News

Ban on Chinese owned video-sharing app marks U-turn from previous relaxed position
Britain is expected to announce a ban on the Chinese owned video-sharing app TikTok on government mobile phones imminently, bringing the UK inline with the US and European Commission and reflecting deteriorating relations with Beijing.
The decision marks a sharp reverse from the UK’s previously relaxed position, but some critics and experts said Britain should also extend the ban to cover personal phones used by ministers and officials – and even consider a complete ban.

Taiwanese-American artist James Jean has released a special edition poster for the upcoming Disney+ series American Born Chinese at SXSW 2023.

A hydrophone-equipped buoy could use oceanographic research as a cover, but actually be recording the sounds of passing subs.

As federal and state legislators express increasing concern about Chinese ownership of American companies and land, one American company acquired a decade ago by a Chinese firm tried to push back this ...

Xi Jinping’s vision. Plus: pictures that changed the way we see sport.
In his closing speech at China’s annual parliamentary meeting on Monday, Xi Jinping, the country’s most powerful leader in generations, had an ominous message for his people and for those listening beyond its borders. “After a century of struggle, our national humiliation has been erased … the Chinese nation’s great revival is on an irreversible path,” he warned.
The abrasive tone of much of the rhetoric coming out of Beijing last week may have dashed the hopes of those in the west who had hoped for a softening of mood between Beijing and Washington. But the fact remains that China still needs to maintain nuanced relationships with much of the world if it is to achieve its goals. Senior China correspondent looks at the geopolitical relationships Beijing must navigate, as well as Xi’s own rising ambitions as a player on the global stage.

Former Labor PM blasts ‘incompetence’ of his party for backing nuclear submarine agreement with US and UK
Paul Keating has labelled the as the “worst deal in all history” and “the worst international decision” by a Labor government since Billy Hughes tried to introduce conscription.
The former Labor prime minister launched an extraordinary broadside against the Albanese government at the National Press Club on Wednesday, blasting the “incompetence” of Labor backing the decision to sign up to Aukus while in opposition and when it had “no mandate” to do so.

This blog is now closed.
Acting prime minister and defence minister Richard Marles has spoken to ABC News Breakfast this morning after the $368bn announcement of the Aukus deal yesterday.
In response to the reaction from China accusing Australia, the US and Britain of embarking on a “path of error and danger”, Marles defends making a decision that is in Australia’s national interest:
We are seeking to acquire this capability to make our contribution to the collective security of the region and the maintenance of the global rules-based order.
And one of the issues within our region we are witnessing the largest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the second world war. And it’s not Australia who is doing that, but that shapes the world in which we live.
We’re completely confident these are in complete compliance with non proliferation.

Government has promised not to enrich uranium or reprocess spent fuel as part of the nuclear-powered submarine program
The Albanese government has requested formal talks with the global nuclear watchdog to allay any concerns Aukus could lead to undeclared nuclear activities in Australia or the diversion of enriched uranium.
The government has also invited senior officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit Australia this year, attempting to head off a fresh campaign from China, which urged the body not to fall for “high-sounding rhetoric”.

British stance edges closer to the US, but many MPs want government to go further and designate China as a threat
While Britain’s conflict with Russia is playing out on the battlefield of Ukraine, escalating tensions between London and Beijing are largely unfolding a little more discreetly at home: in universities, among researchers and in hi-tech and other strategic businesses.
It may not be a high-profile drama of poisonings and deadly weapons supply, but hundreds of Chinese researchers have been turned away from British projects over the last couple of years, as trust between the two countries has been eroded.

Exclusive: Foreign Office rejected record number of academics in 2022 on national security grounds
More than 1,000 scientists and postgraduate students were barred from working in the UK last year on national security grounds, amid a major government crackdown on research collaborations with China.
Figures obtained by the Guardian reveal that a record 1,104 scientists and postgraduate students were rejected by Foreign Office vetting in 2022, up from 128 in 2020 and just 13 in 2016.

Former Labor prime minister Paul Keating savages his own party for signing up to the Aukus submarine deal. Keating calls the Aukus press event held in the US with Anthony Albanese, Joe Biden and Rishi Sunak 'kabuki theatre'. The former PM says one of the 'principle problems' of the deal is that 'defence has overtaken foreign policy'. He goes on to attack the foreign minister, Penny Wong, saying, 'running around the Pacific Islands with a lei around your neck handing out money, which is what Penny does, is not foreign policy'

Australia is already deeply enmeshed within the US defence establishment and its security planning is increasingly reliant on stability in Washington
The Aukus pact has revealed its long-awaited plan that would make Australia the seventh member of an exclusive club of nuclear-propulsion states.
Aukus is, we’re told, a high-risk endeavour but one that will yield potentially high rewards in terms of Australia’s ability to defend its sovereign interests and shape the regional security environment. Indeed, it reflects Australia’s anxieties about the changing security environment in Asia, especially concerning a rising China, and its willingness to step into the role of a “regional power”.