2 results
14 - Australia and China
- from Part 2 - Australia and the Regions
- Edited by Australian Institute of International Affairs, P. J. Boyce, University of Western Australia, Perth, J. R. Angel, University of Sydney
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- Book:
- Australia in World Affairs 1981–1990
- Published online:
- 29 March 2024, pp 277-299
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Summary
Until the tragic events of 4 June 1989 in Beijing, the 1980s saw a substantial broadening and strengthening of Sino–Australian relations, building on the foundations that had been laid in the previous decade and responding to the economic changes taking place in both countries. It was a good working relationship which enjoyed bipartisan support in Australia. While its emphasis was on commercial and economic interests, it was diverse, multifaceted and broadly-based within a cooperative framework, the result of sustained efforts and single-mindedness on the part of successive Australian governments. These efforts, begun by the Whitlam administration in the 1970s, were made on the ground that building productive links with a developing socialist country like China required official initiatives, professionalism and a whole range of skills. Traditionally Australia relied on largely non-official entities to establish and foster its external relations in the economic, commercial and cultural spheres. In the case of China, it was considered necessary to engage Beijing at the official level and to develop strategies with the expectation that this would facilitate non-official contacts.
Foreword
- Yi Guo
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- Book:
- Freedom of the Press in China
- Published by:
- Amsterdam University Press
- Published online:
- 20 November 2020
- Print publication:
- 15 October 2020, pp 11-14
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Summary
I had the pleasure of meeting Yi Guo early in 2017 when he was completing his doctoral thesis at Macquarie University, Australia. I took an instant interest in his research which I found so interesting and significant. I was keen to learn about the state of press freedom in China today and in the recent past. It is widely assumed in the West that press freedom – which is inextricably related to freedom of speech, liberty, democracy, and human rights – has hardly existed in China and that the concept of press freedom has eluded the understanding of the Chinese. Many would also say that Chinese political culture underpinned by Chinese traditions, culture, and society is to blame. It is tempting to think that it is as simple as that. But in fact, the subject is more complicated than that, and the notion of press freedom, as the Chinese have understood it in recent times, needs to be explicated with sophistication and nuances.
Guo, one of the foremost representatives of a new generation of Chinese media and historical studies scholars who understands China from the inside while at the same time firmly grounded in the social science theories of Western academia, is eminently suited to tackle this important subject. Rather than arguing that press freedom as the West understands it was existent or non-existent in modern China, the book instead focuses on the changing Chinese conceptions of press freedom, exploring the basic question: how did educated Chinese, and sometimes the common people, understand it at different historical junctures and over time? To answer this question, the book departs from previous works, mainly historical, which focused on the authoritarianism of Chinese rule on the one hand and the ‘democratic struggle’ for freedom, democracy, and human rights on the other. Guo employs a conceptual-historical methodology derived from his media and communication studies training and informed by his broad knowledge of Chinese history, culture, and society to argue that the Chinese notion of press freedom has not been static over the past hundred years. Rather, it has varied over time and space under variable circumstances and in the context of social changes taking place at different historical junctures.