Time for a ‘China reset,’ before it’s too late
(Published in the National Post (Canada), June 18, 2020) As someone who has studied the influence of China in Canada, it is clear to me that this country needs to put in place defences against the covert, coercive and corrupt influence of the CPC, which has been systematically eroding resistance to it from within Under […]
University sacrifices pro-democracy student for China romance
(Published in The Australian, May 6, 2020) A 20-year-old philosophy student campaigning against uni’s links with Chinese Communist Party subject to assault, online hate, death threats. The University of Queensland is going to extraordinary lengths to silence its most effective critic, a 20-year-old philosophy student who has campaigned against the university’s tight links with the […]
« En Australie, nous devrons faire le deuil de l’avenir » (on Australia’s devastating bushfires)
(Published in Le Monde, 10 January 2020) It feels like the apocalypse has come. A national catastrophe is unfolding, with each day bringing new shocks. ‘The sky was on fire.’ ‘So fast and so angry.’ ‘It was like a warzone.’ These are some of the words used to capture the ferocity of the firestorms by […]
Clive Hamilton and Richard McGregor on Australia-China relations
Politics podcast with Michelle Grattan, 17 June 2020 After its calls for an inquiry into the origins of the coronavirus, Australia has found itself targeted by China with trade retaliation as well as sharp rhetoric. In this podcast, we talk with two prominent China experts about the superpower’s wider ambitions and tactics and the bilateral […]
How to lose friends and influence the future security of your nation
It’s uncomfortable when a belief you have long held is contradicted by new facts. Even more so if an entire worldview comes under pressure from the evidence. Psychologists call it ‘‘cognitive dissonance’’ and it explains why it is so hard to change our minds even though we flatter ourselves that we base our opinions on […]
Extinction Rebellion and the politics of creative tension
Clive Hamilton Are Extinction Rebellion protesters shooting themselves in the foot? Commentators have been quick to accuse them of doing no more than annoying motorists and alienating the public from their cause. That argument assumes that all protests are aimed at winning over the public to one’s point of view. Put another way, protests are […]
Chinese Communist Party Influence in Australian Universities
Recent events at the University of Queensland have brought into sharp relief the Chinese Communist Party’s influence activities on Australian campuses. Tensions arising from the mass protests in Hong Kong have prompted democracy activists in the West to speak out, but they have also inflamed nationalist sentiment among some Chinese students, to the point where […]
The Soul of the Chinese People
Comments at the launch of the Chinese-language edition of Silent Invasion 无声的入侵 Ashfield, Sydney, Sunday 2 June 2019 I thank Professor Feng Chongyi for his generous introduction and the Australian Values Alliance for organizing today’s launch. Welcome everyone. Liu Xiaobo once wrote: “Freedom of expression is the foundation of human rights, the source of humanity, […]
Understanding China’s Threat to Australia’s National Security
We are only now becoming aware that Beijing’s interference in our political system goes well beyond the activities of wealthy, Party-linked donors. In recent years, the Chinese Communist Party, through its global United Front network, has been actively encouraging trusted members of Chinese communities in countries like Australia to become directly involved in running for […]
Keating: Intelligence chiefs are “nutters”, clean them out
Published in The Daily Telegraph, May 7 2018 When U.S. intelligence chiefs presented Donald Trump with information that made him uncomfortable, he flew into a rage, accusing them of leaking “fake news” and acting like “Nazi Germany”. Now Paul Keating has done the same. Australia’s intelligence chiefs are “nutters”, he said on Sunday. They’ve “gone […]