China is bolstering its geo-political influence in the Pacific by “branding” Asian Development Bank projects – funded in significant part by Australian taxpayer dollars – as Chinese projects, the Australian government says. On the island of Bougainville, an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea to Australia’s north, the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation has begun work to strengthen the runway at Kieta-Aropa, on the outskirts of the largest city. When the government of Bougainville announced the upgrade of the airport, there was no mention of the Asian Development Bank –…
Tag: Australia news
The Australia-US alliance is facing a decisive test, and not just over the Middle East | Hugh White
Would Australia go to war to support the United States in conflict with China over Taiwan – or elsewhere? The government avoids discussing the question, let alone answering it, by dismissing it as hypothetical. But it will not go away, for two reasons. First, the possibility of us going to war over Taiwan looms over the whole debate about our military preparedness and defence spending, and gives it urgency. That is because choosing to fight China alongside the US is a scenario in which Australia would find itself drawn into…
Majority of Australians think China will be world’s most powerful country by 2035, poll finds
A majority of Australians expect China will be the most powerful country in the world by 2035 as trust in the US tumbles, new research has found. Just over one in three Australians (36%) trusted the US to act responsibly on the world stage, representing a 20-point fall from 2024 and the smallest proportion since the Lowy Institute began polling in 2005. The thinktank’s 2025 report found only one in four respondents had any confidence in president Donald Trump’s approach to world affairs – less than half of the 46%…
US attacks on science and research a ‘great gift’ to China on artificial intelligence, former OpenAI board member says
The US administration’s targeting of academic research and international students is a “great gift” to China in the race to compete on artificial intelligence, former OpenAI board member Helen Toner has said. The director of strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) joined the board of OpenAI in 2021 after a career studying AI and the relationship between the United States and China. Toner, a 33-year-old University of Melbourne graduate, was on the board for two years until a falling out with founder Sam Altman in 2023.…
In Australia’s post-US future, we must find our own way with China | Hugh White
Thanks to US regional strategic primacy, Australia has been virtually immune from the threat of direct military attack since the defeat of Japan in 1945. Now that is changing. In future it will no longer be militarily impossible for China to attack Australia directly. And not just China: other major regional powers, especially India and eventually perhaps Indonesia, will have the potential to launch significant attacks on Australia. That does not mean we now face a serious threat of Chinese military attack. Today the only circumstance in which Australia could…
‘We’ll determine our defence policy’: Albanese responds to US push for huge rise in spending as it stokes China fears
Anthony Albanese has responded to the United States’ calls for a huge rise in defence spending amid fears about China, while hitting back at Donald Trump’s move to double tariffs on steel and aluminium. On Saturday Pete Hegseth urged US allies in the region, including Australia, to “share the burden” and lift defence spending to 5% of GDP, warning that “Beijing is credibly preparing to potentially use military force to alter the balance of power in the Indo-Pacific”. “There’s no reason to sugar coat it,” he said. “The threat China…
Has the Liberal party lost Chinese Australian voters for good? – video
After two thumping election loses, the Liberal party has a lot of soul-searching to do if it wants to regain government, especially with Chinese Australian communities. In its post-2022 election review, the party admitted more work needed to be done to win votes with Chinese Australians after electorates with significant communities all voted against the Liberal party at a higher rate than others. So why was the drubbing repeated in 2025? The Guardian
China and Australia cut interest rates; Greggs sales improve as Mac and Cheese goes viral – business live
<gu-island name="KeyEventsCarousel" priority="feature" deferuntil="visible" props="{"keyEvents":[{"id":"682c18208f08d37c78c1d264","elements":[{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy. ","elementId":"23b79db8-98e7-4fa4-a88c-ff2c0221bb75"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" China’s and Australia’s central banks have both cut interest rates to stimulate their economies and cushion the impact of US trade tariffs. ","elementId":"652d1f9c-abc2-427e-b10d-3503711900a8"},{"_type":"model.dotcomrendering.pageElements.TextBlockElement","html":" China cut its benchmark lending rates for the first time since October, following Beijing’s sweeping monetary easing measures. The People’s Bank of China reduced the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points to 3.0%, and the five-year loan prime rate was cut by…
Sperm donor who claims he fathered more than 180 children loses custody battle
An unregistered sperm donor who says he has fathered more than 180 children has failed to gain custody of a three-year-old child he had with a Durham woman, who said she was left “broken” and “suicidal” by their encounter. Robert Albon, who goes by the pseudonym “Joe Donor” and has appeared on This Morning and in a Channel 4 documentary, applied to have the girl live with him after a court deemed her mother was unable to look after her. It is one of four times the 54-year-old American has…
‘Tears blur my vision’: Australian writer jailed in Beijing thanks Albanese for support in emotional letter
Jailed Chinese-Australian academic Yang Hengjun has written to Anthony Albanese from his prison cell in Beijing, thanking him for repeatedly expressing Australia’s “grave concerns” about his deteriorating health to Chinese officials. Yang, who was given a suspended death sentence by a Chinese court in February 2024 after already serving five years in detention on espionage charges that he denies, told the prime minister “words are now failing me”. “Tears blur my vision,” Yang wrote on what he described as the sixth anniversary of his imprisonment. “I can only use a…