China Panic. Australia's Alternative To Paranoia And Pandering

Cover Type: Softcover
Book Condition: Very Good
Jacket Condition: None Issued
Publisher: La Trobe University Press
Publisher Place: Australia
Publisher Year: 2021
Edition: First Edition

Description: 264 pages. Ex-Library. Book is in Very good condition throughout.

Publishers Description: A better way to think about foreign influence and the nations future When he visited Australia in 2014, Chinese president Xi Jinping said there was an ocean of goodwill between our country and his. Since then that ocean has shown dramatic signs of freezing over. Australia is in the grip of a China Panic. How did we get here and whats the way out We hear, weekly, alarming stories of Chinese influence, interference or even espionage - in politics, on campus, in the media, in community organisations and elsewhere. The United States now sees China as a strategic rival, and pressure on Australia to get tough on China will only intensify. While the xenophobic right hovers in the wings, some of the loudest voices decrying Chinese subversion come, unexpectedly, from the left. Aligning themselves with hawkish think tanks, they call for new security laws, increased scrutiny of Chinese Australians and, if necessary, military force - a prescription for a sharp rightward turn in Australian politics. In this insightful critique, David Brophy offers a progressive alternative. Instead of punitive measures that restrict rights and stoke suspicion of minorities - moves that would only make Australia more like China - we need democratic solutions that strengthen Australian institutions and embrace, not alienate, Chinese Australians. Above all, we need forms of international solidarity that dont reduce human rights to a mere bargaining chip. China Panic is essential reading. -Linda Jaivin, author of The Shortest History of China

ISBN: 9781760642501