We hosted CIS Scholars-in-residence James Mann and Alice Han, as well as journalist and china experts Richard McGregor and James Laurenceson for a lively panel discussion in Sydney moderated by Tom Switzer on Australia’s relations with China as the US-China competition remains intense.
China begins the 2023 New Year with a healthcare crisis, a weakening economy, declining population, a property crisis and political protests. These vulnerabilities — each attributable to the Chinese Communist Party – raise important questions:
Is China’s rise to global dominance inevitable? Can Xi Jinping expect to maintain political control across an increasingly restless country? With the very real weaknesses of the real-estate industry, will China’s high-growth economy come to an end despite the abandonment of zero Covid?
Given the thaw in Sino-Australia relations, should Canberra redefine its policy approach away from the more assertive diplomacy of recent times? Would a continuing Australian thaw with China affect Canberra’s alliance with the United States?