Foreign affairs

The latest developments in Australia-China relations in May 2018 by Elena Collinson, Senior Project and Research Officer, Australia-China Relations Institute (ACRI), University of Technology Sydney (UTS). 

A trade snapshot is provided by James Laurenceson, Deputy Director, ACRI, UTS.

Ministerial and opposition engagement

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Australian on May 30 2018. 

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on May 24 2018.

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in the South China Morning Post on May 17 2018.

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in Pearls and Irritations on May 8 2018.

Military base on Vanuatu

On April 9 Fairfax Media, citing anonymous sources, reported that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Vanuatu were engaged in talks about establishing a PRC military base in the Pacific state:

Fairfax Media can reveal there have been preliminary discussions between the Chinese and Vanuatu governments about a military build-up in the island nation.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in the South China Morning Post on April 29 2018.

Australia-China relations need a reset. But this is unlikely as long as the Australian prime minister himself remains a stumbling block. 

This article explores the evolution of Malcolm Fraser's views on China. While Gough Whitlam is fondly remembered as a trailblazer for normalising Australia‐China relations, Fraser was a pioneer in rendering a sense of bipartisanship in Australia's China policy. Fraser was not initially a Sino‐enthusiast, however. He came from a background of staunch anti‐Communism and throughout the 1950s and 1960s believed that China posed a major threat to stability in the Asia Pacific.

In a 2015 research report for the Australia-China Relations Institute, former New Zealand High Commissioner in Canberra John Larkindale wrote of the New Zealand-China relationship:[1]

The relationship has never become a topic for partisan political division, though elements of China’s growing presence in New Zealand and aspects of the economic links are increasingly attracting debate, and sometimes controversy.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in the Australian Institute for International Affairs' blog, Australian Outlook, on March 2 2018.