Mark Harrison
@mhar4.bsky.social
1.5K followers 720 following 580 posts
Taiwan, China, social theory, ideology, politics, foreign policy.
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mhar4.bsky.social
"...on the other is the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which has always been friendlier with China, and encouraged more dialogue."

Has it, though?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
mhar4.bsky.social
Those were the days. A 594 page reading pack.
mhar4.bsky.social
Call in the Hobart Mercury for "multipolarity", a codeword for great power spheres of influence and abandoning the liberal principle of universal human rights.
mhar4.bsky.social
New regulations on transnational education, or 中外合作办学 Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools just released.
mhar4.bsky.social
Important speech by University of Canberra VC Bill Shorten, with much to commend it, but still treating academic knowledge as a resource to be extracted, not a field to be tended.
www.canberra.edu.au/about-uc/med...
SPEECH | Australian Institute of International Affairs
www.canberra.edu.au
mhar4.bsky.social
ABC report on the Victorian state government delegation in China, with important comments from John Fitzgerald and the revelation that the Victoria-China MOU on public education cooperation is "confidential".
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzXb...
The politicians making their way to Beijing hoping to boost Chinese investment in Victoria | 7.30
YouTube video by ABC News In-depth
www.youtube.com
mhar4.bsky.social
Tell me you don't understand Taiwan without telling me you don't understand Taiwan.

"German reunification could offer lessons for Beijing on Taiwan: government adviser"
mhar4.bsky.social
Imagine trying to teach about Taiwan at any Victorian education institution under this agreement, or being a student who identifies as Taiwanese-Australian.
mhar4.bsky.social
"The landmark Memorandum of Understanding between Victoria and China’s Ministry of Education will establish the Working Group, driving educational cooperation from the primary to the tertiary level."

This is an abrogation of Australia's national sovereignty.
www.premier.vic.gov.au/historic-agr...
Historic Agreement Signed To Partner On Education
The Allan Labor Government top three priorities in China are education, education and education.Today in Beijing, the Premier met His Excellency Huai Jinpeng, China’s Minister for Education, to formal...
www.premier.vic.gov.au
mhar4.bsky.social
"The landmark Memorandum of Understanding between Victoria and China’s Ministry of Education will establish the Working Group, driving educational cooperation from the primary to the tertiary level."

This is an abrogation of Australia's national sovereignty.
www.premier.vic.gov.au/historic-agr...
Historic Agreement Signed To Partner On Education
The Allan Labor Government top three priorities in China are education, education and education.Today in Beijing, the Premier met His Excellency Huai Jinpeng, China’s Minister for Education, to formal...
www.premier.vic.gov.au
mhar4.bsky.social
More troubling is how the policy statement actively conflates the People's Republic of China with the diverse communities in Victoria that can be ascribed the label "Chinese".
mhar4.bsky.social
"Victoria’s China Strategy: For a New Golden Era"

Released coincident with dire economic data for China, a new "China strategy" for the Victorian state government that, typically for these sorts of documents, has little to say about China itself.
www.vic.gov.au/victorias-ch...
Victoria’s China Strategy: For a New Golden Era
The Victorian Government’s strategy to guide our engagement with China over the next five years
www.vic.gov.au
mhar4.bsky.social
"Victoria’s China Strategy: For a New Golden Era"

Released coincident with dire economic data for China, a new "China strategy" for the Victorian state government that, typically for these sorts of documents, has little to say about China itself.
www.vic.gov.au/victorias-ch...
Victoria’s China Strategy: For a New Golden Era
The Victorian Government’s strategy to guide our engagement with China over the next five years
www.vic.gov.au
mhar4.bsky.social
With a combination of malice and ignorance, it looks like ICE managed to activate decades of trauma in South Korea from its history of authoritarian violence.
sharonk.bsky.social
i think people should learn Korean just to realize how fucking angry they are
karnesmellagio.bsky.social
The Korean media both left and right are in an Anti American frenzy lmao
mhar4.bsky.social
but Taiwanese defence spending and whole of nation preparedness for conflict is on a whole other level to Australia and misreading it to make a political point about the US-Australia alliance is misguided.
mhar4.bsky.social
Maybe check the legislative proposals, but even 18% is still 3x what Australia spends of its national budget on defence.

@johnquiggin.bsky.social is arguing that if the Taiwanese are sanguine about their defence needs then so should Australia be, and only US pressure would make us otherwise.
mhar4.bsky.social
Those figures don't include current efforts to restructure the national budget by the legislature.
mhar4.bsky.social
Taiwan has a very small national budget compared to Australia.
mhar4.bsky.social
"Representation of the CCP's Concept of the United Front as Part of the the Theory of Contradictions."

This from Lyman P. Van Slyke in 1967 still lands.
mhar4.bsky.social
Extreme example of cognitive dissonance on ABC Insiders, from Raf Epstein and AshleighRaper, vehemently asserting it is unacceptable to be seen with Putin and Kim, et al, but explicitly excluding Xi Jinping himself - who hosted them - from that judgement.