Concerns over Chinese purchases near AUKUS ports
"Mr Wangs son, Wang Zhongdong, who is director of the company Port Kembla Group, he purchased the Port Kembla site back in January," Ms Bradley said.
"The purchase for the site... was for commercial reasons related to endeavors in the green energy space. He's also denied any link to China's United Front, the communist party's foreign influence arm.
"It's unclear whether the deals were reviewed by the foreign investment board, so far, no commentary from the government as to those purchases."
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26 minutes ago
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China and Australia are practising mutual geopolitical pressure, and mutual economic release. In 2014, I wrote a paper for the Lowy Institute titled 'The Adolescent Country'. It argued that Australia's foreign policy was parochial, US-dependent and immature. Albanese is showing evidence that it's maturing. He's not kowtowing to Beijing nor fearing Washington. Loading It's an improvement. But much more remains to be done. How would Australian foreign policy experts encapsulate the country's international stance today in a book title? I asked the heads of four research centres. The US Studies Centre's Mike Green, referencing Geoffrey Blainey's famous Tyranny of Distance, proposed The Tyranny of Disinterest. Why? He suggested that Albanese lacks interest in the China threat and that Trump lacks interest in the liberal world order. The Australian Strategic Policy Institute's Justin Bassi came up with Letting Others Decide. Why? 'Avoiding hard conversations with Trump,' he elaborates. 'Avoiding criticism of Beijing. Avoiding investing in defence that would actually give us some leverage. That means we're drifting, neither to safety nor nowhere but into rocky trouble.' Drift was also on the mind of Rory Medcalf of the ANU's National Security College. His title: Continental Drift. The Lowy Institute's Michael Fullilove, in counterpoint to Blainey's book, proposes The Predicament of Proximity. Meaning? 'We are closer to the world's booming markets – and closer to the world's future crises. We are less isolated – and less insulated. We have to decide whether we want to be a spectator or a participant.' It's striking that all four see a country that is too inert, a government that must get more active. One of Mao's catchphrases: 'World in great chaos – excellent situation.' Only for those able and willing to take advantage. That's pressure with no clear release.
