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 14th April and Friday 21st April.
News
Politics
The early highlight was a Wong speech at the National Press Club:
Australia wants to ensure 'strategic equilibrium' in Asia, says Foreign Minister Penny Wong
Stephen Dziedzic, ABC, Mon 17 Apr 2023
The foreign minister will use a National Press Club speech today to declare that the strategic contest in Asia right now is much more than just a battle for supremacy between the US and China, and will determine "nothing less" than how the future world works.
Meanwhile, more China visits in the news this week:
Four years after his last visit, WA Premier Mark McGowan returns to China
Keane Bourke, ABC, Mon 17 Apr 2023
Mark McGowan will spend five days in Beijing for the first time post-COVID. He says WA needs to have a good relationship with its biggest export customer. The trip has been described as regular "relationship maintenance".
Including the piece of news that broke Twitter and alarmed the hawks:
Mark McGowan’s China trade mission: WA Premier calls for National Cabinet to be held in Beijing
Caitlyn Rintoul, The West Australian, Thu 20 April 2023
Premier Mark McGowan has called for National Cabinet to be held in China in an unprecedented pitch to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese aimed at rebuilding relations between the two nations.
But how accurate was this representation? We are awaiting more deets…
Security
Fiji and China relationship tested as Prime Minister Siteveni Rabuka skips meeting with top Chinese diplomat
Lice Movono and Stephen Dziedzic, ABC, Fri 14 Apr 2023
Tensions have been rising between China and Fiji since the new Fijian government took office in December. Earlier this year, Mr Rabuka announced Fiji would abolish a policing agreement it struck with China more than a decade ago. The Fijian government is also investigating claims of Chinese spies in the country.
China allegedly gave Australian a spying ‘shopping list’
news.com.au, Mon 17 Apr 2023
Chinese spies allegedly gave a “well-connected” Australian businessman cash-filled envelopes in exchange for handwritten reports about lithium mining and the AUKUS security pact, a Sydney court was told Monday. Australian police allege that Alexander Csergo sold information to two Chinese spies known as “Ken” and “Evelyn” while he worked in Shanghai as a marketing executive.
Tech
The state of the debate on Chinese apps is still on fire 🔥:
Australian media to remain on TikTok despite government fears
Zoe Samios, The Age, Mon 17 Apr 2023
Australia’s media companies will stay on controversial social media app TikTok to attract the younger audiences they need, despite federal and state governments holding such significant security fears about the app that they banned employees from using it at work. Some of the country’s most well-known publications and broadcasters have spent the past two years cultivating millions of young followers who engage with news stories through videos on the Chinese-owned app.
‘Worse than TikTok’: Calls for WeChat to be banned despite cost
Matthew Knott, Sydney Morning Herald, Thu 20 Apr 2023
Chinese-owned messaging apps such as WeChat are so vulnerable to propaganda and disinformation that democratic nations such as Australia should ban them in their current form, a Senate inquiry into foreign interference through social media has heard. Seth Kaplan, a lecturer at Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, told the Senate committee on Thursday that, despite the recent focus on the potential national security risks of TikTok, WeChat posed a more profound threat than the popular video-sharing app.
Economics and trade
Petro-yuan underpins China’s global capital market ambitions
Tom Richardson, AFR, Fri 14 Apr 2023
China’s determination to reduce its reliance on US dollars to pay for commodity imports will lessen its strategic vulnerability and shield it from the fallout of reckless US monetary policy, according to ANZ Bank’s top China economist.
China needs ‘clear signals’ with investment in Australia at near record lows
Anne Hyland, Sydney Morning Herald, Tue 18 Apr 2023
Almost a year on from the federal government’s election, Chinese investment in Australia remains near record lows, despite the recent improvement in the diplomatic relations between the two countries. Chinese companies invested $US1.42 billion in Australia last year, which was almost triple the investment in 2021. However, it remains the second-lowest level of investment since 2007, when KPMG and University of Sydney began compiling their report, Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia.
Demystifying Chinese Investment in Australia: April 2022
KPMG and The University of Sydney, Thu 20 April 2022
In the 2021 calendar year, Chinese investment in Australia declined by 69.8 percent, from USD 1.9 billion in 2020 to USD 0.6 billion. In Australian dollar terms, the decline is 69 percent from AUD 2.5 billion to AUD 0.8 billion. Based on our accumulated data between 2007 and 2021, a total of USD 110.1 billion has been invested by Chinese companies into Australia.
Australian business delegation heads to Xi Jinping’s ‘more complex’ China
Will Glasgow, The Australian, Thu 20 Apr 2023
The first industry-wide government-backed business delegation to China since Covid is setting off this weekend to find out where they fit in the “more complex environment” of Xi Jinping’s rising power. Australia China Business Council President David Olsson, leader of the delegation, said the trip would give valuable insight into our biggest trading partner as it reopened after three years of Covid isolation.
Society
AUDIO: Professional women’s tennis tournament to resume in China, after Peng Shuai boycott ends
Sean Wales, SBS News, Fri 14 Apr 2023
The women’s tennis tour has abandoned its demands over the 2021 disappearance of Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai, conceding they will not be met.
Chinese acrobat dies after being dropped by her husband during performance
Nick Pearson, 9News, Tue 18 Apr 2023
A Chinese acrobat has fallen to her death after a mid-air error involving her performing partner and husband, who was meant to catch her. Sun Moumou was performing a high-risk trapeze act with her husband Zhang on Saturday night.
AUDIO: Albanese most trusted leader by Chinese Australians
Wing Kuang, ABC Radio, Wed 19 Apr 2023
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is the most trusted world leader by Chinese Australians, while the community's trust on Chinese President Xi Jinping is declining. That's the latest finding from the Lowy Institute's "Being Chinese in Australia" poll, the third national representative survey about Chinese Australians' views.
Being Chinese in Australia: Public opinion in Chinese communities
Jennifer Hsu, Lowy Institute, April 2023
The Lowy Institute’s Multiculturalism, Identity and Influence Project conducted its third nationally representative poll of Chinese-Australians at the end of 2022. As in the two previous surveys, we explored three broad themes: how Chinese-Australians see Australia and their place in it; how they consume news and information; and how they view the wider world. The survey also compares the sentiments expressed by Chinese-Australians with those of the broader Australian population.
Young people in China struggle to find jobs as the country's youth unemployment rate rises
Nicholas Ning, ABC, Thu 20 Apr 2023
Mr Bie is one of about 30 million unemployed young people in China. Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics this week showed the situation was getting worse. The national unemployment rate for 16-to-24-year-olds is now 19.5 per cent, nearly 3 per cent higher than in December. That rise comes despite the ending of China's COVID-zero policy earlier this year and compares to youth unemployment rates of 7.5 per cent in the United States and 7.8 per cent in Australia in March.
Opinion and analysis
Lots of geopolitics…
Japan seeks to ease US-China tensions as G7 chief
Shiro Armstrong, AFR, Mon 17 Apr 2023
At the G7 summit next month, Japan must strike a balance between pushing back against China’s coercion and stabilising the rules-based order.
How the Ukraine war has divided the world
Gideon Rachman, AFR, Tue 18 Apr 2023
While Joe Biden was on a sentimental journey to Ireland, Xi Jinping was busy in Beijing. Following a high-profile visit by President Emmanuel Macron of France, the Chinese leader played host to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil. The messaging to emerge from the Lula-Xi summit was congenial to China and disturbing to the US. Brazil’s leader said that his country wanted to work with China to “balance world politics” and accused America of “incentivising” the war in Ukraine.
…but also some residues from last week’s trade talks:
Why Beijing raised the white flag in its trade battle with Australia
Ian Verrender, ABC, Tue 18 Apr 2023
It's official. The trade wars with China are coming to an end. Soon, it'll be business as usual. At least, that was the official spin from last week after Beijing suddenly reversed course after years of false claims and coercion aimed at bringing Canberra to heel. If all goes well, China may soon allow Australian barley back into the country to help brew beer. Wine too may be back on the table of China's well heeled in the not too distant future. Earlier this year, Beijing also jettisoned the restrictions on Australian coal.
Tackling Chinese interference: What lessons can Canada learn from Australia?
Ye Xue, The Conversation, Tue 18 Apr 2023
As a pioneer in this area, Australia passed anti-foreign interference legislation in 2018. Although Canada and Australia face quite different circumstances regarding China, the Australian experience still offers many points of reference for Canada before it launches the National Counter-Foreign Interference Office.
Taiwan’s Presidential Trips Show its Marginalisation in Debates About its Future
Corey Lee Bell and Elena Collinson, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Tue 18 Apr 2023
US-China relations are in a crisis, and the two states are heading towards irreversible conflict. In the middle is Taiwan, a small nation with increasingly little relevance in the determination of its own state of being.
This week in research:
US losing influence to China in South-East Asia
Emma Connors, AFR, Thu 20 Apr 2023
The United States has lost influence in South-East Asia over the past five years, with fresh Lowy Institute research showing Beijing has increased its lead in economic and diplomatic engagement and made up ground on cultural influence. While the US remains solidly ahead in defence across the region, Beijing has strengthened its defence network ties with Indonesia and Malaysia.
Asia Power Snapshot: China and the United States in Southeast Asia
Susannah Patton and Jack Sato, Lowy Institute, Thu 20 Apr 2023
The United States has lost influence to China in Southeast Asia over the past five years in all four categories measured by the Asia Power Index: economic relationships, defence networks, diplomatic influence and cultural influence. The United States is more influential than China in two countries: the Philippines and Singapore. China’s influence is strongest in Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. Compared to China, the United States still has much stronger defence relationships with countries in Southeast Asia. But China increased its lead over the United States in terms of economic relationships with Southeast Asia.
Share more science and defence tech to deter China: Thinktank
Joseph Brookes, InnovatioAus, Thu 20 Apr 2023
Australia and the US should share more science and technology to deter China, according to a defence aligned thinktank, which is recommending a greater exchange of scientists and military personnel but for each country to consider focusing on its comparative advantages and sharing the capabilities.
Integrating deterrence into defence science and technology cooperation
Frank L. Smith III, United States Study Centre, Thu 20 Apr 2023
Australia and the United States can improve deterrence in the Indo-Pacific by sharing more defence science and technology. If well-executed, this kind of cooperation can help build the capability, capacity, and credibility that deter adversaries and assure allies.
James Clarke: McGowan’s trip to China an opportunity to reset relationship
James Clarke, The West Australian, Thu 20 Apr 2023
Having lived through the global pandemic, many learned that while virtual meetings have their role, nothing replaces a good old-fashioned face-to-face discussion. Premier Mark McGowan’s first visit to China in four years is perhaps an acknowledgement of this.
Brazilian soybeans and China’s food security
Genevieve Donnellon-May and Filipe Porto, The Strategist, Fri 21 Apr 2023
China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) has announced a three-year plan to reduce the amount of soybean meal in animal feed to help decrease reliance on imports. The proportion of soybean meal in the feed will be cut from 14.5% in 2022 to under 13% by 2025. Estimates suggest that by 2030, the ratio could drop to 12%, lowering China’s soybean imports to 84 million tonnes.
Rising Tides, Shifting Sands: Rethinking Australia’s Foreign Policy Towards China
Marina Zhang, Australian Institute of International Affairs, Fri 21 Apr 2023
Australia must meet the challenges of China by first understanding the ongoing and complex changes taking place in the land of 1.4 billion people. This won’t be easy, but the path to learning will likely be engaging.
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.
If you found it useful, subscribe and share with your network!