economic policies in response to the changing global and domestic landscape. (more…)