While China was imposing punitive barriers against Australian exports, its own sales to Australia were rising rapidly, with growth led by motor vehicles, electric machinery and wind towers. China’s annual sales of manufactured goods (excluding …
The future of US-China rivalry is not likely to become a cold war, nor a hot one. Rather, it’s more likely to be a simmer war, a new situation in which there is persistent competition …
The US, Australia and partner countries should take a page from China’s stockpiling playbook. They should build up stockpiles of critical minerals, managing inventories to optimise prices for domestic mineral producers and consumers and to …
Journalists, it has been said, write the first rough draft of history. This is particularly true in China, where official sources and local media provide an incomplete picture and unofficial sources are scarce. As a …
The Singapore government has designated Philip Chan, a naturalised Singapore citizen from Hong Kong, as a ‘politically significant person’. It assessed that Chan was susceptible to foreign influence and willing to advance those interests, essentially …
Writing in The Australian Financial Review on 5 February, my former ASPI colleague, Jennifer Parker, put forward an excellent argument for granting more leeway to serving Defence personnel to speak out on defence affairs, raising …
The five-year icy age between Australia and China has wound down. The leaders have met, and enough fitful warmth has returned to melt a few icicles. The icy age can be mapped and dated as …
Hostage diplomacy is an apt name for the exquisite predicament in which Australia finds itself. An Australian citizen, Yang Hengjun, is held arbitrarily and then, in a shocking decision, sentenced to death. But with the …
On 30 January, 2024, President Xi Jinping provided further evidence that China formally recognises the Taliban as the legitimate government of Afghanistan. This sets a dangerous international precedent and is a morally moribund approach to …
The grim state of China’s housing market has so far had little effect on the iron ore price because its steel mills are diverting their surplus output onto export markets where they are adding to …
Last December, the Standing Committee of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) appointed Dong Jun, former commander of the People’s Liberation Army navy (PLAN), as China’s new defence minister more than two months after his …
Last week’s Chinese embassy press conference was a further effort to corral Australia into compliance and compromise with Beijing’s views. Remarks by Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian and other embassy officials confirm what many national security …