Posted by seumasach on February 28, 2018
Pepe Escobar
24th February, 2018
The Quad – comprising the United States, Japan, India and Australia – was set up a decade ago, ostensibly as an Asia-centered security cooperation mechanism. Funnily enough, Beijing always suspected it actually represented a containment strategy.
Posted in Containing China, Multipolar world | Tagged: Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), China Australian cooperation, Chinese soft power, End of empire, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QUAD) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on February 28, 2018
The Belt and Road Initiative now appears as an unstoppable reality shaping 21st Century politics. The Anglosphere may try to isolate itself from it at great cost to itself but with the failure of Western intervention in the Middle East it cannot stop it. The resurrection of the , allying Australia, Japan, India and the USA, as a counterweight to the BRI looks unconvincing. As US hegemonic aspirations fade the dream lives on in the vacuous rhetoric of a New Cold War and a union of democracies none of which relate to the reality of economic sclerosis, unplayable debt and political division.
M.K.Bhadrakumar
27th February, 2018
From an Indian perspective, the visit to the United States by the Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and his meeting with President Donald Trump on February 23 turns out to be a reality check on the power dynamic in the Asia-Pacific. Australia is torn between two vital partners – the US in the security sphere and China in the economic sphere. The dilemma is acute insofar as Turnbull has voiced opinions on threat perceptions regarding China, which are contrary to the Trump administration’s assessment and, yet, the US and Australia are key allies.
Posted in Multipolar world, New Cold War | Tagged: Belt and Road Initiative(BRI), China Australian cooperation, Chinese soft power, End of empire, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue(QUAD) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on January 30, 2018
“We have a different perspective on Russia and China, clearly. We do not see Russia or China as posing a military threat to Australia,” Bishop told Sky News.
We continue to see the fruits of Trump’s neo-isolationist policy. Australia openly contradicting the basic premise of the US national security strategy is the latest, dramatic reaction. We also have the re-engagement of the UK with Europe, the discord between the EU and the USA over Iran and over trade, the further shift of Turkey towards the SCO and Japan’s convergence with China and Russia.
29th January, 2018
Australia’s Turnbull government has distanced itself from a central theme of the Donald Trump administration’s new national defence strategy, which defines growing Russian and Chinese military might as greater threats than terrorism.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China Australian cooperation, trump agenda | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on March 21, 2017
“With the US and Europe now retreating, China should seek to draw Australia closer and build a [political] partnership with Australia,”
21st March, 2017
Australia is likely to tread an increasingly delicate path in balancing its relations with China and its traditional ally the United States amid sometimes erratic behaviour and unclear policy direction under US President Donald Trump, according to analysts.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China Australian cooperation, Chinese soft power, retreat from empire | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on July 31, 2016
Will Australia join Britain in being drawn out of the Chinese sphere of influence under US pressure? That would be extremely damaging for Australia but then so it is for Britain. Turnbull, remember, is a sinophile ,Australia has a free trade agreement with China and its economy is deeply enmeshed with that of China: so, at first sight it is surprising that Australia has become involved in provocations against China. Is it just coincidental that Australia’s racial identity is coming into play again. Is Australia having something of an anglo-saxon revival along with Britain and the USA?
19th July, 2016
A senior Chinese official has warned Australia not to join in any US sea patrols aimed at challenging China’s sovereignty in the South China Sea
Posted in brexit crisis | Tagged: anzus, Australia-China relations, China Australian cooperation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on September 22, 2015
A Sinophile in command in Australia, China elated
M.K.Bhadrakumar
18th September, 2015
The Chinese press nicknamed the new Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull ‘sweet dumpling’, ‘sugar bomb’ – apparently a rough translation of his surname, which in Chinese works out to Tang Bao, meaning a sweet custard-filled bun. Beijing is elated that Turnbull has taken over as prime minister in Canberra, summarily replacing Tony Abbott.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China Australian cooperation, china-australia free trade agreement, Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on September 20, 2015
“above all in our darkest hour, when our foes were literally on our doorstep, when our cities were under direct military attack—then at that tipping point in our history, China was our staunch, indefatigable ally.”
Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s new PM affectionally known in China as “sweetie pie”, a homonym of Turnbull in Mandarin.
Interestingly Turnbull’s son is married to the daughter of a top Chinese Communist Party official and used to work for- needless to say- Goldman.
18th September, 2015
Newly-installed Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has signalled the importance he attaches to economic relations with China by fast-tracking legislation on the China-Australia Free Trade Agreement.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China Australian cooperation, Chinese soft power, embracing multipolarity, Malcolm Turnbull | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on April 24, 2013
Reserve Bank to buy Chinese bonds for reserves
25th April, 2013
Australia’s central bank is gearing up to invest a slice of its foreign currency reserves in Chinese government bonds.
Posted in Multipolar world | Tagged: China Australian cooperation, Chinese soft power | Leave a Comment »
Posted by seumasach on April 17, 2013
April, 2013
Australia’s announcement that it is abandoning the U.S. dollar for trade with China is the latest broadside in the global currency war. Starting April 10, Australia and China will no longer use the U.S. dollar for trade between the two nations. For the first time, Australian businesses will be able to conduct trade in Chinese yuan. No more need for U.S. dollar intermediation.
Posted in Currency Wars | Tagged: China Australian cooperation | Leave a Comment »
Posted by smeddum on October 10, 2008
Aussies joke – and hope – that China can save capitalism
1 day ago
SYDNEY (AFP) — A cartoon on the front page of Australia’s national newspaper Thursday neatly illustrates an irony admitted by the government: communist China could save capitalism.
The illustration shows a Chinese man in a Superman outfit telling exactly this to a bankrupt, cigar-smoking Wall Street tycoon covering his nakedness in a barrel.
“Oh, you’re just loving this, aren’t you,” the fallen high-flyer replies in the cartoon in The Australian. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Financial crisis, Multipolar world | Tagged: Australia, China Australian cooperation | Leave a Comment »
In These New Times 