In a rare survey of Chinese public opinion on the Russia-Ukraine War conducted by the Carter Center in March-April 2022, we can identify two highly significant findings: first, the majority (around 75 percent) of respondents believed that supporting Russia was beneficial to China’s national interest; second, the consumption of national state media and the use … more
Amid Taiwanese aspiration, Chinese rage, and regional concern over whether the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, would visit Taiwan, she arrived on 2 August. The most senior US official to travel to Taiwan in a decade and the first sitting speaker to do so in twenty-five years, her itinerary was … more
This autumn sees the return of every China watcher’s favorite ‘parlor game’. The Communist Party of China (CPC) will convene its 20th Party Congress, a quinquennial gathering of around 3000 Party representatives in Beijing for a week of meetings that will approve a report by General Secretary Xi Jinping 习近平, amend the Party’s constitution, and … more
The People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) is increasingly making its presence felt regionally and globally. The China-Solomon Islands security pact signed in April 2022 opens the possibility for Chinese maritime security vessels to operate deep in the Pacific. In May, a Chinese surveillance ship was spotted in the Indian Ocean near the West Australian coast, … more
Revelations during the Australian federal election that the Solomon Islands Government was in the process of concluding a secret security agreement with the People’s Republic of China (PRC) sounded alarm bells in security circles. It generated dire predictions of a future Chinese naval base and permanent deployment of Chinese troops in the Solomons, seriously affecting … more
The Australia-China relationship, which turns fifty in 2022, has in recent years become a seemingly endless narrative of contradiction and acrimony. On 26 January 2022, an opportunity for a reset came with the arrival of a new Chinese ambassador to Canberra, Xiao Qian 肖千. Speaking on 24 February, Xiao said that Chinese government wanted to … more
