Chinese Trade
Made in Australia meets China’s export juggernaut
China’s structural industrial overcapacity is undoubtedly the topic du jour.Travelling to Beijing in April, US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen exhorted her hosts to boost…
The Philippines and the Digital Silk Road
The Philippines might be struggling against China’s encroachment in the South China Sea, but in the digital world, the two countries are locked in an embrace. China’s so-called …
Mind the gap: China’s megaproject promises fall short of reality in Southeast Asia
In Bangkok in 2010, Chinese and Thai authorities were discussing a dream: the possibility of working together on a high-speed rail project, which would be Southeast Asia’s first…
Shipping and the great shrinking waterways
How low can the Yangtze go?
Although Asia’s longest river is making a slow recovery from the late-2022 drought that stopped some of the traffic up the “golden waterway” that…
Don’t let China veto Australia’s ties with Taiwan
Conflict over Taiwan would be calamitous. It risks sparking a US–China war, imperilling millions of lives on both sides of the Strait, and destroying Taiwan’s hard-won liberal…
Policy Briefs
Enhancing Australia's Taiwan ties
Australia has limited its economic and political engagements with Taiwan due to fears of upsetting China. Is now the right time for change?
Why is Myanmar’s new deep-sea port such hot property?
In Myanmar’s westernmost state of Rakhine, the small fishing village of Kyaukphyu has become the focus of a US$7.3 billion deep-water port development by Chinese state-owned…
Beijing’s interest in the Middle Corridor
Reports of Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili’s recent visit to China and his meeting with President Xi Jinping suggest that Beijing remains interested in the…
Economic diplomacy: unlocked Laos looks for new links
All aboard
Next year will be the 30th anniversary of one of Australia’s signature contributions to economic development in Southeast Asia – the Friendship Bridge spanning the…
How will China’s punitive trade restrictions against Australia end?
Recent reports of an imminent meeting between Australia’s and China’s trade ministers have raised hopes of progress toward the removal of the trade restrictions that China imposed…