Silent Invasion

Silent Invasion
Author: Clive Hamilton
Publisher: Hardie Grant Publishing
Total Pages: 454
Release: 2018-02-22
Genre: Reference
ISBN: 1743585446

In 2008 Clive Hamilton was at Parliament House in Canberra when the Beijing Olympic torch relay passed through. He watched in bewilderment as a small pro-Tibet protest was overrun by thousands of angry Chinese students. Where did they come from? Why were they so aggressive? And what gave them the right to shut down others exercising their democratic right to protest? The authorities did nothing about it, and what he saw stayed with him. In 2016 it was revealed that wealthy Chinese businessmen linked to the Chinese Communist Party had become the largest donors to both major political parties. Hamilton realised something big was happening, and decided to investigate the Chinese government’s influence in Australia. What he found shocked him. From politics to culture, real estate to agriculture, universities to unions, and even in our primary schools, he uncovered compelling evidence of the Chinese Communist Party’s infiltration of Australia. Sophisticated influence operations target Australia’s elites, and parts of the large Chinese-Australian diaspora have been mobilised to buy access to politicians, limit academic freedom, intimidate critics, collect information for Chinese intelligence agencies, and protest in the streets against Australian government policy. It’s no exaggeration to say the Chinese Communist Party and Australian democracy are on a collision course. The CCP is determined to win, while Australia looks the other way. Thoroughly researched and powerfully argued, Silent Invasionis a sobering examination of the mounting threats to democratic freedoms Australians have for too long taken for granted. Yes, China is important to our economic prosperity; but, Hamilton asks, how much is our sovereignty as a nation worth? ‘Anyone keen to understand how China draws other countries into its sphere of influence should start with Silent Invasion. This is an important book for the future of Australia. But tug on the threads of China’s influence networks in Australia and its global network of influence operations starts to unravel.’ –Professor John Fitzgerald, author of Big White Lie: Chinese Australians in White Australia

China Panic

China Panic
Author: David Brophy
Publisher: Black Inc.
Total Pages: 350
Release: 2021-06-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1743821492

In 2014, Chinese president Xi Jinping said there was an ‘ocean of goodwill’ between our country and his. Since then, that ocean has shown dramatic signs of freezing over. Australia is in the grip of a China panic. How did we get here, and what’s the way out? In this brilliant book, David Brophy takes apart Australia’s China debate – its strange alliances and diplomatic failures. Justified criticism of China has too often given way to paranoia and exaggeration. While the xenophobic right hovers in the wings, some of the loudest voices decrying Chinese subversion come, unexpectedly, from the left. They call for new security laws, increased scrutiny of Chinese Australians and, if necessary, military force – a prescription for a sharp rightward turn in Australian politics. In China Panic, Brophy offers a progressive alternative. Instead of punitive moves and chest-beating that will only make Australia more like China, we need solutions and strategies that strengthen Australian democracy. ‘The most stimulating book I've read on the most important question facing Australian foreign and strategic policy. Brophy is not just answering questions others have asked, he's asking new questions.’—Allan Gyngell, author of Fear of Abandonment ‘Anyone who wants to know how and why Australia’s China narrative has descended to such a dismal point needs to read China Panic.’—Wanning Sun, professor of media and communications, UTS ‘David Brophy dissects the clichés and prejudices . . . China Panic is essential reading.’’—Linda Jaivin, author of The Shortest History of China

South Flows the Pearl

South Flows the Pearl
Author: Mavis Gock Yen
Publisher: Sydney University Press
Total Pages: 393
Release: 2022-02-01
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 1743327234

South Flows the Pearl is a fascinating journey through the history of Chinese Australia. Taking the reader from Shanghai and the Pearl River Delta to Sydney, Perth, Cairns, Darwin, Bendigo and beyond, it explores the struggles and successes of Chinese people in Australia since the 1850s, as told in their own words. This unique book was written by an insider. Mavis Yen was born in Perth in 1916, the daughter of a Chinese father and an Australian mother. She lived in both countries and understood what it meant to navigate two worlds, to live through war and revolution, and to experience racial discrimination. In the 1980s she began interviewing elderly Chinese Australians, recording hours of conversations. Her intimate understanding of their languages and life experiences encouraged them to share their stories. Published here for the first time, they will change how you think about Australian history. “This is a book that offers a new way to be Australian in this country, and casts Chinese Australians as the protagonists in their own stories... When people agree to tell their stories, they speak to the future. Whether or not we listen is up to us.” — Dr Sophie Loy-Wilson, University of Sydney

China's Grand Strategy and Australia's Future in the New Global Order

China's Grand Strategy and Australia's Future in the New Global Order
Author: Geoff Raby
Publisher: Melbourne University
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2020
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 9780522874945

Disruption has blown the old world apart. The rise of China, Trump's America First policies, division within Europe and successful defiance by authoritarian states are affecting the shape of the emerging new order. Human rights, rule of law, free media and longstanding global institutions all seem set to be weakened. Autocracies are exercising greater control over world affairs. Australia will need to engage heightened levels of diplomacy to forge relations with countries of opposing principles. It will need to be agile in pursuing a realistic foreign policy agenda. China's Grand Strategy and Australia's Future in the New Global Order contains answers for how Australia must position itself for this possibly dystopian future.

Australia-China Relations post 1949

Australia-China Relations post 1949
Author: Yi Wang
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2016-04-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 1317177223

This book challenges the common perceptions of Australian dependence upon great-power allies in the conduct of its foreign relations through a critical examination of Australia's relations with the People's Republic of China. The author focuses on the economic and political dimensions of the policy-making process from the founding of the PRC in 1949 to the present era, against an analytical framework that takes into account both internal and external factors in the formulation and implementation of Australian foreign policy. Informed by political science and international relations, the book differs from the conventional literature on Sino-Australian relations, which has either focused on pure economic analysis or concentrated on chronicling historical events. The author weaves theoretical insights from political science and international relations into the historical analysis while seeking to examine the interplay between political and economic factors over time in shaping policy outcomes. The book draws not only on primary and secondary sources but also on information and insights obtained from interviews with a vast array of direct participants in the policy process, including almost all the former ambassadors from both China and Australia, covering the entire period of the diplomatic relationship. As a result, the book breaks new ground, especially from the Hawke era onwards, revealing hitherto overlooked details of interest in the policy process.

The China Choice

The China Choice
Author: Hugh White
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 204
Release: 2013-07-04
Genre: History
ISBN: 0199684715

How should the West respond to the inexorable rise of China? Hugh White attempts to answer the key geopolitcal question of the 21st century - one which will have momentous consequences for us all.

Red Zone

Red Zone
Author: Peter Hartcher
Publisher: Black Inc.
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2021-05-24
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1743821794

What does China want from Australia? In this incisive and original book, Peter Hartcher reveals how decades of economic dependence left Australia open to the strategic ambitions of the most successful authoritarian regime in modern history. He shows how ideology, paranoia and Xi Jinping’s personal story have reshaped China, and shines new light on Beijing’s overt and covert campaign for influence – over trade and defence, media and politics. Australia has now woken up to China’s challenge, from passing foreign interference laws to banning Huawei from our 5G network. But at what cost? Will we see a further slump in relations? How best to protect our security, economy and identity? Drawing on interviews with Scott Morrison, Malcolm Turnbull and other key policymakers, as well as a rare interview with Australia’s spy chief, Red Zone is a gripping look at China’s power and Australia’s future. “Australia is on the front lines of the global struggle between China and the West over democratic values, and Peter Hartcher, one of the country’s foremost journalists, presents a clear-eyed and utterly frightening account of the challenge we face. Highly recommended ”—Francis Fukuyama “Hartcher’s analysis of Australia’s place in the world is sharp and tenacious. He continues to make an outsized contribution to our democracy.”—Penny Wong “Hartcher’s clear-eyed analysis of the Australia–China relationship is as keen as it is unsettling.”—Malcolm Turnbull

China in Oceania

China in Oceania
Author: Terence Wesley-Smith
Publisher: Berghahn Books
Total Pages: 244
Release: 2010-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 0857453807

It is important to see China’s activities in the Pacific Islands, not just in terms of a specific set of interests, but in the context of Beijing’s recent efforts to develop a comprehensive and global foreign policy. China’s policy towards Oceania is part of a much larger outreach to the developing world, a major work in progress that involves similar initiatives in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. This groundbreaking study of China’s “soft power” initiatives in these countries offers, for the first time, the diverse perspectives of scholars and diplomats from Oceania, North American, China, and Japan. It explores such issues as regional competition for diplomatic and economic ties between Taiwan and China, the role of overseas Chinese in developing these relationships, and various analyses of the benefits and drawbacks of China’s growing presence in Oceania. In addition, the reader obtains a rare review of the Japanese response to China’s role in Oceania, presented by Japan’s leading scholar of the Pacific region.

Danger On Our Doorstep

Danger On Our Doorstep
Author: Jim Molan
Publisher: HarperCollins
Total Pages: 161
Release: 2022-08-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1460715225

An unsettling assessment of how - and when - war with China might break out and the consequences for the world, from bestselling author and ex-major general the late Jim Molan What are Australia's options in confronting a rising and belligerent China? For the first time in nearly 80 years, war on our doorstop is not just possible, it is likely. Former army major general and Liberal Party senator Jim Molan fought wars, reviewed intelligence, participated in government and conducted business in hotspots across the world, making him an expert in evaluating risk and reward in perilous military situations. In this sober assessment, penned just before he died, Molan examines the present and growing danger of China's rise, not just to Taiwan, Japan and other countries in the immediate region, but also to the geopolitical balance of power as it has existed since the end of World War II. He suggests what China's endgame is, how war might start, what war with China would look like and, importantly, what Australia's best interests and options are. Acknowledging the increasing awareness of possible conflict, he stresses how important it is to prepare for the right war, not the war we would prefer to fight, or the one we think might never happen. PRAISE 'The Prime Minister should read Molan's book. It is chilling but a necessary statement of the truth that the region is heading to conflict and Australia is not well prepared to defend itself' Peter Jennings, The Australian 'Should be compulsory reading for all policy makers' Peta Credlin, Daily Telegraph 'Jim Molan grabs the reader squarely by the shoulders, swivelling him/her around to re-focus on the primary threat - in the Pacific. This book is confronting, like the threat it unveils' Russell Linwood, Sabretache, journal of theMilitary Historical Society of Australia

The China Alternative

The China Alternative
Author: Graeme Smith
Publisher: ANU Press
Total Pages: 520
Release: 2021-03-01
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1760464171

In this collection, 17 leading scholars based in Solomon Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste, Australia, New Zealand, the United States and China analyse key dimensions of the changing relationship between China and the Pacific Islands and explore the strategic, economic and diplomatic implications for regional actors. The China Alternative includes chapters on growing great power competition in the region, as well as the response to China’s rise by the US and its Western allies and the island countries themselves. Other chapters examine key dimensions of China’s Pacific engagement, including Beijing’s programs of aid and diplomacy, as well as the massive investments of the Belt and Road Initiative. The impact of China’s rivalry for recognition with Taiwan is examined, and several chapters analyse Chinese communities in the Pacific, and their relationships with local societies. The China Alternative provides ample material for informed judgements about the ability of island leaders to maintain their agency in the changing regional order, as well as other issues of significance to the peoples of the region. ‘China’s “discovery” of the diverse Pacific islands, intriguingly resonant of the era of European explorers, is impacting on this too-long-overlooked region through multiple currents that this important book guides us through.’ —Rowan Callick, Griffith University ‘The China Alternative is a must-read for all students and practitioners interested in understanding the new geopolitics of the Pacific. It assembles a stellar cast of Pacific scholars to deeply explore the impact of the changing role of China on the Pacific islands region. Significantly, it also puts the Pacific island states at the centre of this analysis by questioning the collective agency they might have in this rapidly evolving strategic context.’ —Greg Fry, The Australian National University