ACRI Opinion

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Australian on June 10 2017.

Let’s be clear. Efforts by any country to subvert Australia should be investigated, monitored and brought to light. Yes, let’s ban donations from non-citizens. Let’s go further still — my own suggestion — and ban any donations that might reasonably be suspected as seeking to influence Australian foreign policy.

By Elena Collinson and James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute: Analysis on June 6 2017.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in East Asia Forum on June 4 2017.

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald on May 23 2017.

It was like a meeting with an Old Testament prophet. Towering and rock-hewn, Malcolm Fraser was grave, telling me – Australia's new foreign minister – that America was capable of being drawn into a land war with China.

'Going to war with China and losing it. And then withdrawing from Asia.'

By James Laurenceson and Elena Collinson

Note: This article appeared in the Lowy Institute for International Policy's blog, The Interpreter, May 22 2017.

A divide has once again opened between Australian economic commentators and defence hawks, this time over China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and what Australia's response to it should be.

By James Laurenceson and Xunpeng Shi

Note: This article appeared in The Diplomat, May 19 2017.

China’s massive Belt and Road Forum wrapped up in Beijing on Tuesday. At its conclusion, Australia’s representative, Trade and Investment Minister Steve Ciobo, issued a guarded statement.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in East Asia Forum, May 14 2017.

Australia’s reluctance to participate in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) harks back to its slow entry into the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). But this time it may be Australian state governments that push the federal government over the line, rather than decisions made by other countries.

By James Laurenceson

This article appeared in The Australian Financial Review, April 19 2017.

By James Laurenceson

Note: This article appeared in The Australian Financial Review, March 22 2017.

When Chinese Premier Li Keqiang arrives in Australia on Wednesday night, he and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will celebrate an economic relationship that is deeper and broader than ever before. 

By Bob Carr

Note: This article appeared in The Australian, March 18 2017.

It’s a reasonable bet Australians would be more comfortable with a democratic China; that is, a China boasting competing political parties in an elected legislature, buttressed by robust freedom of expression.