Australia goes easy on China's military rise - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

In its 2013 Defence white paper Australia is not seeing China as an adversary, but picks a position between the two power blocks, the US and China, notes military analyst Wendell Minnick in Defense News. In China it sees "a strategic partner".

Wendell Minnick:

Though the report indicates that the Australian government does not believe that it “must choose” between China and the U.S., it “does not approach China as an adversary.” 

“The relationship between the United States and China, the region’s and the globe’s two most powerful states, will more than any other single factor determine our strategic environment over coming decades.” 

Further, “China’s continued rise as a global power, the increasing economic and strategic weight of East Asia ...[is] an area of increasing strategic significance. In aggregate, these trends are shaping the emergence of the Indo-Pacific as a single strategic arc.” 

The government’s policy is aimed at encouraging China’s peaceful rise and ensuring that strategic competition does not lead to conflict. China’s economic transformation is changing the regional global strategic balance and is a major contributor to global strategic weight shifting to the Indo-Pacific. 

“This will inevitably affect the strategic calculations and posture of regional countries and is changing the balance of military power in the western Pacific.” 

As an indicator of Australian efforts to face the blunt reality of China’s rising military machine, the report cites Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s visit to Beijing last month, when it was agreed to designate their bilateral relationship as a “strategic partnership.”

More in Defense News.

Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

Military power is not only a matter of planes and ships, but also cyber power. The +China Weekly Hangout  discussed on February 28 with security consultant +Mathew Hoover and reporter +Charlie Custer of +TechinAsia recent hacking issues, the Sino-US relations, including some useful information on what to worry about and what not. Moderation: +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau. The China Weekly Hangout is holding on May 9 an open office, where you can discuss current affairs in China or suggest subjects for hangouts later this year. You can read our announcement here, orregister for the hangout here.

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Open office meeting - China Weekly Hangout

Barack Obama in a hangout

A set of holidays in Asia and Europe have disrupted our regular +China Weekly Hangout this week and next week.
As an alternative we will host next week, Thursday May 9, an open office session of our hangout, where you are welcome to discuss current affairs in China and offer suggestions for upcoming hangouts.

The event will be held at Thursday May 9, 10pm Beijing Time, 4pm CEST (Europe) and 10pm EST.
You can already register at our event page here. Moderation by +Fons Tuinstra, president of the +China Speakers Bureau.
Until the start of the event you can also leave here or at the event page questions, remarks or additions.
During the event, we will monitor Google+ and Twitter (add hash tag #CWHCWH) for your contributions. You will be able to watch the meeting at YouTube, this page and our event page, also the recordings will be available after the event.
We also encourage you to sign up for our +China Weekly Hangout page if you have not yet done so, so you will get regular updates on our events. You can have a full overview of our previous hangouts here.


One suggestion for a future event came already from +Simon Young, residing in New Zealand, who pleaded for a change of the timing of our hangout, so participants from New Zealand and Australia, could join. We have initially planned an Aussie/New Zealand session on May 16 or 23, which will be held six hours earlier from our normal broadcasting times. So, at 4pm Beijing Time, 10am CEST (Europe) and 8pm Wellington time. (Otherwise we intend to stick mostly to our regular hours, unless Japan California report for business).
wo subjects for this Australia/New Zealand session have been suggested by Simon:  1. the Chinese influence on the dairy industry, and 2. the development of Chinese tourism in New Zealand and Australia. Depending on the participants, we will discuss both subjects, or limit ourselves to one.
Do you have hands-on experience in one of those industries and do you want to join our discussion? Do drop me a note for a possible dry test of a hangout and fine-tuning of the event.

Update: Yet another subject reached our digital radar screen. How much can you earn on a management function in China? +Richard Brubaker suggests here that at CEIBS foreign graduates still earn 30/40% than their Chinese counter parts. On Thursday, I will put the subject on the agenda, but only to narrow the subject down a bit, discuss possible experts to join and set a date.

Which reminds me, we should also plan another China Weekly Hangout on Africa, after our first well-visited session on about the advances different Chinese media groups make in Africa with veteran journalists +Eric Olander of the China Africa Project, and +Lara Farrar, previously working for both the China Daily and CNN in March.
Do join us next Thursday for our open office session.

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Will the Aussies go to war with China for a US doctrine? - Wendell Minnick

Wendell Minnick

Military analyst Wendell Minnick discusses in Defense News the emerging US "AirSea Battle doctrine and the so-called Asia Pivot, many in the Asia-Pacific are asking for clarification on a subject that could involve them in an unnecessary war with China." A review of a paper by Benjamin Schreer, a senior analyst for Defence Strategy at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Wendell Minnick, on Schreer's paper:

It is not in Australia’s interest to fully embrace the logic behind AirSea Battle or develop specific military capabilities to underpin the concept’s implementation. “Openly signing up for the concept would send a strong political message to China that the ADF [Australian Defence Force] is now actively planning and equipping for a potential war with the PLA [People’s Liberation Army].” 

“There is no need to do so,” he said. Australia’s decision to allow US Marines to base in Darwin has already displayed Australia’s political commitment to the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security (ANZUS) alliance. 

The development of long-range strike capabilities against China by Australia would be an “unnecessary provocation … let alone a very costly one.”

More in Defense News.

Wendell Minnick is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

+China Weekly Hangout 

International conflicts are fought also in cyberspace. The China Weekly Hangout on February 28 discussed the questions who is hacking who, after China got again accused of being the center of cyber attacks. Security consultant +Mathew Hoover and reporter +Charlie Custer  of +TechinAsia joined a discussion about the hacking issues, the Sino-US relations, including some useful information on what to worry about and what not. Moderation: +Fons Tuinstra of the +China Speakers Bureau.

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Visa rules still hamper Chinese tourists - Roy Graff

Roy Graff

Tourist offices worldwide compete to get more heavy-spending Chinese to their countries, but strict visa rules remain the no.1 barrier on the road for traveling Chinese, writes hospitality specialist Roy Graff in ChinaContact. But things are getting better.

Roy Graff:

As previous projections on the development of Chinese outbound tourism by UN-WTO, WTTC and others are rendered obsolete by even better than expected growth statistics, many destinations want to become the next ‘hot spot’ for Chinese to visit and spend their cash. 

Since other traditional markets for many destinations have slowed or gone into decline due to economic woes, the Chinese market is now seen as a potential bonanza for travel suppliers and retailers. But not all is as it seems and not each and every destination in the world would be able to benefit in the short term. Beyond objective challenges such as distance and cost of living are the political circumstances that affect both the ability of a destination to market itself in China and capability of Chinese to obtain visitor visas. 

We have noticed that in recent weeks several countries and regions are trying to address visa restrictions for Chinese and other BRIC markets in order to be more inviting.

More in ChinaContact, with news from Australia, Europe, New Zealand and the UK.

Roy Graff is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.  

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Why Australia appeals to the Chinese tourist - Paul French

Paul French

Australia is one of the favorite destinations for 40 percent of the Chinese tourists, even beating France and the US. Retail analyst Paul French of Access Asia explains in InsideRetailing why.

 InsideRetailing:

"Australia has been growing in popularity for a number of reasons. It is under nine hours of flying time, so less than Europe. There are also an abundance of luxury brands, casinos are plentiful and visa procurement for Chinese visitors there is easier,” said Paul French, chief China market strategist at Mintel. 

“Right now the vast bulk of Chinese tourists arriving in Australia are on group tours - low cost packages with the bulk of any profits remaining in China with the travel agents, meaning that it's up to tourism service suppliers in Australia to extract the cash... 

"The global spending power of Chinese consumers has become the stuff of new legend. Chinese travelling overseas to spend and 'arbitrage' purchases, particularly on items that attract high taxes at home such as luxury goods, has become a new theme of global retail and consumption," added French.

 More in InsideRetailing.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting of conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form. 

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Australia's suspect debate on China - Paul French

Paul French

BHP and Rio Tinto dominate the warped debate on China in Australia, says business analyst Paul French in Adelaide Now. Paul French was 'down under' past weekend and gave the Aussies some food for thought on their relationship with China.

 Adelaide Now:

"Australia is having the most warped and deformed debate about China of any major country that I've experienced," [Paul French] said. "It's the least nuanced, the most suspect debate." 

China's other trading partners, such as Germany, the US and Britain, managed to have a debate that balances business interests with human rights issues. In those countries, said French, the China business lobby ranges from corporations such as British Aerospace and McDonnell Douglas to fashion brands and investment banks. 

"Here, that broad arc of business concern is two companies, who almost became one company, in the same business with pretty much the same agenda," he said. "Almost everywhere else in the world, the China debate is balanced. 

"So Angela Merkel, David Cameron, Sarkozy or even Obama, do sit down with the Dalai Lama when he comes to town and the Chinese jump up and down and throw their toys out of the pram for five minutes and then we just all get on with things." 

Both Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd before her have declined to meet the Tibetan spiritual leader. " 

In Australia, you have these miners saying `if you do anything to annoy China they'll cancel their contracts, every Australian household will drop $7000 overnight, we'll all get creamed'," said French. 

"And there isn't really any evidence of that. The Germans trade with China a lot more than you do. "Outside of minerals and a bit of tourism, you have no trade with them. 

"A bit of organic honey, and a bottle of wine or two, that's about it."

More in Adelaide Now.

Paul French is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch or fill in our speakers' request form.

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Bright Dairy buys rather than builds brands - Shaun Rein

The successful Bright Food Group Co. announces a buying spree among Australian and European firms, according to Bloomberg. A smart strategy, comments retail analyst Shaun Rein, who says buying existing brands is better than building your own.

Buying overseas assets may help the closely held company make the best use of its “extremely” strong distribution network in China, said Shaun Rein, managing director of Shanghai-based China Market Research Group. “Rather than spending the money and time building up new brands, it makes sense for them to acquire a well established foreign brand and leverage its strong distribution,” said Rein.

More about Brights strategy, including an interview with Chairman Wang Zhongnan in Bloomberg. Shaun Rein is a speaker at the China Speakers Bureau. Do you need him at your meeting or conference? Do get in touch.

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