Caution and Compromise in the Albanese Government’s China Strategy

Policy consistency and diplomatic decorum have been the dominant themes of Canberra’s approach to Beijing since the May 2022 federal election. The Albanese Labor government has reaffirmed its Coalition predecessor’s priorities: among other things, trying to minimise China’s  security role in the Pacific; deterring military aggression, including against Taiwan, by obtaining nuclear-powered submarines through AUKUS; … more

Australia-China Relations Need Re-thinking, Not Re-set

Australia-People’s Republic of China (PRC) relations appear to be on a healthy win-win-win track. Australia’s federal ministers are back on talking terms with their PRC counterparts, visits to the PRC are resuming from Canberra and by state premiers, our longsuffering ambassador in Beijing, Graham Fletcher, is finally getting to meet appropriate Chinese peers, and some … more

‘Take Off Your Kong Yiji’s Gown’: Why Are State Media and Unemployed Youth Disagreeing Over Interpretations of Lu Xun’s Classic

For graduates in search of a job in China, March and April are traditionally the busiest hiring season. This golden window of opportunity has even acquired the nickname ‘golden March, silver April’ 金三银四. But this year’s job-finding season proved exasperating for many, with the National Bureau of Statistics reporting that in March 2023, unemployment among … more

How Fearful is China’s Military Rise?

DoD photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley/Released

During a meeting with delegates from the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the People’s Armed Police Force at the Fourteenth National People’s Congress in March 2023, Xi Jinping called for the improvement of China’s ‘integrated national strategies and strategic capabilities’ and to ‘accelerate the modernisation of [the] army as a world-class armed force’. His speech … more

PSYOPS and Cyber War in Taiwan

Cyberattacks targeting Taiwan are nothing new. Every day, there are both attempted and successful attacks targeting government and private sector websites. But during Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island in August 2022, we saw a drastic increase in cyberattacks and cybercrime generally. The Taiwanese Government recorded twenty-three times more cyberattacks than usual on 2 August. … more