Aussie China News
A weekly roundup of your favourite (and least favourite) Australian digital media coverage of China.
Hello everyone and welcome to the second issue of Aussie China News!
This post covers Australian digital news and commentary on China between Monday 13th February and Friday 13th February.
News
Politics
Daniel Hurst, The Guardian
Former Labor prime minister says incident has created ‘diplomatic clouds’ that may overshadow efforts to stabilise relationship.
Defence Minister Richard Marles responds to Chinese spy balloon saga
Catie McLeod, news.com.au
Australians have been assured that no spy balloons have been detected flying in our airspace after US President Joe Biden broke his silence on his surveillance row with China. Defence Minister Richard Marles said Australian authorities had advised him they had found no aerial surveillance vehicles such as the balloon downed by the US fighter pilots earlier this month.
Fight continues for Aussies facing sentences in China
Dominic Giannini, The Canberra Times
The detention of two Australian citizens in China has become such a priority for the Albanese government that their plight is being raised in all ministerial meetings. Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the safety and wellbeing of journalist Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Jun, who are both awaiting the outcomes of secret trials, remained the government's priority.
Punish China's human rights atrocity: Morrison
The Australian
Scott Morrison has called on the Albanese government to consider sanctions against Chinese government officials over human rights abuses.
Former Australian PM Scott Morrison accuses west of appeasing China
Daniel Hurst, The Guardian
Former Australian PM Scott Morrison accuses west of appeasing China
Speech in Tokyo draws parallel with the Munich agreement with Hitler, and claims credit for urging others to stand up to Beijing ‘bullying’.
Economics and trade
China moves to wind back Aussie beef and timber trade sanctions
Michael Smith, AFR
China is preparing to wind back restrictions on Australian beef and timber under the latest phase of what insiders are calling a gradual removal of political sanctions imposed by Xi Jinping’s government on $20 billion of exports after relations soured under the Morrison government.
Chinese firms restart coal supply talks with Australian miners
Nick Toscano, Sydney Morning Herald
Australian coal miners are receiving inquiries from Chinese buyers eager to strike new supply agreements this year, in the latest indication that Beijing’s unofficial ban on Australian shipments of the fossil fuel is starting to ease.
China backflips on coal ban, starts contacting Australian producers
Alex Turner-Cohen, news.com.au
China has now officially come crawling back to Australian coal producers just two years after implementing a shadow ban designed to cause “economic pain”.
China's economy is recovering — is that a good thing for Australians faced with surging prices?
Iris Zhao, ABC
China's desperate attempts to continue suppressing COVID-19 long after the rest of the world had opted to live with the virus also smothered the country's economy. As a result, while many other countries — including Australia — have been dealing with an inflation crisis, China's inflation has remained below 3 per cent for the past three years.
Investors seek signs that China’s recovery plan is working
Michael Smith, AFR
When China’s leaders meet in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People next month, global investors will be looking for evidence that Xi Jinping is progressing plans to get the world’s second-largest economy back on track.
Opening statement to the Economics Legislation Committee
The Treasury, Australian Government
China experienced its second slowest rate of GDP growth in over 40 years in 2022, the slowest growth being in 2020. China’s sudden exit from zero‑COVID has seen an improvement in the near-term growth outlook. Real time indicators of urban residents’ mobility point to a bounce in Chinese activity. In the medium term, China’s outlook remains clouded by structural challenges, including a declining population and an investment dependent growth model. The IMF downgraded its medium‑term growth forecasts for China by around a quarter to 4.1 per cent compared with its pre-pandemic forecasts of around 5.5 per cent.
Toby Mann and Evan Wasuka, ABC
The then-opposition revealed plans for the visa in April 2022 as part of a wider scheme to deepen ties with the Pacific. On Thursday, the bill for the new visa will reportedly be introduced to parliament. If passed, the 3,000 successful applicants can bring partners and dependent children.
Tech
Chinese-made security cameras removed from 88 politicians’ offices
Matthew Knott, The Age
Chinese-made surveillance cameras and intercom systems are being removed from the neighbourhood offices of almost 100 federal politicians over security concerns. The Department of Finance revealed in Senate estimates on Tuesday that 122 devices made by Chinese companies Hikvision and Dahua have been installed in the electorate offices of 88 federal MPs.
ASIO ‘knew’ Chinese cameras were a ‘cyber-security’ threat to Australia
Sky News
Sky News host Sharri Markson says the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation “knew” the Chinese cameras were a “cyber security” threat to Australia. “It is shocking because we know – ASIO is our top spy agency, ASIO did not have these cameras in their offices, they weren’t in the home-affairs department, they knew that they’re a cyber security threat,” Ms Markson told Sky News host Paul Murray.
As China’s dominance in space grows, NASA deputy urges Australia to ‘go faster’
Anthony Segaert, Sydney Morning Herald
NASA’s second-most senior leader has called on Australia to increase its spending on high-tech space developments in a bid to counter China’s growing dominance in outer space.
Security
‘Provocative and unsafe’: US slams China over shining lasers at ship
Chris Barrett, Sydney Morning Herald
The United States has slammed the shining of a military-grade laser by a Chinese ship on a Philippine vessel as a threat to regional peace in the latest inflammatory incident in the South China Sea. The criticism came as the prospect of a new quadrilateral security alliance between Washington, Manila, Canberra and Tokyo was canvassed.
Australia will tighten laws to stop leaking of military secrets
Matthew Knott, Sydney Morning Herald
The federal government will develop new laws to ensure it is illegal for current and former Australian Defence Force personnel to provide military secrets to foreign powers such as China.
Tyrone Clarke, Sky News
A Sky News special investigation has revealed Australia is outgunned and severely underprepared to face the threat of conflict in the region.
Richard Marles flags new national security legislation after China pilot probe
Catie McLeod and Ellen Ransley, news.com.au
Richard Marles won’t tell the public whether China tried to recruit Australian pilots, as the government prepares to introduce tougher laws to protect state secrets.
Opinion and analysis
China–Philippine relations sail on calmer seas—for now
Nick Danby, The Strategist
For now, Marcos is right to balance China and the West with economic agreements for the former and military pacts with the latter. Frank, clear dialogue can cool tensions. But all parties interested in upholding a rules-based order in the South China Sea must keep fielding an appropriate defence of that order, regardless of what ‘win–win outcomes’ China may promise. Then, and only then, can everybody win.
China should ground its spy balloons
Editorial, AFR
It is the kind of probing and testing of the patience of others that characterises too much of China’s diplomacy, intelligence gathering and influence operations.
Balloon must not blow relations with China off course
Editorial, Sydney Morning Herald
The Chinese balloon that drifted across US airspace and was shot down 10 days ago has provoked an odd mixture of chuckles and high stakes geopolitics.
China and America are locked in destructive co-dependence
Rana Foroohar, AFR
What’s the best language through which to understand the complex events of the world today? Is it economic? Political? Cultural? I’ve begun to think it might be psychological.
Australia Needs to Think Beyond China About Data Security
Yun Jiang, Australian Institute of International Affairs
The discussion on TikTok and Hikvision infiltration in Australian government departments has centred inarticulately and dogmatically on the country of origin. But there are other more realistic and probable security threats lurking in plain sight.
‘Don’t mention the war’: China and Japan’s diplomatic row and history’s long arm
Wanning Sun, Crickey
A war of words recently broke out between the Chinese and Japanese ambassadors in Australia. Japan’s Shingo Yamagami warned Australia to be “vigilant” over China’s military aggressions in the region. Not pleased, China’s Xiao Qian criticised his Japanese counterpart for failing to do his job “properly”. He suggested Tokyo may once again launch a military attack on Australia, saying: “During World War II, Japan invaded Australia, bombed Darwin, killed Australians, and treated Australian POWs in a way that was unacceptable.”
Book Review: Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China
John West, Australian Institute of International Affairs
In their book, Danger Zone: The Coming Conflict with China, Hal Brands and Michael Beckley argue that China is passing its economic peak. It is this factor that may be more dangerous than a rising China, and that conflict may happen sooner than most believe.
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