Australia-China relations doomed to fail because of our ignorance
Australia is doomed to continue its tit-for-tat with China because our political class don’t understand our biggest trading partner, new research argues.
The Sino-Australian relationship has become increasingly rocky in recent months. Most recently, China denied it was behind the huge cyber attack against Australian systems.
But new research from The Australia Institute argues the cause of tension is largely due to our ignorance.
In Australia, there are only 20 academics and think tanks with expertise in China, and no specialist schools for training policymakers.
Although no one knows how many people are employed in the federal government to provide advice on China, our ‘‘stupid’’ approach reveals how little we understand it, said Allan Behm, head of the International and Security Affairs Program at The Australia Institute.
“If you’ve got about 20 people who know about China, you’re a hell of a long way beyond the queue line,” Mr Behm told The New Daily.
Tibetan singer
古再丽。青藏高原。
90 years old chinese man
11 years old skateboard girl
9 years old guitar boy
10 richest cities in China
6 years old guitar girl
No, There Is No US-China ‘Clash of Civilizations’
The world has changed dramatically over the past few decades and is trending today toward greater complexity and diversity. The popular “clash of civilizations” theory proposed by Samuel P. Huntington is somewhat too simple for modern society. However, this thought is now coming back to life, and might even be unilaterally implemented into policy practice in the United States toward China. Kiron Skinner, the U.S. State Department’s policy planning head, has reignited this discussion with her recent observation that China is “not Caucasian” at a recent event. Her broader remarks made clear that the U.S. State Department taking pains to prepare for a “clash of civilizations” with China.
From once a “economic competitor” to now a rival on the level of civilization, what is behind these perceptions in the U.S. bureaucracy toward China?
To understand that, it is first necessary to get a taste of the policymakers in the American government today. These practitioners who cope with China on a day-to-day basis at both the policy and implementation levels see China as more energetic, assertive, and less reserved over the past few years. But they are missing memories of a time when China was weak and poor, mainly due to the process of internal generational replacement.
A high-speed maglev test vehicle with a speed of 600 km/h
A high-speed maglev test vehicle with a speed of 600 km/h, developed by CRCC Qingdao Sifang Co, successfully ran on the maglev test line at Tongji University in Shanghai Sunday morning.