Chinese Nationalism and the “Gray Zone”: Case Analyses of Public Opinion and PRC Maritime Policy

This volume examines the role of popular nationalism in China’s maritime conduct. Analysis of nine case studies of assertive but ostensibly nonmilitary actions by which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has advanced its position in the South and East China Seas in recent years reveals little compelling evidence of popular sentiment driving decision-making. While some regard for public opinion demonstrably shapes Beijing’s propaganda strategies on maritime issues, and sometimes its diplomatic practices as well, the imperative for Chinese leaders to satisfy popular nationalism is at most a contributing factor to policy choices they undertake largely on the basis of other considerations of power and interest. Where surges of popular nationalism have been evident, they have tended to follow after the PRC maritime actions in question, suggesting instead that Chinese authorities channeled public opinion to support existing policy.https://digital-commons.usnwc.edu/cmsi-red-books/1015/thumbnail.jp

The Geotechnical Imaginary of the Belt and Road: Mobilising Imaginative Labour

What is the Belt and Road? Academics, pundits and policymakers have offered divergent answers ranging from a grand geostrategic gambit to an incoherent frenzy of sub-state commercial opportunism, from an inward-looking hinterland development strategy to the building of a global "community of common destiny for mankind", and from an overflow of industry to a vacuous propaganda slogan. While there is evidence to support each of these arguments, this long and growing list lacks an integrative framework that could shed light on the relationships among the individual phenomena. This article offers a step in this direction, drawing from science and technology studies. It contends that these disparate perspectives on the BRI can be integrated into an understanding of the BRI as a geotechnical imaginary - a collectively imagined form of global life and order reflected in the design and performance of specific technological projects. This perspective foregrounds how China's party-state's capacious BRI slogan has mobilised imaginings - both affirmatory and oppositional - on a global scale. These shared imaginings, with divergent normative implications, suggest a broadening of the existing concept of sociotechnical imaginaries

Organogermanium chemistry: germacyclobutanes and digermane additions to acetylenes

This dissertation comprises two main research projects. The first project, presented in Chapter 1, involves the synthesis and thermochemistry of germacyclobutanes (germetanes). Four new germetanes (spirodigermetane, diallylgermetane, dichlorogermetane, and germacyclobutane) have been synthesized using a modified di-Grignard synthesis. Diallylgermetane is shown to be a useful starting material for obtaining other germetanes, particularly the parent germetane, germacyclobutane. The gas-phase thermochemistries of spirodigermetane, diallylgermetane and germacyclobutane have been explored via pulsed stirred-flow reactor (SFR) studies, showing remarkable differences in decomposition, depending on the substitution at the germanium atom.;The second project investigates the thermochemical, photochemical, and catalytic additions of several digermanes to acetylenes. The first examples of thermo- and photochemical additions of Ge-Ge bonds to C≡C are demonstrated. Mechanistic investigations are described and comparisons are made to analogous disilane addition reactions, previously studied in our group

Bar Beach (Beyond the Sea)

Two Australians have teamed up to produce the installation, Bar Beach (Beyond the Sea). Photo-based artist Allan Chawner collaborates with composer Andrew Chubb on this 3-channel video projection with original music. A sequence of still views, looking out over Bar Beach in the artists’ hometown of Newcastle, Australia, fades from one image to another in a 20-minute meditation on time, change and memory

Vice-Chancellors should welcome staff participation in the governance of their university’s international partnerships

Universities and higher education institutions in the UK have a more international profile than at any prior point in their existence. As a consequence, they face entanglement in geopolitical issues. In this post, Andreas Fulda, John Heathershaw and Andrew Chubb argue for the increased involvement of academic staff in decision making surrounding internationalisation and for the greater use of academic expertise in guiding university policies in this area

Taiwan Strait Crises:Island Seizure Contingencies

Conflict across the Taiwan Strait could disrupt East Asia’s extensive trade links, sever global production chains, generate serious shocks to regional economies, upend Asia’s security architecture, and, potentially, escalate into a catastrophic superpower war. Many regional states — including U.S. allies — are beginning to seriously consider how they would respond to a potential use of force by the People’s Republic of China (PRC). But analytic attention has focused overwhelmingly on the worst-case scenario of a PRC invasion, largely ignoring more likely contingencies calculated to stay below the threshold of lethal force. It is in this “gray zone” that the PRC has made strategic advances in the East and South China Seas in recent years. This paper argues that, compared with an invasion or blockade of Taiwan’s main island, an operation to capture one or more offshore islands currently controlled by the Republic of China (ROC or Taiwan) would offer Beijing considerable advantages. In an immediate tactical sense, it would offer Beijing greater flexibility and escalation control, lower risk of civilian casualties, and less likelihood of sparking a strong Taiwanese response or U.S. intervention. Strategically, such an operation could open up an array of options for further probes, faits accomplis, information gathering, and coercive pressure on ROC forces—and, in the case of the Penghu (Pescadores) Islands, substantial opportunities for enhanced surveillance, reconnaissance, and logistical support for a future invasion of the main island. Domestically, in contrast with a bloody and potentially catastrophic all-out invasion or a blockade that would risk conflict with the United States, outlying island seizure could offer Beijing a low-risk yet highly symbolic rallying point in a period of likely economic struggles and rising social dissatisfaction. Policymakers and strategists on all sides of politics in Taiwan, the United States and elsewhere need to carefully consider how they would respond to such contingencies, in order to enable an effective international response

The securitization of 'Chinese influence' in Australia

This article traces the emergence of ‘Chinese influence’ as a conceptual touchstone of Australia’s public policy discourse in 2017-2018. The People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) efforts to influence politics abroad have been well documented since the 2000s, and cannot explain the timing of their securitization from mid-2017. It took the formation of a coalition of intelligence officials, politicians and journalists to overcome significant economic and societal disincentives to the public presentation of the PRC as a source of existential danger to Australia's political system. As the coalition expanded from security agencies to politicians, and then the media, the scope of threat expanded from an initial concern with PRC state intelligence activity to securitization of a much wider array of state and non-state activities under the ambiguous label ‘Chinese influence.

Rights Protection:How the UK Should Respond to the PRC's Overseas Influence

The extraordinary MI5 interference alert issued in January 2022 over lawyer Christine Lee’s parliamentary lobbying and donations showed Britain’s security services are paying close attention to the political activities of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in the UK. However, while such issues are rightly matters of concern, evidence of actual PRC influence on UK national security and foreign policy remains limited, compared with its demonstrable and direct impact on human rights and civil liberties of diaspora communities in the UK, and on academic freedom in higher education. Yet, few tangible policies have so far been proposed or implemented to address these effects. Today, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) can surveil, harass and threaten Chinese critics and exiled diaspora communities in the UK, shape the Chinese-language information environment and induce self-censorship from local organisations. Policymakers in Westminster must address these impacts by applying a rights protection approach. Meanwhile, UK universities have built a range of partnerships with PRC institutions – often beneficial – and competed for market share in overseas education. However, they have not put in place adequate measures to protect academic freedom and ensure all members of their community can experience a campus environment free from political constraints. Upholding the principle of academic freedom requires higher education institutions to address this, rather than waiting for heavy-handed government intervention. Addressing the PRC’s overseas impact is an opportunity to fundamentally strengthen the UK’s institutions. But policy responses must start from a recognition of the differences between issues of national security, human rights and academic freedom, in order to avoid doing further harm to liberal democracy. Although widely cited as an example to follow, Australia’s response illustrates many of the downsides of applying a singular national security lens to such issues: overbroad legislation; neglect of key rights protection issues; and alarmist discourse that fans anti-Chinese sentiments in the community. This paper lays out a series of measures that government and universities should take to address the PRC’s impact in a manner that avoids these pitfalls and reinforces core liberal democratic principles

Chinese Nationalism and the “Gray Zone”:Case Analyses of Public Opinion and PRC Maritime Policy

This volume examines the role of popular nationalism in China’s maritime conduct. Analysis of nine case studies of assertive but ostensibly nonmilitary actions by which the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has advanced its position in the South and East China Seas in recent years reveals little compelling evidence of popular sentiment driving decision-making. While some regard for public opinion demonstrably shapes Beijing’s propaganda strategies on maritime issues, and sometimes its diplomatic practices as well, the imperative for Chinese leaders to satisfy popular nationalism is at most a contributing factor to policy choices they undertake largely on the basis of other considerations of power and interest. Where surges of popular nationalism have been evident, they have tended to follow after the PRC maritime actions in question, suggesting instead that Chinese authorities channeled public opinion to support existing policy