This week on GeoPod, Tenjin Consulting's Alexander and Georgina Downer discuss the decision by Australia's Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to reject the sale of South African construction firm Probuild to Chinese investors. Is this "justified discrimination" as the US Studies Centre's John Lee argues? Or is China right that the Australian Government is "weaponising" national security to block Chinese investment into Australia? Regardless of who is right or wrong, it is becoming more and more difficult for Chinese investors in Australia to get a positive response from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
US President-elect Joe Biden's new Asia Tsar (aka Indo-Pacific Coordinator of the National Security Council) Kurt Campbell is a welcome appointment to the Biden Administration. He is well-known to Australia, is a fan of the Alliance, and wants to see balance in the region. China has called Campbell "Dr Containment" but he is no fan of a containment strategy against China. Before his post was announced he argued for an Indo-Pacific of balance and twenty-first century openness, not hegemony and nineteenth-century spheres of influence. Let's hope he's up to the task of delivering it.
After the attacks on the US Capitol and US President Donald Trump's role in inciting the violence, the Democrats in the US House used their numbers to impeach Trump. Things will now move to the Senate where a two thirds' majority is needed to convict Trump and prevent him from running for President again. Is this petty politics? What does this mean for Biden's pitch to be a healer of the nation, and building bridges with the more than 70 million Americans who voted for Trump? Might a conviction make a martyr out of Trump, and condemn the US to more years of political division. Let's hope partisanship can take a back seat in the US Capitol. Unlikely as that may seem.
In an effort to shore up relations in Southeast Asia prior to Biden's inauguration, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. The visit was seen as an effort to boost China's soft power through vaccine diplomacy. Indonesia's President Joko Widodo was the first recipient in his country of China's Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine which was caught on live TV.
But it is Israel who is leading the global vaccination race. So far the tiny country of 9 million people has vaccinated 25% of its population, with ambition to finish the job by March. Israel is keen to show the world the way out of Covid-19 through this vaccination drive. Let's hope it works.
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By Tenjin ConsultingThis week on GeoPod, Tenjin Consulting's Alexander and Georgina Downer discuss the decision by Australia's Treasurer Josh Frydenberg to reject the sale of South African construction firm Probuild to Chinese investors. Is this "justified discrimination" as the US Studies Centre's John Lee argues? Or is China right that the Australian Government is "weaponising" national security to block Chinese investment into Australia? Regardless of who is right or wrong, it is becoming more and more difficult for Chinese investors in Australia to get a positive response from Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB).
US President-elect Joe Biden's new Asia Tsar (aka Indo-Pacific Coordinator of the National Security Council) Kurt Campbell is a welcome appointment to the Biden Administration. He is well-known to Australia, is a fan of the Alliance, and wants to see balance in the region. China has called Campbell "Dr Containment" but he is no fan of a containment strategy against China. Before his post was announced he argued for an Indo-Pacific of balance and twenty-first century openness, not hegemony and nineteenth-century spheres of influence. Let's hope he's up to the task of delivering it.
After the attacks on the US Capitol and US President Donald Trump's role in inciting the violence, the Democrats in the US House used their numbers to impeach Trump. Things will now move to the Senate where a two thirds' majority is needed to convict Trump and prevent him from running for President again. Is this petty politics? What does this mean for Biden's pitch to be a healer of the nation, and building bridges with the more than 70 million Americans who voted for Trump? Might a conviction make a martyr out of Trump, and condemn the US to more years of political division. Let's hope partisanship can take a back seat in the US Capitol. Unlikely as that may seem.
In an effort to shore up relations in Southeast Asia prior to Biden's inauguration, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi visited Myanmar, Indonesia, Brunei and the Philippines. The visit was seen as an effort to boost China's soft power through vaccine diplomacy. Indonesia's President Joko Widodo was the first recipient in his country of China's Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine which was caught on live TV.
But it is Israel who is leading the global vaccination race. So far the tiny country of 9 million people has vaccinated 25% of its population, with ambition to finish the job by March. Israel is keen to show the world the way out of Covid-19 through this vaccination drive. Let's hope it works.