Tag: Australia

What to Know About Australia’s Contest With China in the Pacific After Beijing Tested a Missile

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On the day that China announced that it had successfully fired a submarine-launched ballistic missile into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia was in Suva, the capital of Fiji. Mr. Albanese was visiting the country on Monday to sign two long-sought security agreements with Fiji’s leader, Prime Minister Sitiveni Rabuka. A week earlier, he was smiling and shaking hands with the prime minister of Vanuatu, having finalized a treaty with that island nation. The following day, he was in the Solomon Islands, standing shoulder…

China Test Fires Long-Range Ballistic Missile in the Pacific

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China test-fired a long-range ballistic missile with a dummy warhead in the Pacific Ocean on Monday, the first such launch in almost two years, prompting alarmed countries to criticize the move as destabilizing. Governments in the region were warned of the launch shortly beforehand. The overt display of China’s fast-expanding military capabilities threatens to further fan a defense buildup around the Pacific in the midst of anxieties about the strength of the U.S. commitment to the region. The missile was launched from a Chinese nuclear-powered submarine and sent a “mock…

Australia Tried to Push Back on China. China Pushed Harder.

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Since resuscitating relations with China from a low point a few years ago, the Australian government has relied on an oft-repeated mantra to “cooperate where we can, disagree where we must.” Some of those disagreements came into view this week as Chinese diplomats pushed back against an Australian intelligence assessment and Canberra’s security-deal making in the Pacific, accusing the country of stoking paranoia and unfairly targeting China. In one of the public skirmishes, China’s ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, responded to an annual threat assessment speech given by Australia’s top…

A Quiet Pacific Village Becomes China’s Security Testing Ground

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The first sign that something unusual was unfolding in the Solomon Islands was when the Chinese police showed up at Fighter One, a quiet village ringed with banana trees. The Chinese officers gathered villagers on a grassy patch and proposed a system they said would help keep them safe. They suggested that the residents fill out cards providing the names, addresses and dates of birth for each household member. They recommended collecting fingerprints and palm prints — both highly unusual and legally dubious in a country lacking laws governing personal…

Why Diesel Has Become a Much Bigger Economic Problem Than Gasoline

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The price of diesel has risen much more quickly than gasoline as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran has choked global oil supplies. That could have severe consequences for the diesel-dependent transportation industry. Since the war began on Feb. 28, the average price of a gallon of diesel has gone up about 45 percent, while a gallon of regular gasoline has risen about 35 percent. The Energy Information Administration, a federal research agency, expects average diesel prices to peak at more than $5.80 a gallon this month. Gasoline, the agency said,…

China Lifts Punishing Tariffs on Australian Wine

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In a sign of easing tensions between Australia and China, China said Thursday it will lift the tariffs it placed on Australian wine more than three years ago. The tariffs, which were first imposed in 2020 amid a nasty diplomatic spat between Australia and China, had all but vaporized the country’s biggest overseas market, worth 1.2 billion Australian dollars or around $800 million at its peak. Australian winemakers faced desperate hardship and were stuck with a surfeit of big-bodied red wines. The decision to lift the tariffs was announced by…

The Many Challenges Facing Apple

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For more than a decade, Apple could do almost no wrong. The iPhone made it the world’s most valuable company. The App Store helped launch businesses such as Uber and Airbnb. And the company’s new products made it a player in health, Hollywood and finance. Now, the difficulties are piling up. The Justice Department filed an antitrust lawsuit against Apple on Thursday for giving its own products advantages that it deprived rivals of having. The suit is the latest in a series of actions brought against the company by regulators…

Was He Secretly Working for China? This Is What He Told Us.

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Not long after we first met, the man said that if Australia was looking for Chinese spies, he was just the type of person they would be looking at — but the authorities would never “dare say I’m Chinese intelligence.” Given the anti-China fervor in Australia, he acknowledged he could come off as suspicious. So why would he not get into trouble with the authorities? He believed that it would be embarrassing for Australia to accuse of him of spying because he had been an active member of a major…

Who Australia Caught When It Went Looking for Chinese Spies

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The police officers asked the man what he meant when he said that involving an Australian government minister in a charity event could benefit “us Chinese.” Was he talking about mainland China and the Chinese Communist Party, or the local Australian Chinese community? Depending on the answer, he faced up to 10 years in prison. “You are understanding the Chinese is China. We always say, ‘I’m Chinese,’ that not mean, ‘I’m mainland China,’” said the man, Di Sanh “Sunny” Duong, who was brought in for questioning. The officer pressed on,…

Chinese-Australian Writer Yang Given Suspended Death Sentence in China

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An Australian writer and businessman who has been detained in China on national security charges since 2019 has been declared guilty and was given a death sentence with two years’ probation on Monday, according to the Australian government, in a blow to warming relations between Australia and China. If the businessman, Yang Hengjun, does not commit any crimes in those two years, the sentence can be commuted to life imprisonment, Penny Wong, the Australian foreign minister, said in a statement. She described the verdict as “harrowing.” The long detention of…