China
Waiting for the thaw: the Pacific hopeful on Australia-China reset
This month’s call by China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, for a reset in Beijing and Canberra’s frosty relations has raised hopes in the island countries of the Pacific,…
China: Xi, the Party, and the endless struggle
With the Chinese Communist Party’s 20th National Congress in full swing, President Xi Jinping this week delivered his work report confirming, unsurprisingly, the centrality of the…
Could China save the world?
Xi Jinping may be the most powerful man in the world. His principal rival for that title – Joe Biden – presides over a dysfunctional political system in which effective domestic…
Can China build a “community” for shared oceans?
While China’s growing naval presence has garnered much attention, awareness about its global maritime governance model remains limited. President Xi Jinping has spoken about …
Found in translation: Australia and China’s shared history
Book review: Happy Together: Bridging the Australia–China Divide by David Walker and Li Yao, with Karen Walker (Melbourne University Press, 2022)
In rural towns…
Xi Jinping: when enough is too much
He’s got his 2,300 hand-picked delegates lined up for the Communist Party of China (CPC) congress starting 16 October, and he’s junked the previous limit of two five-year terms as…
Greater Sunrise: Can Timor-Leste play the “China card”?
Ahead of a visit to Australia last month, Timor-Leste’s President Jose Ramos Horta sought to play the China card, raising the possibility of asking Beijing to finance the Greater…
Water scarcity challenges China’s development model
Southern China’s longest drought on record is the latest manifestation of a slow-burning but increasingly severe water crisis. Left unchecked, it has the potential to act as a…
Taiwan: Biden risks talking himself into a war he cannot win
The more often US President Joe Biden appears to abandon strategic ambiguity by saying quite clearly that America would go to war with China to defend Taiwan, the more difficult…