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  • 4 Nov 2020
    • Defence & Security
    • China

    Is China speeding up military modernisation? It may, but not yet

    Meia Nouwens
    A new communique was quickly read as a signal Beijing was shifting forward its 2035 target but the evidence isn’t there.
  • 4 Nov 2020
    • China
    • Review

    Book review: The China bubble that never pops

    John West
    Against the odds, the Chinese economy has navigated multiple crises, but the future may be more problematic.
  • 3 Nov 2020
    • Australia
    • China
    • Review

    Taking China seriously: A review of Geoff Raby’s “grand strategy”

    James Curran
    Jumping at shadows is no basis for Australian foreign policy. Common sense must prevail.
  • 26 Oct 2020
    • China
    • Coronavirus
    • Sex and Gender

    Can Covid-19 advance gender equality in China’s health policies?

    Sara E Davies , Huiyun Feng , Connie Cai Ru Gan
    The coronavirus pandemic revealed the disconnect between wishful official edicts and rigid social conventions.
  • 22 Oct 2020
    • Global Economy
    • Australia
    • China
    • Japan

    Economic diplomacy: Japanese investment takes a Toll

    Greg Earl
    While a disastrous foray by Japan Post grabs headlines, China shrinks as a share of the global economy.
  • 22 Oct 2020
    • Australia
    • China

    Filling the gap: How Australia is creating its own “China problem”

    Angela Lehmann
    The current geopolitical to-ing and fro-ing must not obscure the need to understand Chinese language and culture.
  • 20 Oct 2020
    • Sustainability
    • China
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia

    Duelling diplomacy over Southeast Asia’s most important river

    Andrea Haefner
    Despite climate change and the cost hydropower dams, Mekong nations will find it difficult to turn away from China.
  • 20 Oct 2020
    • Afghanistan
    • China

    Can China be a peacemaker in Afghanistan?

    Naweed Jafari
    China has so far stayed on the sidelines of the intra-Afghan talks, but it could play a big role in ending the conflict.
  • 15 Oct 2020
    • Central Asia
    • China
    • Russia

    Kyrgyzstan’s turmoil and the competition for Central Asia

    Nikola Mikovic
    Post-election upheaval has drawn new attention to internal power struggles and the region’s geostrategic importance.
  • 14 Oct 2020
    • Australia
    • China
    • New Zealand

    Kiwis and hawks: Is New Zealand edging closer to Australia on China?

    Anna Powles , Joanne Wallis
    Views on China appear to be hardening in Wellington, and the next government will be pressed to find a policy balance.
  • 13 Oct 2020
    • Global Economy
    • China
    • Technology

    The many trails of Ant Group

    Fraser Howie
    Plans to list the company at the centre of China’s financial and payments network could spark a geopolitical firestorm.
  • 9 Oct 2020
    • Bangladesh
    • China
    • India

    Bangladesh’s balancing act between great powers

    Mubashar Hasan , Arild Engelsen Ruud
    For all the talk of a China-India contest, Bangladesh offers very little from a strategic point of view.
  • 9 Oct 2020
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • United Nations
    • China
    • Climate change

    China’s vision of sovereignty for the next world order

    Bill Hayton
    Beijing’s attitude is clearly one that says big countries matter more than small or middle-size ones.
  • 5 Oct 2020
    • Diplomacy
    • China
    • Climate change

    A dose of climate realism about China’s carbon pledge

    Anthony Burke
    Beijing’s target falls well short of the dramatic and globally organised action needed to stop dangerous climate change.
  • 1 Oct 2020
    • Australia
    • China

    Smart China choices

    Ben Scott
    Australia’s relationship with China is unavoidably asymmetric. That shouldn’t stop Australia finding a competitive edge.
  • 30 Sep 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Taiwan

    The unfinished Chinese civil war

    John Culver
    Many frame China’s options against Taiwan as peace or invasion. This is a dangerous oversimplification.
  • 29 Sep 2020
    • China
    • India

    China-India: Talk is cheap, but never free

    Oriana Skylar Mastro
    Temper the negotiation hopes. States often worry a willingness to talk will communicate weakness to an adversary.
  • 28 Sep 2020
    • China
    • India

    Working together on relief can stop a China‑India border disaster

    Lina Gong
    Cooperation on humanitarian assistance is an alternative channel for the two sides to build trust and generate goodwill.
  • 25 Sep 2020
    • China
    • Human rights

    Colonialism and cultural erasure in Xinjiang

    Michael Clarke
    The ideology behind the CCP’s “re-education” of the Uighur shares in the history of subjugating indigenous populations.
  • 14 Sep 2020
    • United States
    • China

    Cut! How Hollywood self-censors on China

    Nicole de Souza
    The Disney remake of Mulan has put Hollywood in an uncomfortable spotlight of its own.
  • 14 Sep 2020
    • China
    • European Union

    No breakthrough in sight for EU-China leaders’ meeting

    Nora Schlenzig
    Europe seeks to keep bilateral ties from deteriorating as seen with the US and China, yet a rebalance is underway.
  • 9 Sep 2020
    • Pacific Islands
    • China's Economy
    • Chinese Trade
    • China
    • Sri Lanka
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    Debunking the myth of China’s “debt-trap diplomacy”

    Shahar Hameiri
    Never attribute to malice what can be explained by incompetence.
  • 8 Sep 2020
    • China
    • Australia

    No news is not good news

    Richard McGregor
    The hasty exit from China of two Australian journalists underscores how much the relationship has soured.
  • 8 Sep 2020
    • Trade
    • Australia
    • China

    Australia, all is not lost despite China’s trade tantrums

    James Laurenceson
    Stopping trade means China loses too, and Beijing must know the world is watching.
  • 2 Sep 2020
    • China
    • Iran
    • China – Belt and Road Initiative

    A China-Iran bilateral deal: Costs all around

    Jeffrey Payne
    Beijing sees an opportunity in Tehran’s international isolation – but may not realise the tangle it is entering.
  • 1 Sep 2020
    • Trade
    • Australia
    • China

    China sours on Australia’s wine

    Victor Ferguson
    Why might Beijing have chosen to use anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigations as informal economic sanctions?
  • 28 Aug 2020
    • South China Sea
    • China
    • Indonesia

    Jakarta should be wary of Beijing’s South China Sea proposals

    Aristyo Rizka Darmawan
    “Joint development” is a misnomer when China has no legal stake in what is Indonesian territory.
  • 27 Aug 2020
    • Asia
    • Defence & Security
    • United States
    • Australia
    • China

    Indo-Pacific strategy: Before justifying the means, identify the ends

    Jason Israel
    Facing uncertainty of where “strategic competition” is headed, first look for the ideal outcome. 
  • 25 Aug 2020
    • India's Navy
    • China
    • India

    The delusion of India trying to throttle China’s maritime trade

    Sudarshan Y. Shrikhande
    Rowdy debates about going for China’s “jugular” in the Malacca Strait should not obscure the practical difficulties.
  • 24 Aug 2020
    • China
    • India
    • Pakistan

    Kashmir, a year on from the change

    Roshni Kapur
    Revoking special status hasn’t resolved militancy or improved the local economy – both supposed goals of the move.
  • 21 Aug 2020
    • Middle East
    • Diplomacy
    • United States
    • China
    • Iran
    • United Arab Emirates
    • Israel

    Hidden seams in the UAE-Israel deal

    Ben Scott
    It’s all about Iran, right? Actually, the agreement has more to do with managing the US and China.
  • 19 Aug 2020
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • China
    • Pakistan
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Türkiye
    • Malaysia

    As Pakistan and Saudi Arabia drift apart, China moves in

    Syed Fazl-e-Haider
    A growing schism between Saudi Arabia and Pakistan points to new alliances in the Muslim world.
  • 12 Aug 2020
    • South China Sea
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • United Nations
    • China

    China is overturning the rules-based order from within

    Malcolm Jorgensen
    By contesting basic principles of international law, China is doing far more damage than is often recognised.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Southeast Asia

    US in Southeast Asia: Democracy is (sort of) out, deterrence is in

    William Choong
    It would be a stretch for ASEAN members to march to the beat of Mike Pompeo’s democracy drums in confronting China.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Coronavirus

    Cambodia: Hard choices

    Kimkong Heng
    Punishment for democratic backsliding might force Hun Sen’s government closer to China – but not without cost.
  • 11 Aug 2020
    • Sustainability
    • Cambodia
    • China
    • Thailand
    • Vietnam
    • Climate change
    • Southeast Asia
    • Laos

    Chinese dams and the Mekong drought

    Milton Osborne
    The environmental impact of China’s dam building upstream is undeniable. The silence from some quarters is surprising.
  • 10 Aug 2020
    • The Americas
    • Sustainability
    • China

    Chinese trawlers in the Galapagos: The protection challenge

    Mélodie Ruwet
    Locking off waters to protect biodiversity won’t work without recognising that fish don’t care for the lines on a map.
  • 7 Aug 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Technology

    Cyber sovereignty cuts both ways

    Elliott Zaagman
    China’s barricades against foreign tech helped its companies grow massive. Now they’re being blocked in other markets.
  • 7 Aug 2020
    • China
    • Australia
    • Defence & Security
    • Papua New Guinea
    • United States

    A Chinese-built airport next door to a key Australia-US naval base?

    Thomas Shugart
    Manus Island is a vital strategic location. Why is a Chinese company being paid to upgrade its airfield?
  • 3 Aug 2020
    • China and the Pacific
    • South China Sea
    • Asean
    • China

    Brunei, ASEAN and the South China Sea

    Joshua Espeña , Anne Uy
    A long-silent claimant has spoken, but will it be heard?
  • 31 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • Review

    Book review: Superpower showdown

    Robert Wihtol
    The fraught relationship between the United States and China is set to deteriorate further.
  • 31 Jul 2020
    • China
    • Coronavirus

    COVIDcast: Looking at China from the grassroots, with Dexter Roberts

    Richard McGregor , Dexter Roberts
    The latest episode in a podcast to discuss the implications of coronavirus for Australia, the region, and the world.
  • 30 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • China
    • India

    Which side would the US public choose in an India-China conflict?

    Timothy S. Rich , Vasabjit Banerjee
    As American attitudes towards China sour, India, as a fellow democracy, doesn’t appear to automatically benefit.
  • 29 Jul 2020
    • China
    • Hong Kong

    Battle for Hong Kong takes on a new shape

    JJ Rose
    Squashed by Beijing’s new security law, the pro-democracy movement is going into politics – or going underground.
  • 28 Jul 2020
    • Trade
    • China-Australia Relations
    • Australian trade, investment & economy
    • WTO
    • Australia
    • China

    Managing Chinese economic risks means more than diversification

    Heath Baker
    How does Australia confront the possibility of Beijing’s economic coercion?
  • 28 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • China

    On China, the US speaks loudly but carries no stick

    Nick Bisley
    A flurry of bombastic rhetoric targeting Beijing puts pressure on allies and also fits Trump’s re-election strategy.
  • 25 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • South China Sea
    • Australia
    • China

    Australia lays down the law in the South China Sea dispute

    Bec Strating
    Canberra rejects the PRC’s “historic rights” claim to contested waters but now faces the test of what to do about it.
  • 24 Jul 2020
    • United States
    • China

    China’s catastrophic success: US strategic blunders fuel rivalry

    John Culver
    Deepening enmity could amplify Beijing’s assessment that Washington may pursue the overthrow of the CCP as an end goal.
  • 23 Jul 2020
    • China
    • India
    • Sustainability

    India-China relations and the geopolitics of water

    Ameya Pratap Singh , Urvi Tembey
    Control over key rivers effectively gives China a chokehold on India’s economy – and poses a wider regional threat.
  • 22 Jul 2020
    • China
    • India
    • Australia
    • Digital Disruption
    • Technology
    • United States

    Interesting times for TikTok

    Elliott Zaagman
    The debate over banning the social media app hits on big issues of tech, trade and sovereignty.
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