Foreign affairs

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in the Australian Institute of International Affairs’ blog, Australian Outlook, on March 4 2019.

The recent story of Australian coal being 'banned' from China is a cautionary warning about the risks of making quick-fire judgements when dealing with complex Australia-China relations.

By Elena Collinson

Note: This article appeared in the University of Nottingham's Asia Research Institute’s online magazine, Asia Dialogue, on February 28 2019.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in the University of Nottingham's Asia Research Institute’s online magazine, Asia Dialogue, on February 26 2019.

Human rights is a part of the Australia-China relationship that sometimes struggles to get the attention given to developments in the economic and strategic realms. Yet it is no less pressing. Currently, Yang Hengjun, an Australian writer has been detained in China for more than a month without access to legal representation. Yang, held in detention at an undisclosed location in Beijing, has not been charged with any offence.

It’s one of the clichés of talking about China to invoke the 1793 ambassadorial visit to Peking of Lord Macartney for an entirely unsatisfactory encounter with the Emperor Qianlong, one of the three great emperors of the Manchu dynasty and in the 58th year of his record-breaking rule. Qianlong famously pronounced, in response to the blandishment of the British ambassador, that ‘the products of our empire are abundant and there is nothing we do not have.

By Elena Collinson

Note: This article appeared in the Council on Foreign Relations blog, Asia Unbound, on January 31 2019.

The Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI) at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) welcomed James Reilly, Associate Professor in Northeast Asian Politics in the Department of Government and International Relations at the University of Sydney, to discuss his forthcoming book: Tales from the Road: Following China’s Economic Statecraft Across Asia and Europe. Dr Reilly described China's unique approach to economic statecraft and explored how Chinese leaders deploy economic resources to advance foreign policy objectives.

Through qualitative comparative analysis of policy documents and official statements over the last 10 years (2008–2018), this paper examines Australian and PRC government conceptions of the international order and the associated policy implications. Their understandings of the international order are informed by their self-defined national role conceptions and perceptions of other states, and are manifested in discussions of institutional reform, international law and human rights.

By Elena Collinson

Note: This article appeared in the Australian Institute for International Affairs’ blog Australian Outlook on December 27 2018.

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Australian on December 29 2018.

US President Donald Trump challenged the existence of Santa in a phone call to a seven-year-old girl.