China
Economic diplomacy: Global tax, education exports and Team Australia
Tax and spend
US President Joe Biden may be grabbing the global headlines by boosting world growth with his big spending and international security with his telephone diplomacy…
The big bark but small bite of China’s trade coercion
Beginning last May, China has hit Australia with a barrage of trade sanctions in a fairly overt attempt at economic coercion. It’s still early days, but it’s worth…
With Xinjiang cotton, Beijing is taking on the world
When China’s nationalist outrage machine took aim at Swedish fashion giant H&M in late March, one could be forgiven for feeling a sense of déjà vu. Campaigns to boycott…
Closer Taiwan-US ties are stabilising the region, not the opposite
Those who’ve been reading the news in the past few weeks could be forgiven for thinking we are on the precipice of war in the Taiwan Strait. Not only do some analysts argue that…
Podcasts
Lowy Institute Conversations: Nathan Law on exile, China and the struggle for democracy in Hong Kong
In this episode of Lowy Institute Conversations, Director of the Southeast Asia Program Ben Bland sits down with Nathan Law to discuss exile, China’s repressive policies and the…
Washington risks an unsustainable climate policy
A couple of months after the inauguration of the new Biden administration, the 18 March Alaska summit provided the first big test of US-China relations. While most of the talks…
Commentary
China’s threat to the US makes us a power player
There’s a seminal shift underway in Australia’s relationship with the US based on mutual need and Morrison’s determination to act more forcefully. Originally published in The…
A new “concert” to govern the Indo-Pacific
The joint statement issued following the weekend meeting of the four “Quad” leaders was titled “The Spirit of the Quad”. This title could be read as either self-affirmation or…
The Belt and Road, and the pandemic detour
Book review: Daniel Drache, A.T. Kingsmith and Duan Qi, One Road, Many Dreams: China’s Bold Plan to Remake the Global Economy (London, Bloomsbury, 2019).
The economic fallout of…
Economic diplomacy: The business of coups and China’s Quad response
Myanmar money
When Norway’s central bank put Japan’s third-biggest food company on a watch list for disinvestment last week, it demonstrated that at least one thing seems to be…