10 Sep 2021
Candour, at last, on China – but then what?
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has made explicit Australia’s challenge. The next step is ensuring business knows the plan.
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9 Sep 2021
Economic diplomacy: Australia Inc’s new world order
Is “China plus” the answer to fading US global hegemony? -
8 Sep 2021
China’s digital currency takes shape
A new central bank system to control the flow and exchange of money dovetails into Beijing’s big tech crackdown. -
3 Sep 2021
Rich, hot and popular: the taming of Chinese celebrities
Is the Party-state taking all the fun out of life? -
31 Aug 2021
Deliberate ambiguity of China’s new “territorial waters” declaration
A hastily introduced regulation requiring vessels to register may be contrary to the rights of innocent passage. -
25 Aug 2021
Afghanistan holds lessons for American power in Asia
The US will one day ask the same question about its presence in Asia that it did of Afghanistan: is it still worth it? -
20 Aug 2021
Can the US and China cooperate on climate?
Deals, denials and grand bargains on the road to the COP26 climate change conference. -
19 Aug 2021
China’s new silos: Nuclear arms control more urgent than ever
News of huge missile silo fields shows dumb luck is no basis for managing a risk of nuclear catastrophe. -
12 Aug 2021
Economic diplomacy: Burning down the house
Climate change is the new frontier for economic thinking in international relations. -
11 Aug 2021
How can Australia reset relations with China?
Two past PMs offer their perspective on a diplomatic breakdown and how to put the pieces back together. -
6 Aug 2021
Hong Kong security law flexes Beijing’s international muscle
Beijing’s heavy hand in Hong Kong showcases China 2.0 – more confident and less conciliatory. -
2 Aug 2021
China threatens the West’s primacy, not its democratic systems
Cold War tropes misrepresent Beijing’s challenge, and exaggerate its material and ideological power. -
30 Jul 2021
China’s Afghan conundrum
Afghanistan is not reputed to be the “graveyard of empires” without reason. -
30 Jul 2021
Why China and North Korea decided to renew a 60-year-old treaty
Mutual interests abound in a win-win for the alliance of single-party states. -
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28 Jul 2021
Far more world leaders visit China than America
If leadership diplomacy was an Olympic sport, Beijing beats Washington to the gold medal. -
23 Jul 2021
China’s numbers game harms us all
As Beijing attempts to tackle some shared world problems, its opaque regime means the benefits are limited. -
22 Jul 2021
US-China rivalries: What matters for ASEAN
Southeast Asian nations have learned to be wary of big powers offering promises of security in return for loyalty. -
14 Jul 2021
Olympic glory: Tokyo’s success is a win for Beijing
China has just as much riding on a successful Tokyo 2020 Games as Japan. -
14 Jul 2021
China’s law on conscription under revision
An emphasis on second enlistments suggests not enough young people are volunteering to meet recruitment quotas. -
13 Jul 2021
Xi and beyond
More ambitious, more educated and more engaged — the CCP powers into the second century. -
12 Jul 2021
Whatever happened to the South China Sea ruling?
Five years ago the Philippines largely squandered a crucial legal win. But it’s not too late to marshal support. -
9 Jul 2021
China’s forced invisibility of LGBTQ communities on social media
A safe place for young people in China to discuss their sexual and gender identities has suddenly been silenced. -
8 Jul 2021
Ukraine: Balancing China and the rest
With strong links to Washington, Kiev finds itself economically bound to Beijing. -
8 Jul 2021
Staying ahead in global tech leadership
As US-China rivalry creates the prospect of competing technology ecosystems, practical measures will maintain an edge. -
29 Jun 2021
Hsinchu: Taiwan’s city at the centre of China’s conundrum
Semiconductors are the drivers of the digital economy. The US needs them. So does China. And Taiwan makes the most. -
23 Jun 2021
By the numbers: Charting the Australia-China relationship in decline
Trust has plummeted and concern about China’s military is growing. And Australians point a finger of blame at Beijing. -
15 Jun 2021
Australia’s China politics heats up
The “bad strategy” towards Beijing is exposed as the gloves come off in Australia’s domestic foreign policy debates. -
15 Jun 2021
Beijing could easily encourage people to have more children, but won’t
However China frames its population policy, birth limits fundamentally infringe on women’s reproductive rights. -
9 Jun 2021
China overtakes America in presidential diplomacy
Memo for the White House: You should get out more. -
9 Jun 2021
Malaysia – and no Southeast Asian nation – should be bullied by China
An incursion by Chinese aircraft into Malaysian airspace is yet another reminder of Beijing’s belligerence. -
3 Jun 2021
Economic diplomacy: Under the doona, Australian investors dump China
Australian investors are pulling out of China just as the country has become the largest recipient of FDI. -
1 Jun 2021
China’s never-ending Tibet paranoia
The growing US–China rivalry is changing the dynamics of the contest over Tibet. -
31 May 2021
Is Southeast Asia ready for a US-China tech decoupling?
Some regional countries have sought to diversify. But this doesn’t necessarily mean choosing sides. -
26 May 2021
Myanmar is not the next Syria
Comparisons may help draw attention to the crisis, but they ignore essential differences. -
21 May 2021
Australia-China relations: More hurdles ahead
Across a range of issues, already high tensions may well increase. The public mood looks set to further sour. -
20 May 2021
Economic diplomacy: Budgeting for China and the price that matters
China isn’t mentioned nearly as much in the government’s latest budget papers, but its presence looms throughout. -
18 May 2021
A rare test of China diplomacy
Australia and New Zealand provide a case for whether it pays to be nice – or if it’s simply not worth bothering. -
14 May 2021
Russia–China: An Unholy Alliance?
There is substantial – although not complete – policy convergence on international issues. -
11 May 2021
Do Belt and Road projects provide local benefits?
The assumption that China’s overseas infrastructure projects only run on Chinese labour is in need of a reality check. -
10 May 2021
China’s innovation dilemma
Tech advances have been impressive, but constraints on business productivity and imagination are a major obstacle. -
10 May 2021
A breadcrumb trail as Europe responds to a rising China
With an EU Indo-Pacific strategy in the works, finding common ground in security and foreign policy remains a challenge. -
6 May 2021
Economic diplomacy: Patent politics and trade deal twists
President Biden moves to suspend vaccine patents, RCEP ramps up, IA-CEPA gets a lesson and US dollar reserves tank. -
5 May 2021
Authoritarians seek advantage in India’s Covid crisis
China and Russia are on a vaccine drive across South Asia to deliver on India’s fast-vanishing promises. -
4 May 2021
Pakistani Taliban turn on China
Any friend of the government in Islamabad appears to be an enemy of the terrorist group. -
4 May 2021
Australia keeps calm while China carries on
In the face of sustained coercion, Canberra has rejected the urge to seek economic revenge against Beijing. -
30 Apr 2021
China’s climate pivot could reshape the economic future
Many of the same arguments persist as international climate negotiations enter a fourth decade. But actions matter. -
29 Apr 2021
Some reflections on the “anonymous Xinjiang paper”
We should debate those we disagree with. But engagement must be based on a good faith assessment of evidence. -
29 Apr 2021
China’s leap into space
The newly launched space station has no crew as yet, but the invite list makes for plenty of speculation. -
26 Apr 2021
Bhutan: Happy days for the jab in between a strategic pinch
The rollout of Covid-19 vaccinations is a remarkable achievement for the kingdom. More tests lie ahead.