After decades of the fastest economic growth in the world, China’s economy has started to slow down. This is perhaps inevitable, given an average annual growth rate of around 10% was sustained for almost…
__The turmoil of 2014 was a timely reminder to businesses that they need to be prepared and have contingency plans for global conflict. The crisis in Ukraine brought Russia and the West to the brink of…
A show of force. Will China assert itself?
Sam Ilić
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 moves against the global gambling industry needs to understood against historical and domestic concerns.
AAP/ EPA/YM EPA
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…
Presidents Obama and Castro instigated rumors of a thaw when they shook hands for the first time at the memorial for Nelson Mandela in December last year.
Kai Pfaffenbach/Reuters
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…
When once Moscow and Beijing had much in common, now they may be diverging again.
Toa55
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 commitment of the current government to prosecuting corruption has proven unexpectedly far-reaching.
AAP/EPA/Michael Reynolds
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…
Australia’s ability to influence China will largely depend on how it engages with China’s complex and growing diplomatic machinery.
Shutterstock
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…
Chinese billionaire Wang Jianlin has invested €45m in Atletico Madrid.
EPA/Rolex Dela Pena
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…
Why won’t Japan admit to the past?
Pichi Chuang/Reuters
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…
Vladimir Putin with Mongolia president Tsakhiagiin Elbegdorj in Ulaanbaataar in 2014.
EPA
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…
‘China forward!’ … but at a slight slower rate.
How Hwee Young/EPA
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’s President Xi, front and center, doesn’t mind sharing the stage.
Reuters
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…
Hopefuls emerging from the gruelling Gaokao exams.
Zhou Chao/EPA
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…
Australia’s mid year budget figures reveal an even deeper reliance on China than has been thought.
AAP/EPA/WU HONG
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…
The UN at 70 - over the hill or still in its prime?
UN
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…
Bob Hawke on a 1984 visit to China. His government implemented policies which boosted Asian engagement.
National Archives
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…