This week, ASPI released the report ‘Taking the low road: China's influence in Australian states and territories’ which maps out the changing nature of China’s engagement with Australian states and territories, local governments, city councils, universities, research organisations and non-government organisations. Peter Jennings is joined by report editor Emeritus Professor John Fitzgerald for a conversation on the report’s findings.

So far, 2022 has been full of strategic challenges; Covid-19 impacts are still being felt globally, tensions remain heightened between Russia and Ukraine, and a recent meeting between Presidents Putin and Xi has some analysts calling their relationship a de-facto alliance. Michael Shoebridge speaks to Arthur Snell about the latest developments, how the international world order is being challenged and why this is an important moment for democracies.

In December last year, the White House released the first U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption. Anastasia Kapetas and Dr Teagan Westendorf discuss the different pillars of the strategy and whether it will be enough to counter corruption globally.

Mentioned in this episode:

+ ASPI Report ‘Taking the low road: China's influence in Australian states and territories’: https://www.aspi.org.au/report/taking-low-road-chinas-influence-australian-states-and-territories

+ ‘Doomsday Watch’ podcast: https://apple.co/3gWSgg0

+ U.S. Strategy on Countering Corruption: https://bit.ly/3JDR4dI

Guests (in order of appearance):

Peter Jennings: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/peter-jennings

Professor John Fitzgerald: https://www.swinburne.edu.au/research/our-research/access-our-research/find-a-researcher-or-supervisor/researcher-profile/?id=johnfitzgerald

Michael Shoebridge: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/michael-shoebridge

Arthur Snell: https://twitter.com/SnellArthur

Anastasia Kapetas: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/anastasia-kapetas

Dr Teagan Westendorf: https://www.aspi.org.au/bio/teagan-westendorf

Background Music: "Airflow" by Bio Unit, via the FreeMusicArchive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Bio_Unit