China studies in crisis, say scholars in letter to Australian Research Council

Sixty China experts have warned that the state of Australia’s research on China is at ‘crisis point’ due to lack of funding.

The state of China studies in Australian universities is in crisis, say scholars.

Sixty China scholars from 22 Australian universities have warned that the decline in funding for research on China “runs counter to our national sovereign interests”.

“Australia’s capacity to produce cutting edge research on China is currently at crisis point, precisely at a time when that knowledge is most sorely needed,” said the letter sent last week to the Australian Research Council’s chief research officer, Christina Twomey.

The letter – a submission to the ARC’s policy review of its national competitive grants program – said that in 2023 there was no ARC discovery grant awarded for research on China.

It also said there was no China knowledge in the ARC College of Experts, and both Asian studies and Chinese studies suffered from the problem of “the historical weight of the UK, Europe and USA in our university systems”.

“China and its social, economic, technological and political development are too important for Australia’s future to be allowed to inadvertently disappear from the ARC’s research agenda. We urge the current review to address this problem,” it said.

Signatories included Angela Lehmann, the chair of the Foundation for Australian Studies in China, and David Olsson, the national president and chair of the Australia China Business Council.