Does China Play By Our Rules And How Much Does It Matter

24 August 2009

Professor Hugh White, Adjunct Professor Peter Bailey, Dr Jane Golley and Professor Geremie Barmé

The arrest of Rio Tinto executive Stern Hu, and more recently China's cancellation of a ministerial visit over Canberra's decision to grant a visa to Uighur figurehead Rebiya Kadeer has put Australia-China relations sharply in focus. Relations between these key trading partners appears rocky at a time many would have envisioned ties to be getting warmer. China's behaviour has prompted many to look at China's internal politics and rule of law, as well as the price paid for dealing with China and the implications of China's seemingly inevitable rise. Is Stern Hu a pawn in an as yet unclear larger political game? What rules are a giant like China playing by? How will these affect an inextricably linked Australia?

Broad Topics: Asia and the Pacific

Sub-topics: International Business, International Law, Policy & Political Science, Society & Culture

Areas: ANU College of Asia and the Pacific, ANU College of Law

Hugh White is Professor of Strategic Studies and Head of the Strategic and Defence Studies Centre at The Australian National University. He is also a Visiting Fellow at the Lowy Institute for International Policy. His work focuses primarily on Australian strategic and defence policy, Asia-Pacific security issues, and global strategic affairs especially as they influence Australia and the Asia-Pacific.

Peter Bailey, is a former Rhodes Scholar from Victoria. Since 1999 he has been an Adjunct Professor in the ANU College of Law, after being a Visiting Fellow from 1987 to 1998. His main research interests are in human rights law and in public law generally, particularly in the area of the law relating to government and its instrumentalities.

Dr Jane Golley is a senior lecturer in the China Economics and Business Program at the Crawford School of Economics and Government. Her research areas are Chinese regional development, industrial agglomeration and regional policy; Chinese economic growth, demographic change and the real exchange rate, Chinese household energy consumption and CO2 emissions, cross-country studies of trade openness, institutions and growth.

Geremie R. Barmé is FAHA Professor in the Division of Pacific and Asian History. His research interests are 20th century Chinese intellectual and cultural history; contemporary Chinese cultural and intellectual debates; modern historiography; Ming-Qing literature and aesthetics; Cultural Revolution history (1950s-70s) and Beijing, its history and reconstruction.