Ten years on from the Australia-US Free Trade Agreement, Australia is entering another round of negotiations towards the new and controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership. This is the first article in the…
Tempers have flared again at the site of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong, with masked men attempting to dismantle the protesters’ barricades. After a tense fortnight, the eyes of the world are…
Last week the IMF revised its 2014 global economic growth forecast down to 3.3% from the 3.7% expected six months ago, confirming that most economies around the world, Australia included, continue to underperform…
Complaints about the supposed political apathy of todays’ students are not uncommon among middle-aged professors. Historian [Mark Lilla](http://www.zeit.de/2014/37/ideologie-freiheit-westen](http://www.zeit.de/2014/37/ideologie-freiheit-westen…
Demography is destiny. It’s an old idea but it remains as true as ever, despite the fact that it doesn’t get anything like the attention it deserves. It’s not hard to see why: not only is there a crowded…
The Russian ban on the imports of some agricultural products from the US, the European Union, Australia, Canada and Norway has sparked much debate over the likely impact on American and European farmers…
I’ve heard it many a time, and you probably have too. It’s supposedly the trump card to any argument on addressing climate change globally: “Yeah, but what’s the point? Isn’t China building a new coal…
The clock is ticking down to the end of year deadline Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given for sign off on a free trade agreement with China. In this China-Australia FTA series we explore what…
Obviously, many Hong Kongers are not happy with the way their territory has been governed since it was returned to China in 1997. The recent protests have escalated to such a scale that the central Chinese…
The clock is ticking down to the end of year deadline Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has given for sign off on a free trade agreement with China. In this China-Australia FTA series we explore what…
Almost exactly a week after an infamous incident of police brutality against demonstrating students lit a fire under the Occupy Central campaign, the so-called umbrella movement is now facing another assault…
Protests against a proposed waste incinerator power plant involving thousands of residents took place in southern China over two weekends in mid-September. The demonstrations, in Boluo county, Guangdong…
The Chinese government claims the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region is an example of multi-ethnic harmony and stability. Yet China’s repeated attempts to silence foreign reporting of Uyghur issues – as…
Asian universities continue to stun the academic world. In just one year, four more have joined the ranks of the world’s top 200 universities. Now, almost one eighth of the world’s top 200 universities…
“Nothing lasts forever – even the longest, most glittering reign must come to an end someday.” And so it was that Britain’s celebrated fictional Machiavellian mastermind Francis Urqhuart greeted viewers…
After days on the streets, thousands of Hong Kong residents are still occupying several major streets of their city. Already nicknamed as the “umbrella movement” because of protesters’ use of umbrellas…
From 1997, when Hong Kong was officially “returned” to China after Britain’s long lease, the tiny island was bound to remain something of an anomaly. The difference is palpable the moment you travel from…
Are political developments in Hong Kong heading for a second Tiananmen massacre? A fortnight ago, partly to provoke discussion, partly to sound an alarm, I suggested in a radio interview that unless the…
The pro-democracy protesters in the streets of Hong Kong, once again confront Beijing with the age-old conundrum of how to balance authoritarian control and the demands of a complex modern society. For…
There has been much publicity in recent years about China and its teachers. After the most recent results from the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) were published in 2013, considerable…