UTS:ACRI/UTS Big Thinking Forum - Australia-China relations: The state of play

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UTS:ACRI/UTS Big Thinking Forum - Australia-China relations: The state of play

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Foreign interference, the suspension of a human rights partnership, effectively frozen high-level political contact – and against this backdrop, record levels of bilateral trade. 2019 was another rollercoaster year for the Australia-China relationship, full of complications and contradictions.

The Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS:ACRI) in partnership with UTS Big Thinking Forums was pleased to host a panel discussion during the Lunar New Year in which participants reflected on the impact developments in the bilateral relationship over 2019 have had in politics, business and the domestic community, and discussed the challenges that lie ahead.

Panellists included Glenda Korporaal, recent China correspondent and senior financial journalist at The Australian; Dr Geoff Raby, businessperson and former Australian Ambassador to China; and Osmond Chiu, commentator and research fellow at Per Capita.

The panel was moderated by UTS:ACRI Director Professor James Laurenceson.

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Speakers

Ms Glenda Korporaal OAM

Ms Glenda Korporaal is Associate Editor (Business) at The Australian newspaper where she has worked for more than 20 years as a business writer, columnist and correspondent. She has just returned from 18 months in Beijing as the paper’s China correspondent.

She has a long history of interest in China dating back to her first visit as a tourist in the late 1970s and many subsequent visits as a journalist including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

She has been a foreign correspondent working in London, Washington, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore and Beijing working for papers including The Australian Financial Review, Sydney Morning Herald and The Australian. She is also a former deputy editor of The Australian Financial Review, former business editor of The Bulletin magazine and a former editor of The Australian’s business magazine, The Deal.

She is the author of several books and was awarded an OAM for her services to journalism in the 2019 Australia Day Honours.

Dr Geoff Raby AO

Dr Geoff Raby is Chairman and Founder of Geoff Raby and Associates, a Beijing-based corporate advisory firm providing strategic advice and analysis on China. He is an Independent Non-executive Director of Yancoal and OceanaGold and was also on the Board of Fortescue Metals Group (2011-2017).

He was Australian Ambassador to China (2007–11), DFAT Deputy Secretary responsible for North Asia and for Trade Negotiations (2003–07), APEC Ambassador 2002-03, and Ambassador to the WTO (1998–2001). He was Head of the Trade Policy Issues Division at the OECD (1993–95) in Paris and Head of DFAT’s Trade Negotiations Division (1995–98). He founded and led DFAT’s East Asia Analytical Unit (1991–93).

He also chairs a number of not-for-profit organisations in Australia.

Mr Osmond Chiu

Mr Osmond Chiu is a Research Fellow at the Per Capita thinktank. He has worked in policy roles for over a decade and has written for Guardian Australia, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times. He is also an elected rank-and-file member of the NSW Labor State Policy Forum. He tweets @redrabbleroz.