Sunday 29 May 2022 | 19:13 | SYDNEY
What's happening on
Go to the Interpreter

China

view

For sale, cheap: Armed drones

Once the domain of only a handful of states, weaponised drones are now part of the military arsenal of no less than a dozen countries. That number is set to expand after China announced it would begin to sell and export its most powerful drone, the CH-5 Rainbow, that's modelled on the US MQ 9 Reaper
By Jennifer S Hunt
26 Jul 17
view
view

Empathising with China

The recent presence of a PLA-N auxiliary general intelligence vessel off Queensland has generated some interesting discussions. Euan Graham and James Goldrick are right that the incident undercuts Beijing’s own objections about US close-in surveillance of mainland China. There is no small amount
By Iain Henry
25 Jul 17
view
view

Doklam: Paths ahead for India and China

As the India-China standoff at the Doklam tri-junction area enters its second month, it is clear this is the most serious crisis between the two countries in 30 years. There are several ways in which it might develop. Unilateral concessions and Chinese escalation are unlikely, with the local
By Shashank Joshi
21 Jul 17
view
view

China sees the West behind Liu Xiaobo

The reaction in China to the death of Nobel peace laureate Liu Xiaobo last week is both surprising and illuminating. Surprising in that few in the West would have expected anger at the West to feature so strongly, and illuminating in what that anger tells us about Chinese attitudes to the West
By Merriden Varrall
18 Jul 17
view
view

Enter the dragon: Thailand gets closer to China

The recent announcement that the leader of Thailand’s ruling military junta, General Prayut Chan-Ocha, would use the controversial Article 44 to speed up construction of the delayed $US15 billion Sino-Thai railway confirms warming relations between Thailand’s military-led government and
By Patrick Jory
07 Jul 17
view
view

Winding back the China Solution

The cluster of foreign policy initiatives labelled the 'China Solution' has evolved over the past two years, from a strategy that spoke to the aspirations of a still dev­eloping China to those of a nascent major global power. Brexit and the election of US President Donald Trump precipitated a
By David Kelly
06 Jul 17
view
view

How China views the plight of refugees

With assistance from Zixin Wang, an intern with the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program. Following World Refugee Day on 20 June, Chinese netizens have been heatedly debating whether China should accept refugees. 'Debating' may be too strong a word – social media users are for the most part
By Merriden Varrall
05 Jul 17
view
view

China and Hong Kong: ‘One country above all’

One country is above all. That was the loud and clear message President Xi Jinping delivered to Hong Kong as the city commemorated the 20th anniversary of the handover from the UK to China. Hong Kong might have been 'returned' to the motherland in 1997, but the hearts of the people have not, a
By Vivienne Chow
04 Jul 17
view
view

Media scrutiny of China is critical for Australia

In responding to recent media coverage of Chinese communist party influence over Australia’s institutional infrastructure ('Where have all the grown-ups gone on China policy?', Australian Financial Review), former Ambassador to China Geoff Raby makes an important point. The issue is not the
By John Fitzgerald
27 Jun 17
view
view

Could China go the way of the USSR?

Could China be witnessing the beginnings of its own end? The vast majority of commentators say the chances are slim. Indeed, most are as dismissive of China-sceptics as Nikita Krushchev was of USSR doomsayers in the 1950s. Yet within three decades of his ‘We will bury you!’ speech, and Yuri
By Paul Wilson
15 Jun 17
view
view

Why altruism is risky in China

Several days ago some very upsetting footage surfaced online of a woman being hit by car in the central Chinese province of Henan. She was ignored by passers-by as she lay injured on the road, and then hit again, this time fatally. The incident - not the first of its kind - has caused a resurgence
By Merriden Varrall
14 Jun 17
view
view

China’s growing interest in the Middle East

Much has been said about US President Donald Trump’s recent visit to the Middle East but it’s worth remembering that only a few weeks earlier a mirror image of Trump’s Middle East tour took place in China. In mid-March, King Salman of Saudi Arabia and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
By Gedaliah Afterman
09 Jun 17
view
view

Four Corners sees the Party-state in all the shadows

Last night ABC TV aired a Four Corners/Fairfax Media investigation into China’s power and influence in Australia that promised to uncover 'how China's Communist Party is secretly infiltrating Australia'. The program traced the stories of various individuals and their ties to China and concluded we
By Merriden Varrall
06 Jun 17
view
view

What Chinese media thought of the Shangri-La Dialogue

As most readers of The Interpreter already know, last weekend the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) hosted the 16th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore (SLD17). Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull provided the keynote speech. US Defence Secretary Mattis gave a much-anticipated
By Merriden Varrall
05 Jun 17
view
view

China's undeclared foreign policy at the poles

In November 2014 the Chinese media deliberately mistranslated the words of Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi had just given a speech in Hobart on China's polar agenda, with then Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, standing beside him. Using standard political phraseology to describe China’s
By Anne-Marie Brady
30 May 17
view
view

China v US: Who needs allies?

People often argue that America’s alliances in Asia are a decisive advantage in its contest with China for regional strategic primacy. China’s only ally, they say, is North Korea, while America has an entire alliance system encompassing many key regional states, as well as a wider circle of
By Hugh White
29 May 17
view
view

US FONOPs: Game on again in the South China Sea

According to this Reuters report, which was soon followed by others citing a Pentagon spokesman, a US Navy warship, the destroyer USS Dewey, has recently sailed within 12 nautical miles of the Chinese-occupied Mischief Reef in the South China Sea. This was the first such challenge to Beijing by the
By Sam Bateman
26 May 17
view
view

Countering China’s submarine operations in South Asia

As Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Sri Lanka earlier this month, reports emerged that the Sri Lankan government had turned down China's request for a submarine docking in Colombo harbor. Beijing, apparently, wanted one of its submarines (ostensibly on its way to the Gulf of Aden for '
By Abhijit Singh
23 May 17
view
view

Europe’s mixed views on China’s Belt and Road

China’s Belt and Road summit is over but the Chinese narrative is only just getting started. In a video released by the state-owned media outlet China Daily, a Western father tells his daughter a BRI bedtime story: 'China’s idea does not only belong to China. It belongs to the world'. Yet the
By Philippe Le Corre
23 May 17
view
view

How China snubbed Singapore at the Belt and Road summit

Among the 29 Heads of State who converged on Beijing for the Belt and Road Summit earlier this week were leaders of seven of the ten ASEAN states. One leader was noticeably missing: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. Various observers have noted this absence, including Hugh White, who
By Angela Han
18 May 17
view
view

China's ‘House of Cards’ reveals a few home truths

The Chinese TV series 'In the Name of People', compared by many to the US-produced drama 'House of Cards', has become the most talked-about TV show nationwide after airing last month. With the clear aim of celebrating President Xi Jinping’s campaign to crack down on corrupt tigers and flies
By Audrey Jiajia Li
17 May 17
view
view

As Trump flip-flops in Asia, things slide China’s way

Somewhat obscured in last week's outpouring of penny dreadful news from Washington (such as Sean Spicer ensconcing himself in the White House shrubbery) was the announcement of a US-China 100-day economic action plan. It is a pedestrian, workmanlike document, committing to a raft of
By Euan Graham
15 May 17
view
view

In China, changing online attitudes towards Korea

Additional research by Zixin Wang, an intern in the Lowy Institute's East Asia Program. Shen Zhihua, a world-renowned Chinese scholar of the Cold War, recently proposed that 'North Korea is China's latent enemy and South Korea could be China's friend'. His comments, made at Dalian University of
By Frances Kitt
11 May 17
view
view

'A Wary Embrace': Response to Stephen Blank

Stephen Blank's very generous comments on A Wary Embrace arrived too late to cover in my response to the original contributions in The Interpreter debate. But he brings up a number of additional points that deserve a reply. The nature of the China-Russia relationship Blank somewhat
By Bobo Lo
08 May 17
view
view

The rise of China’s tech sector: The digital great game

Part two of this two-part series looks at how the outside world shaped China's internet firms, and how they are now shaping the international economy. For part one, click here. The rise of China's internet firms was not a result of autarkic industrial policy from Beijing. It was achieved through
By John Lee
05 May 17
view
view

‘A Wary Embrace’: The author responds

This post is part of a debate on Bobo Lo's Lowy Institute Paper, 'A Wary Embrace'. Other debate posts can be found here. In their excellent responses to my Lowy Institute Paper, A Wary Embrace, Kyle Wilson, Peter Rutland, Alexander Gabuev, and Marcin Kaczmarski raise a number of interesting points
By Bobo Lo
20 Apr 17
view
view

China’s financial concerns

The China bears have been around for years, continuously predicting the end of China's stellar growth story. In 2012 Michael Pettis expected annual growth to average 3% over this decade and in 2015 Tyler Cowen warned of an imminent disastrous financial collapse. So far, so good. China's
By Stephen Grenville
11 Apr 17
view
view

How China and Russia avoided the Thucydides trap

This post is part of a debate on Bobo Lo's Lowy Institute Paper A Wary Embrace. Other debate posts can be found here. With every energy or arms trade deal and joint veto in the UN Security Council, the question of whether Russia and China have formed an alliance becomes more salient. These two
By Marcin Kaczmarski
11 Apr 17
view
view

The Xi-Trump Summit: Rearranging the furniture

In his inimitable way, US President Donald Trump promised major things with the Chinese president’s visit to Trump's residence in Florida, Mar-a-Lago. In the end, this particular informal summit, if it is remembered at all, will be because of the intervention Trump ordered, almost minutes before
By Kerry Brown
10 Apr 17
view
view

China and Russia: Friends with strategic benefits

This post is part of a debate on Bobo Lo's Lowy Institute Paper A Wary Embrace. Other debate posts can be found here. Is the relationship between China and Russia just an axis of convenience – a limited partnership with no real empathy between the two parties, spiced by deep-seated and well-
By Alexander Gabuev
07 Apr 17
view
view

The Trump-Xi meeting: A view from China

As the White House finalises its preparations for the arrival of Chinese President Xi Jinping, it is to be hoped both sides are as much invested in working towards outcomes of substance as they are in protocol. In terms of substance, there are ample areas for the two presidents to address. These
By Shen Dingli
06 Apr 17
view
view

Quick comment: Bobo Lo on China-Russia relations

This week the Lowy Institute launched its latest Penguin Special, A Wary Embrace, on the future of China-Russia relations. The author, Dr Bobo Lo, is in Sydney for the launch, and he sat down with me to talk about why he thinks China-Russia relations will remain largely transactional, and why Russia
By Sam Roggeveen
06 Apr 17
view
view

Lam’s election a jolt back to reality for Hong Kong

Ever since the popular John Tsang lost the Chief Executive election to the Beijing-anointed Carrie Lam on 26 March, Hongkongers are finding ways to accept a reality they wanted to avoid: a polarised Hong Kong under Beijing's grip for the foreseeable future. Despite being a pro-establishment
By Vivienne Chow
04 Apr 17
view

Pages