The debate over the renewal of a Chinese company’s lease on the port of Darwin could be a litmus test of competing approaches to China in Australia. Canberra is still looking for ideas on how allies can help each other when targeted economically by Beijing. So far, the US has offered little help on that front.

The Trump administration’s ill-advised decision to cut the number of Chinese reporters in the US gave darker elements in the Chinese system an excuse to target US reporters. Now, Australian reporters have also become pawns in a much bigger game.

Beijing failed to listen to the experts and communicate clearly with the public in the early days of the coronavirus and paid the price. As Trump contradicts expert advice and downplays infection risks, has he doomed the US to making the same mistakes?

Doctors, scientists and journalists are pushing back against Communist Party structures in a rare backlash against suppression of information.

China’s growing confidence to deploy economic sanctions against countries that refuse to toe the line is worrying many. Australia is countering this, in a limited sense, but when push comes to shove, will all the talk about getting tough on China turn out to be bluster?

The West remembers Deng Xiaoping’s trip to the US in 1979, but it was his historic visit to Japan months earlier that really opened China’s eyes to modernisation

The US’ trade war with China is also a conflict with the rest of Asia due to the nature of global supply chains. While there is a need for the US to stand against China’s trade practices, it cannot go it alone and must consider rejoining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.