It is an understatement to say that 2022 has not been a great year for the Chinese economy – and the world has taken note. With GDP growth projections ‘slashed’ by the World Bank in June, and again in September to 2.8 percent, there is no doubt that the Chinese government will fail to reach … more
While President Xi Jinping laid out his vision for China at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in October 2022, sitting quietly behind him was the introverted and discreet professor-turned-politician who crafted ‘Xi Jinping Thought’: Wang Huning 王沪宁. Since the late 1990s, Wang has served three General Secretaries at the … more
The ‘Ballad of Mulan’ (circa 400-600), which recounts the story of a young woman disguising herself as a man to take her father’s place in the army, concludes with a musing on the difficulties of telling the sex of rabbits: The male hare wildly kicks its feet, The female hare has shifty eyes, But when … more
The first four decades of diplomatic relations between Australia and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) proceeded largely along an upward trajectory. Increasing institutional, economic, cultural and other links drew the two countries and peoples closer together. There have been times of friction, including a period of several years following the killing of pro-democracy protesters … more
With no internal combustion engine and no burning of fossil fuels, electric vehicles (EVs) — running solely on batteries — are coming in their billions to electrify mobility. By 2035, at least half of all global passenger vehicle sales will be for EVs, and the proportion will keep increasing. The roadmap for the global energy … more
Two things stand out to us when thinking about public protests in today’s People’s Republic of China (PRC). First, although it is easy for outsiders to view the PRC as having become such a tightly controlled, surveilled, and censored place that there is no room for dissent, this has never been the case — as … more
The change of government in Australia in May 2022 presented an opportunity for improvement in the Australia-China relationship ahead of its fiftieth anniversary in December. The new Chinese ambassador Xiao Qian, who arrived in January, had invited Australia to meet China half-way in mending strained relations. The Albanese Labor government brought a change in tone … more
Australia’s relationship with Taiwan is based on two overriding and related principles, which both direct policy and limit engagement. The first principle is the One China Policy adopted by Australia when Canberra recognised the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the sole representative of China on 21 December 1972 and acknowledged ‘the position of the … more
In September of 2020, Xi Jinping announced China’s commitment to achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2060, with an intermediate target of peaking carbon emissions by 2030. This is a considerable challenge given that that country is today still the biggest user of coal globally, by some margin. In 2019, China was responsible for about 55 … more
Earlier this year, thousands of angry depositors stormed the Henan office of China’s central bank. The cause was a classic bank-run trigger: people were unable to retrieve their deposits. Two things about this protest were particularly noteworthy. First, it was directed at some of the less known Village and Township Banks 村镇银行 that rarely enter … more
