Oceania

This week the Australian government took its expected step and cancelled the Belt and Road Initiative agreement that the Australian State of Victoria had signed with the Chinese. The move was not unexpected and had been signalled by the government some time ago. The ostensible reason for the cancellation was that it was...

Australia had until recently been enjoying economic growth alongside the rise of China. This all changed when Canberra began following Washington's lead, antagonising China, and in what would snowball into a costly, self-inflicted economic crisis. Today, Australia not only faces mounting barriers to trade erected by China in response to Australia's systematic antagonism...

While the recently held QUAD summit-meeting did not mention China directly, there is little gainsaying that the basic thrust of the group is against China. Although there are internal disagreements on whether to tackle China through military means or otherwise, or whether to keep this grouping strictly anti-China or not...