June 2024
Premier Li Qiang’s visit has Malaysia wanting more from China pivot
The absence of President Xi Jinping, who sent his number two in his place, has dejected some in the government, according to Malaysian officials and observers.
May 2024
The US-China trade war has helped polarise ASEAN
Regardless of their alignment or dependence on one side or the other, South-East Asian states need to stay focused on their common regional interests.
February 2024
Optimists about China bouncing back are just hoping
The problem is that China isn’t just another member of the global community and bad economic policy is not punished at the ballot box.
September 2023
China learns nothing from the financial crises of others
Beijing’s reluctance to bite the bullet on bad assets looks like an error that the whole global economy may pay for.
August 2023
China’s economy is stumbling, and it’s a danger to global security
Beijing’s economic model has hit a wall. But a dictatorship is more likely to seek a foreign adventure than try to reform itself.
Meloni’s new Italian populism puts investors, Beijing on notice
The prime minister’s nine-month-old far-right coalition government is doubling down on a state-led approach to managing prosperity.
June 2023
China is going to be the great winner from Putin’s strife
Russia’s failed attempt to make Ukraine into a buffer state is only helping China’s statecraft on its sensitive own western borders.
Italy strips China’s Sinochem of its influence as Pirelli’s largest investor
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government has invoked national security concerns about the potential for misuse of Pirelli’s chip technology, as well as Chinese Communist Party interference.
China is shifting from riches to risk
Without reform, China faces a long-term growth stall. Investors in the country may have to start thinking very differently.
May 2023
Italy to hold talks with China about exiting Belt and Road Initiative
Rome was firmly rebuked by Washington and Brussels when it joined China’s ambitious Belt and Road Initiative in 2019, the only G7 country to do so.
March 2023
China steps up regional Asian investment to counter US influence
The increased focus on investment in East Asia and Pacific nations comes as Washington rolls out its strategy of ‘integrated deterrence’ across the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s rise.
January 2023
China, Philippines agree to handle disputes ‘peacefully’
The two countries strive to mend a relationship hurt after Manila sought a 2016 arbitral ruling that invalidated China’s expansive South China Sea claims.
March 2022
China’s big stake in the Ukraine fight
China wants to adjust the global order to its liking, not bring it crashing down. How does it curb its reckless ally?
December 2021
Why Vladimir Putin has Ukraine in his sights
The Russian President’s historical nostalgia and fear of democracy are driving a new crisis.
September 2021
‘Hidden debt’ on China’s Belt and Road tops $530b, says new study
New research suggests that many countries’ financial liabilities linked to President Xi Jinping’s hallmark foreign policy initiative have been systematically under-reported for years
May 2021
How we should deal with China’s state-owned behemoths
Australia is uniquely exposed to Chinese investment, trade and companies owned by the Chinese government. The country needs to think about what kind of relationship it wants for the future.
Fight China with boycotts, sanctions: Liberal MP
The Morrison government’s China expert, Ted O’Brien, wants Australia to form new alliances that could use boycotts and sanctions to combat China’s economic warfare.
April 2021
For real progress on climate change, invite the developing world
Next time Joe Biden holds a climate summit, he should not just invite the biggest countries to participate but include those such as Pakistan too.
October 2020
November election a step towards democracy, Myanmar-style
There is reason for cautious optimism the procedural aspects of the 2020 elections will be fair, as the population demands. But there’s still cause for pessimism about the near-term prospects for Myanmar’s democracy.
September 2020
Off the rails – Indonesia's Belt and Road rail mess
South-east Asia's first bullet train is halfway there, the Indonesian government says. Others say the much-delayed $7.8 billion project, part of China's Belt and Road Initiative, should never have begun.