In the latest Asialink Essay, Ross Cottrill, currently a Visiting Fellow at the Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy, ANU, unpacks, with reference to China, the latest Defence White Paper, Defending Australia in the Asia Pacific Century: Force 2030. He notes that "In the case of the messages conveyed by the latest Defence White Paper, there have...

This essay argues that in spite of the global financial crisis, Australia-China relations are too important to "leave to panicked shareholders and financial institutions".

In an integrated world economy, trade and flows of capital, labour, raw materials and technology are inter-related. Labour movements in the Asian region therefore have to be seen in the context of an integrated world economy - but one where vast differences in income, wages and human resource development provide strong incentives for workers to...