Since Hong Kong’s National Security Law came into force in July 2020, a number of high-profile cases have been brought under it against leading political dissidents. These include the pending trial against human rights lawyer Chow Hang-tung, Albert Ho and others for their leadership roles in a group that has long organised annual vigils in … more
According to its official website, The University of Mountains and Rivers (or Shan He Da Xue 山河大学, or SHU) is located on No.1 Shan He Road, in a special administrative region where China’s four northern provinces, Shandong 山东, Shanxi 山西, Henan 河南, and Hebei 河北 intersect. The name Shanhe is a portmanteau of the four … more
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-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
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
The twelve-day visit to China by former Taiwan president Ma Ying-jeou 馬英九, the first by a past Taiwanese head of state, proved fraught with symbolic significance. Ma himself stated that he had waited decades to make the trip, saying that he had looked forward to it for thirty-six years, ever since he first became involved … more
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
It is no coincidence that Desmond Shum’s Red Roulette has been one of the most popular books among China watchers to come out in recent years. For many of us, his lurid descriptions of the drama and debauchery taking place among the great and gilded in Beijing are as thrilling as The Godfather, a real-life … more
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
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
