Category Archives: China Foreign Policy
Why should Australia be concerned about… rising tensions in the Taiwan Straits?
In the latest China Matters Explores policy brief, I argue outright war across the Taiwan Strait is highly unlikely. Rather, the PRC is likely to use ‘all means short of war’ to achieve the paramount goal of unification. A PRC pressure campaign to force Taiwan to negotiate unification would entail a mix of tactics including
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I have spent the last 38 years studying China, in particular the domestic politics and foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
During my international career as a policy-relevant China analyst I have had fascinating jobs and been invited to brief government ministers on China-related issues in seven countries.
I worked as the Beijing-based Programme Director for China and Global Security at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) 2009-2011; as the East Asia Programme Director at the Lowy Institute for International Policy 2011-2013; as Visiting Professor at the US Studies Centre at Sydney University (2014-2015); and as Founding Director and CEO of China Matters (2015-2021).
China Matters was founded in 2014 to advance sound China policy and inject realism into the public discourse about the rise of the People’s Republic of China and its implications for Australia.
I currently work part-time as Senior Advisor for the China Office of Finnish Industries, while retaining my role as Deputy Chair of China Matters.
My articles about the PRC’s foreign and security policy are internationally recognised and used by academics in several countries as reading in university course work about the PRC. Many of these articles focus on foreign policy decision-making in the PRC, the PRC’s interest in the Arctic and the unresolved political future of Taiwan. I am also the author of two award-winning books and one acclaimed report about the PRC.
I lived and worked in China for 22 years before moving to Sydney in 2011.
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I have spent the last 38 years studying China, in particular domestic politics and foreign policy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). During my international career as a policy-relevant China analyst I have had fascinating jobs and been invited to brief government ministers on China-related issues in seven countries.
I worked as the Beijing-based Programme Director for China and Global Security at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri) 2009-2011, as the East Asia Programme Director at the Lowy Institute for International Policy 2011-2013, as Visiting Professor at the US Studies Centre at Sydney University (2014-2015), and as Founding Director and CEO of China Matters (2015-2021).
China Matters was founded in 2014 to advance sound China policy and inject realism into the public discourse about the rise of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and its implications for Australia.
I currently work part-time as Senior Advisor for the China Office of Finnish Industries, while retaining my role as Deputy Chair of China Matters.
My articles about the PRC’s foreign and security policy are internationally recognised and used by academics in several countries as reading in course work about the PRC. Many of these articles focus on foreign policy decision-making in the PRC, the PRC’s interest in the Arctic and the unresolved political future of Taiwan. I am also the author of two award-winning books and one acclaimed report about the PRC.
I lived and worked in China for 22 years before moving to Sydney in 2011. I currently divide my time between Helsinki and Sydney.