Aussie China News
A weekly roundup of your favourite (and least favourite) Australian digital media coverage of China.
Hello everyone and welcome to a new issue of Aussie China News!
This post covers Australian digital news and commentary on China between Friday 21st July and Friday 28th July.
News
Politics
This week, state visits are still on the horizon:
For Australia, China’s olive branch has proved trickier than the freezer
Anthony Galloway, The Age, Sun 23 Jul 2023
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s proposed trip to China is the subject of open debate within the Australian government, as speculation builds that his visit will be delayed to next year. In a further sign that relations between Beijing and Canberra are thawing, Treasurer Jim Chalmers held in-person talks with his counterpart, Liu Kun, on the sidelines of the G20 meeting of finance ministers in India this month.
Fiji's Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka delays China visit after injuring his head while looking at his phone
Stephen Dziedzic, ABC, Wed 26 Jul 2023
Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka delayed his trip to China after injuring his head. Fiji and China have had testy diplomatic relations after Mr Rabuka restored some diplomatic privileges to Taiwan. Ties with China warmed again after Taiwan's mission was later downgraded.
Meanwhile, China’s internal politics are still in turmoil:
Not long after Qin Gang was removed as China's foreign minister, records of his time in office were deleted
Bang Xiao, ABC, Thu 28 Jul 2023
If China's foreign minister job had a probation period, Qin Gang might have been able to make a graceful exit. But when Chinese President Xi Jinping signed an official decree on Tuesday, the senior diplomat — who had been in office for only 207 days — became the shortest-serving foreign minister in the country's history. An hour later, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs deleted everything about him — including his profile, speeches and activities.
AUDIO: The mysterious disappearance of China's Foreign Minister
Julien Oeuillet, SBS News, Tue 26 Jul 2023
Security
More from China in the Pacific:
Failed Palau media deal reveals China's Pacific influence efforts
Bernadette Carreon, Aubrey Belford, and Martin Young, ABC, Fri 21 Jul 2023
For years, Moses Uludong has been a lonely voice pushing the small, strategically located Pacific island nation of Palau towards closer relations with China. Uludong founded Palau's first newspaper, Tia Belau, more than five decades ago, back when the archipelago was under US administration. Now, as tensions rise between China and the West, Uludong thinks Palau could be devastated if war breaks out between the two powers.
But even more, maybe too much, about the Chinese “spy ship”…
Chinese spy ships eye naval drills off Australian coast
Andrew Brown and Maeve Bannister, AAP, Fri 21 Jul 2023
Chinese spy ships will closely watch the exercises with vessels from the People’s Liberation Army-Navy sitting on Australia’s coast. Chief of Joint Operations Lieutenant General Greg Bilton said the drills were not about China, but about the nations involved. “It’s about our partner nations, building interoperability, being able to build trust and an ability to respond together to whatever crisis might exist in our region in the future,” he said.
'Business as usual': Richard Marles unconcerned by Chinese surveillance ship spotted in Coral Sea amid military drills
Miriah Davis, Sky News, Sat 22 Jul 2023
Richard Marles has downplayed concerns about a Chinese spy ship that entered Australian shores during one of Australia's largest joint-military exercises.Chinese state media says there is nothing unusual about ship spying on Australian war games
Anthony Anderson and Courtney Gould, news.com.au, Sun 23 Jul 2023
A surveillance ship snooping on war games off the east coast of Australia is not of concern, China’s mouthpiece the Global Times says.First image emerges of RAAF's encounter with Chinese spy ship during Talisman Sabre
Andrew Greene, ABC, Mon 24 Jul 2023
The Chinese vessel may have travelled as far as Shoalwater Bay to try to collect information on military drills. Central Queensland is currently hosting the international Talisman Sabre military exercise. ADF expects the high-tech spy ship will remain outside Australia's territorial waters while it observes the drills.
It seems that on top of trade negotiations, defence talks will be an important decisive factor over Albo’s visit:
China pushes for joint military drills as Washington top guns land
Andrew Tillett, AFR, Thu 27 Jul 2023
China’s ambassador to Australia has flagged the resumption of joint military exercises as the next step in stabilising the relationship, on the eve of high-level defence talks between the Albanese government and senior US officials. As ambassador Xiao Qian said China’s rapid military build-up was good for world peace, Chinese officials reiterated concerns over the length of time it had taken for the Albanese government to finalise a fresh review into the Darwin Port lease, amid stalled negotiations over Anthony Albanese’s potential visit to Beijing.
Economics and trade
Many eyes are still pointed at China’s economy.
CHINA’S VIEW
The whole world benefits from China’s new economic momentum
Xiao Qian, AFR, Sun 23 Jul 2023
Against the backdrop of growing risks in the world economy and surging undercurrents of protectionism, China has opened its door even wider to the world and never stopped deepening its external cooperation. The stable and healthy development of China’s economy with huge potential will contribute to the steady and solid recovery of the world economy. It will also provide a vast area for cooperation and win-win development opportunities for Australia and other countries. Here, I wish to share with you three observations.
China is the key risk to global growth, IMF warns
Michael Smith and Michael Read, AFR, Tue 25 Jul 2023
China’s stuttering post-pandemic economy poses one of the main risks to global growth, the International Monetary Fund has warned, a day after China’s leaders vowed to boost its “tortuous” recovery.
No work for foreign consultants in China
Ryan McMorrow, Joe Leahy and Eleanor Olcott, AFR, Mon 24 Jul 2023
Top US consultancies are struggling to attract business in China as Beijing’s national security raids scare away local clients and global investors pull back from dealmaking in the country.China's property meltdown is gathering pace — and it's bad news for Australia
Ian Verrender, ABC, Tue 25 Jul 2023
China's economy is in serious trouble. The country's property sector, once a powerhouse of national economic growth, is in meltdown with predictions of worse to come. That's precipitated a slowdown that has begun to infect the broader economy, threatens to derail growth plans and exposed fundamental structural deficiencies that no longer can be rectified by simply pumping in ever-increasing amounts of stimulus.‘Ponzi schemes of titanic proportions’ come back to bite China as economy falters
David Llewellyn-Smith, news.com.au, Wed 26 Jul 2023
It’s obvious that the Chinese economy is now seriously struggling – and it’s bad news for Australia too for one major reason.
In other news:
China-linked bid for WA lithium mine knocked back
Derek Rose, The Canberra Times, Fri 21 Jul 2023
The Foreign Investment Review Board has knocked back an application from a US company with Chinese ties to acquire a shuttered West Australian lithium mine.
Failure of China's trade sanctions in the numbers
The Australian, Tue 25 Jul 2023
According to the Productivity Commission, a simulation of China's trade bans against Australia showed the value of our exports to China fell by 6.701 per cent but the value of our total exports fell by 0.194 per cent.
Chinese consumers hungry for cheap Australian goat meat, while farmers face long processing delays
Cara Jeffery and Hannah Jose, ABC, Thu 27 Jul 2023
Australian goat meat is now below $3 a kilogram, down from $9 a kilogram in July last year. China is now the second-largest export market for Australian goat meat, behind the US. The export markets to South Korea and Taiwan are also growing.
Society
Australia may ban WeChat – but for many Chinese Australians, it's their lifeline
Wanning Sun, ABC, Sat 22 Jul 2023
The Senate Select Committee on Foreign Interference through Social Media is investigating the risk posed to Australia's democracy by foreign interference through social media. A key area of its inquiry is whether to ban WeChat. I've made a submission to the inquiry, with RMIT's Professor Haiqing Yu, my WeChat co-researcher. We argue the ban would do more harm than good.
Eleven people dead after school gym's roof collapses in Qiqihar, China
ABC, Mon 24 Jul 2023
Eleven people are dead after the roof of a school gym collapsed in north-eastern China, state media reports.
These young Chinese women are ditching make-up as they reject 'beauty duty'
Joyce Cheng, ABC, Sun 23 Jul 2023
Mable Yang, a 22-year-old Chinese woman from the eastern city of Suzhou, woke up one day and made a decision — to shave her head. Ms Yang said she was inspired by discussions among feminist groups on the internet in China about "rejecting 'beauty duty'". The trend encourages women to move away from the social expectations surrounding beauty and aesthetics by reducing the amount of time, money, and other resources they put into their appearance.
Opinion and analysis
Vladimir Putin's Ukraine blunder changes the game for China
The Australian, Sat 22 Jul 2023
How has Putin's miscalculation changed things for China and the rest of the world?
China’s slow recovery from COVID-19 is no surprise
John Lee, AFR, Wed 26 Jul 2023
Sino optimists have ignored the political retardation of the market and that the Chinese state-led economy has only one trick up its sleeve that’s becoming less effective over time.
Where are the guardrails in Australia’s relations with Taiwan?
John Fitzgerald, The Strategist, Wed 26 Jul 2023
No one wants to go to war over Taiwan, so it makes sense to erect safety barriers if they help avert war. But are guardrails the way to go for Australia on Taiwan?
That’s all for this week. Thank you so much for reading! This project is in its experimental phase, so please send your feedback and let me know what you think as I work to improve it.
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