Whether you fear or welcome a challenge to the world’s existing power structure, the main focus of attention is on when China will begin to translate its increasing influence into genuine global leadership…
China’s recent clampdown on foreign casinos has been portrayed as an extension of Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption drive, but it is also more than that. The motives behind Xi’s declaration of war against the…
This past December, Presidents Barack Obama and Raoúl Castro ended over fifty years of economic and political isolation between the US and Cuba with their shock announcement that they intend to re-establish…
This week our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours reaches China, Moscow’s one-time great communist rival with whom it found much in common in the opening years of the 21st century. Neil Munro…
After 35 years of consistently strict government control over family size, China’s so-called “one child policy” seems to be winding down – at least for some. Recent headlines quote the authorities in Shanghai…
The change of leadership in China in 2012 brought with it an intensive crackdown on bribery and corruption, both at home and abroad. This has resulted in the downfall of numerous officials, both low and…
Speaking with: Kerry Brown on China, Australia and diplomacy
The emergence of China as a 21st-century superpower has already had profound impacts on Australia. As China reshapes the balance of power, not only in the Asia-Pacific region but globally, its influence…
The Chinese economy has been growing at break-neck pace for the past three decades. It is the largest in the world by some measures and, as we all know, the Chinese sell the world everything from electronics…
In 1943, during the height of World War II, fifteen-year-old Liu Mianhuan was tied up and taken away by Imperial Japanese troops from her village in Yu County, Shanxi Province, China. She was confined…
This latest part of our series on Russia’s relations with its neighbours focuses on the huge empty land of Mongolia, Moscow’s original Soviet satellite state in the 1920s. These days it sits on the verge…
As long as the history of English literature is taught in universities, the charm of the immortal poem “A Red, Red Rose” by Robert Burns will endure in China. I first came across the poem by the national…
Kamel Mellahi, Warwick Business School, University of Warwick
China’s 7.4% growth in GDP is the weakest full-year growth rate in more than two decades, and the government’s official growth target last year is missed. But don’t expect an overreaction from the government…
China begins 2015 as the world’s largest economy, in terms of purchasing power parity, a key milestone in the country’s rise. And one that likely will herald a change in how China engages with the rest…
China’s Ministry of Education has announced a major reform of the National College Entrance Examination, known as Gaokao. Under the proposed changes, the entry of new students to higher education will…
Wayne Swan couldn’t do it. Joe Hockey has tried and failed. Getting the budget back in black is proving to be mission impossible. But it could be a whole lot worse. The Commonwealth Government’s bottom…
2015 marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. Like all anniversaries, this is an occasion for profound reflection. To put it politely, the list of global challenges that the UN…
One of the more noteworthy features of Xi Jinping’s presidency has been his apparently genuine and effective efforts to crack down on corruption. Like everything else in China, the scale of the problem…
The Hawke government in the 1980s is widely considered to be the most competent and effective of recent years. Some may say this is not setting the bar terribly high, but the cabinet papers of 1988-89…
China may not be poised for world domination in wine, but it’s industry has grown wildly in recent years, and it’s now producing some well-regarded vintages.
As the last remaining protesters were being cleared from Hong Kong’s streets, many Westerners lamented the silencing of what they saw as China’s only pro-democracy voice. To them, the umbrella movement…