The spring series of The 9pm Edict comes to a belated finale with special guest Yun Jiang, the inaugural China Matters Fellow at the Australian Institute of International Affairs. And guess what? We’re discussing news from China.
In this episode we talk about the historic meeting between Australia’s foreign minister Senator Penny Wong and her Chinese counterpart Wang Yi, the lifting of China’s zero-covid policy, China’s efforts to attract and retain scientific talent, China’s ambitions in Antarctica, the plight of international students and how their experiences change their views of Australia, Chengdu rapper Xie Di, and of course cardboard dogs.
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Episode Links
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AIIA China Matters Fellow.
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The Australian Institute of International Affairs (AIIA) and China Matters are delighted to announce that Ms Yun Jiang has been appointed as the inaugural AIIA China Matters Fellow.
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[22 December 2022] China and Australia mark 50 years of diplomatic ties but there has been a serious rift since 2019. Australia's government set about improving relations early on with PM Anthony Albanese meeting President Xi Jinping at the G20 summit in Bali. Chinese sanctions remain in place - but does Foreign Minister Penny Wong's visit suggest a thaw in relations is underway
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[21 December 2022] The Sixth China-Australia Foreign and Strategic Dialogue was held in Beijing on December 21, 2022. China's State Councilor and Foreign Minister, Wang Yi, and Australia's Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, met to exchange views on bilateral, regional and international issues of interest.
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[20 December 2022] In the annals of Australian foreign policy, it is arguable that no moment in history has been as significant as December 21 1972. With the possible exception of the ANZUS Treaty of 1951, no other document matches the formal agreement establishing full diplomatic relations between Australia and China 50 years ago this week.
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[21 December 2022] From trade partner to security threat — a look back at 50 years of relations with China.
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[21 December 2022] Chinese President Xi Jinping told Australian leaders on Wednesday that China is ready to advance relations with Australia based on mutual respect and win-win principles as Australia’s top diplomat is paying an “ice-breaking” visit to China to fix the damaged ties.
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Foreign Minister Penny Wong told her Chinese counterpart the relationship between both countries needs to be stabilised. She has advocated for detained Australians Cheng Lei and Dr Yang Hengjun to be reunited with their families and for trade blockages to be removed. Penny Wong is on the first visit to China by an Australian minister since diplomatic relations were frozen in 2019.
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[21 December 2022] First Australian minister to visit Beijing in three years raised sensitive issues, declaring region wants China and the US to manage tensions
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[22 December 2022] Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong is returning home after “a very constructive” meeting with her Chinese counterpart to discuss trade issues and the plight of two detained Australian citizens.
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[19 December 2022] Experts warn China is ill-prepared to cope with the coming wave, as the country deals with an explosion of new cases.
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[22 December 2022] Dozens of hearses queued outside a Beijing crematorium on Wednesday, even as China reported no new COVID-19 deaths in its growing outbreak, sparking criticism of its virus accounting as the capital braces for a surge of cases.
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[19 December 2022] Boosting vaccination rates, widespread mask use and reimposing some restrictions on movement could reduce the number of deaths.
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[20 December 2022] After nearly three years of strict "zero-COVID" policies, in recent days Chinese officials have rolled back most of them following rare protests across the country. Mass testing and mass quarantining are now things of the past.
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[9 December 2022] China says its official COVID-19 vaccination rate is around 90%, but it's not hard to find people who have been avoiding the jab.
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[23 November] Videos show hundreds of workers marching, with some confronted by people in hazmat suits and riot police. Those livestreaming the protests said workers were beaten by police. Videos also showed clashes.
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In her second policy research report, Ms Yun Jiang, AIIA China Matters Fellow, assesses efforts by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to encourage the return of PRC-born scientists from abroad. Xi Jinping has made attracting returnee talent a priority to enable the PRC to achieve greater technological strength and self-reliance.
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A wide-body aircraft, also known as a twin-aisle aircraft, is an airliner with a fuselage wide enough to accommodate two passenger aisles with seven or more seats abreast. The typical fuselage diameter is 5 to 6 m (16 to 20 ft). In the typical wide-body economy cabin, passengers are seated seven to ten abreast, allowing a total capacity of 200 to 850 passengers. The largest wide-body aircraft are over 6 m (20 ft) wide, and can accommodate up to eleven passengers abreast in high-density configurations.
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The Thousand Talents Plan or Thousand Talents Program (TTP) (Chinese: ????; pinyin: Qi?n rén jìhuà), or Overseas High-Level Talent Recruitment Programs (Chinese: ???????????; pinyin: H?iwài g?o céngcì réncái y?njìn jìhuà) is a program by the central government of China to recruit experts in science and technology from abroad, principally but not exclusively from overseas Chinese communities.
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China’s technological strength has been increasing since the late 2000s, accounting for a significant share of patents. The technology landscape that was dominated by the US, Europe and Japan in the early 2000s is now much more polarised between US and Chinese offices. Antonin Bergeaud and Cyril Verluise show that while the gap in the quality of patents is also closing, there are some important points that question whether China’s contribution to the technology frontier will continue to grow.
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Ren Zhengfei (Chinese: ???; born 25 October 1944) is a Chinese entrepreneur and engineer who is the founder and CEO of Huawei Technologies, the world's largest manufacturer of telecommunications equipment and second largest manufacturer of smartphones.
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The performance of a military system is about more than the sum of its equipment, manpower, and training. Culture and practices are critical. The Russian army appears to suffer from serious cultural issues. Corruption is a key one, while the practice of making up obvious lies to cover up the real state of affairs (which everyone then goes along with) and telling the boss what they want to hear at all costs - those practices enable corruption to thrive, and seriously undermine battlefield decision making. In this episode, we look at the culture of deception in the Russian army, explore some of the common complaints, and discuss some ways it may (I am not a Kremlinologist) potentially impact or have impacted Russian decision making in Ukraine.
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The performance of a military system is about more than the sum of its equipment, manpower, and training. Culture and practices are critical. The Russian army appears to suffer from serious cultural issues. Corruption is a key one, while the practice of making up obvious lies to cover up the real state of affairs (which everyone then goes along with) and telling the boss what they want to hear at all costs - those practices enable corruption to thrive, and seriously undermine battlefield decision making. In this episode, we look at the culture of deception in the Russian army, explore some of the common complaints, and discuss some ways it may (I am not a Kremlinologist) potentially impact or have impacted Russian decision making in Ukraine.
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[11 August 2017] China's expat community has again become the target of anger for China's rap artists, as illustrated by Sichuan's Xie Di desire to shoot foreigners with a gun in his new single "Wack Laowai" (??? gu? l?owài).
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English subtitles included.
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In her first policy research report, Ms Yun Jiang, AIIA China Matters Fellow, looks at concerns that the Antarctic ambitions of the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) go beyond just scientific research and fishing. She argues that fears that Beijing wants to exploit Antarctica’s mineral and fossil energy resources, militarise the continent and even make its own territorial claims, are overblown. While current governance arrangements do cause friction between Beijing and some of the original signatories of the Antarctic Treaty, including Australia, overall the PRC benefits from the system.
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[3 September 2021] In the final episode of the Edict’s Late Winter Series, we discuss Antarctic geopolitics with Dr Elizabeth Buchanan from the Australian War College. There’s a lot more to it than snow, penguins, and coloured lights in the sky.
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[14 November 2022] During the lockdown, students in universities across China have practiced strange activities, such as making paper dogs, crawling in the playground late at night, and doing “crazy literature.”
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[4 November 2022] A cardboard dog doesn’t get ill and always waits for me at the dormitory door,’ said one student. Online observers split over whether paper pets craze is sign of madness or a source of spiritual comfort.
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[14 November 2022] The activities are prompting concerns about university students’ mental health.
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[20 December 2022] If the act of lying flat, or tang ping, took over the Chinese internet in 2021, actively embracing a deteriorating situation, or bai lan, became its equivalent in 2022.
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