China
FOCAC: No mention of controversies while China sticks to a game plan
From 29–30 November, the eighth edition of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) was held in Dakar, Senegal, bringing together the foreign ministers and high-level…
Economic diplomacy: Free trade vs economic resilience
Santa clauses
The value of global goods trade during the biggest pandemic in a century last year dropped about a third less than it did during the biggest financial crisis in a…
Paul Keating may be the “Grand Appeaser”, but is he wrong?
Former prime minister Paul Keating’s characteristically frank comments on Australia’s Taiwan policy have attracted many criticisms. One of the most predictable is that he is…
India, China cop finger pointing in climate politics
Two weeks of negotiations in Glasgow meant that COP26 resulted in a resolution – of sorts. Nations agreed to resume next year with stronger 2030 emissions reduction targets in a…
Regulating unmanned underwater vehicles in Indonesian waters
According to the Indonesia Ocean Justice Initiative, between 2018 and January 2021, a large number of Chinese vessels “deactivated” their AIS transponders – the automatic…
China’s digital currency: Next stop, Africa?
In April 2020, China was the first major economy to pilot a digital currency, the e-yuan or e-CNY. The e-CNY, which will eventually replace physical cash and is currently being…
Cautiously optimistic: Chinese students keen to get back to Australia
Of all the negative social effects of Covid-19, one that has been particularly concerning for Australia has been the decline in student migration, including from China, the major…
Is Australia relevant?
Last week, Singapore’s Education Minister Chan Chun Sing addressed the Fullerton lecture series on US-China relations and his own country’s foreign policy. Chan, a leading member…
China: rejecting rubbish
On hearing Beijing had instituted the ominously named “Operation National Sword” it would have been easy to imagine Chinese warships crashing across the Taiwan Strait or perhaps…
India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka
On 30 September, Adani Group, India’s largest private port operator, signed what has been reported as a US$700 million agreement to build a new container terminal in Sri Lanka…