China
Is Japan’s rare earth discovery fool’s gold?
Rare earth. The term sounds like something derived from the imagination of J. R. R. Tolkien, but these composites of seventeen rare minerals are a silent but central…
Caught in a pincer
China, China, China.
All the talk is of increasing Chinese influence in our region. But this is to wilfully ignore the elephant in the room.
Contrary to most commentary,…
Is Trump ready to bear the cost of a trade war?
Agree or disagree with his conclusions, we owe Hugh White thanks for forcing us to grapple with “the China challenge”. White’s writings have stripped away much of the easy, high…
Boao Forum, through the eyes of China’s state media
Chinese state media reporting on the recently concluded Boao Forum strongly emphasised the theme of “confidence”. The message for domestic consumption was that Chinese people can…
The Boao confidence
President Xi Jinping’s speech to the Boao Forum for Asia, held on the tropical island of Hainan on 10 April, displayed a new skill China has been given free rein to…
Australia vs China, Europe vs Russia
The “bitter split among Australia academics” (reported in the Financial Times) with regard to attitudes towards China, and the Skripal poisoning incident that prompted an…
The many questions about China’s Vanuatu ambition
What to make of the extraordinary story in Australia’s Fairfax newspapers on Tuesday about reported discussions between China and Vanuatu that could allow the People’s…
Xi’s big bureaucratic shake-up
Beijing is shaking up its bureaucracy. Two blueprints, released on 17 and 21 March, launched a major reform which will make crucial changes to the balance between the Communist…
American trade policy returns to “aggressive unilateralism”
America’s new haphazard and confrontational approach to trade policy under President Donald Trump is rapidly taking shape.
Risks of escalating protectionism and a damaging trade…