🇦🇺 hasn’t joined sanctions against 🇨🇳 companies despite their support for 🇷🇺’s war against 🇺🇦.

🇨🇳 apparently “providing 🇷🇺 w/ cruise missile + drone engines & machine tools for ballistic missiles … [&] 90% of chips imported by 🇷🇺 last year … [for] tanks, missiles & aircraft.”

Beijing to Canberra and Back (25 Mar. to 7 Apr.):
1️⃣ 🇨🇳 removes 🍷 duties + trade restrictions on 🦞 & 🥩 to go
2️⃣ 🇦🇺 likely to maintain cautious 🇨🇳 policy in 2024
3️⃣ What would 🇦🇺’s 🇨🇳 policy look like if the Coalition wins the next federal election?
beijing2canberra.substack.com/p/trade-relati…

Per Microsoft report:
'🇨🇳 is using fake social media accounts to poll voters on what divides them most to sow division & possibly influence the outcome of the 🇺🇸 presidential election in its favor. 🇨🇳 has also increased its use of AI-generated content...'
blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/…

Lots of raised glasses (though mostly of water?) as 🇦🇺 parliamentarians met 🇹🇼 Foreign Minister Joseph Wu last night.

🇦🇺, 🇬🇧 & 🇺🇸 “are considering cooperation w/ 🇯🇵 on AUKUS Pillar II.” & 🇺🇸 DepSec of State Campbell says AUKUS submarines could be deployed “in cross-strait circumstances.”

How does 🇨🇳 see all this & what does it mean for 🇦🇺-🇨🇳 ties?

BCB in Brief: beijing2canberra.substack.com/p/bcb-in-brief…

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🇦🇺 parliamentary delegation meets 🇹🇼 President Tsai Ing-wen earlier today.

Some smiling 🇦🇺 parliamentarians arriving in 🇹🇼 on a bipartisan delegation.

Meetings w/ President Tsai Ing-wen, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu & other senior 🇹🇼 gov. figures/officials are on the agenda.

🇨🇳 won't be happy, but its objections are likely to be pretty boilerplate.

🇦🇺 political divisions on sanctions against 🇨🇳 & 🇮🇱:

➡️ The Coalition & Greens want to sanction 🇨🇳 officials & entities Vs. Labor unwillingness

➡️ The Greens want to sanction the 'entire 🇮🇱 war cabinet' Vs. Labor & Coalition unwillingness/support for 🇮🇱

parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/downl…

An 🇮🇳 intelligence officer recounting apparent high-level discussions about “lessons learned” from 🇸🇦’s murder of Jamal Khashoggi:

“One senior [intelligence] officer [in PM Modi’s office] said in a meeting that if Saudis can do this, why not us?”

theguardian.com/world/2024/apr…

Even Xinhua is now promoting the prospects for 🇦🇺 wine in 🇨🇳:
english.news.cn/20240404/78c2f…

A bipartisan 🇦🇺 parliamentary delegation will head to 🇹🇼 on Sunday. The same day, 🇦🇺 will join the 🇺🇸, 🇯🇵 & 🇵🇭 for joint naval exercises in the South China Sea.

How will Beijing react & what will these developments mean for 🇦🇺-🇨🇳 relations?

BCB in Brief: beijing2canberra.substack.com/p/bcb-in-brief…

From the PJCIS Review of 🇦🇺's Foreign Influence Transparency Scheme (FITS):
'The statistics of activity under the FITS to date show that ‘…the vast majority of registrations do cover entities linked with 🇨🇳 ... with 130 registered activities currently’.'
apo.org.au/sites/default/…

'Xi Jinping’s Taiwan policy arguably exhibits a degree of impatience not seen since the later days of Jiang Zemin’s reign, or even since Mao’s last efforts to test the waters of military invasion, culminating in the 1958 Quemoy crisis.'
press-files.anu.edu.au/downloads/pres…

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🇨🇳 has removed its duties on 🇦🇺 bottled wine. What does it mean for bilateral ties & what’s coming next in the 🇦🇺-🇨🇳 relationship?

BCB in Brief: beijing2canberra.substack.com/p/bcb-in-brief…

Two Australian icons

Pacific Blue (🇦🇺-based renewable energy company owned by 🇨🇳's State Power Investment Corporation) signs a wind power MoU w/ PetroChina (one of the biggest oil & gas companies globally).

Oddly, the article frames it as being about the BRI:
seetao.com/details/232310…

From Benjamin Herscovitch 郝杰明's excellent new piece:

'Beyond direct involvement in standards-setting organisations, the expanding international presence of Chinese technology companies could also emerge as an indirect means of shaping global AI governance.
lowyinstitute.org/the-interprete…

🇦🇺 has in the last two days expressed “serious concerns” about 🇨🇳’s actions in the South China Sea & cyberspace.

The WTO also took issue with 🇦🇺’s anti-dumping measures on 🇨🇳 wind towers.

What does all this mean for 🇦🇺-🇨🇳 relations?

BCB in Brief:
beijing2canberra.substack.com/p/bcb-in-brief…