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Mark Harrison

@mhar4.bsky.social

Taiwan, China, social theory, ideology, politics, foreign policy.

1,473 Followers  |  723 Following  |  582 Posts  |  Joined: 05.08.2023  |  2.145

Latest posts by mhar4.bsky.social on Bluesky

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Trump said something that alarmed analysts. It had nothing to do with Rudd There was something Donald Trump said that alarmed strategic analysts. And it had nothing to do with disliking Kevin Rudd.

Shocker from David Speers, taking Trump's comments with Albanese and spinning them into a misguided commentary on a "war over Taiwan" that has no meaningful understanding of Taiwan or its relationship to China.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...

22.10.2025 20:37 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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"β€˜Country could shut down’: Australia has just 28 days of petrol"

Racking my brains trying to think of some possible regional crisis that could disrupt Australia's oil imports.
www.afr.com/policy/forei...

15.10.2025 02:49 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1
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Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia Cultural Park, under construction for many years, vandalised with "δΈ­ε›½η»Ÿζˆ˜ιƒ¨AUS HQ".

11.10.2025 00:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1
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"...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...

01.10.2025 00:32 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
Address to UK Labour Conference Thank you all, for that very warm Labour Party welcome.Here in Liverpool we are 10,000 miles from where I joined the Labor Party.A long and winding road.But in our mighty global movement, you never walk alone.And – for balance - a shout-out to all the Everton supporters here as well.Thank you to my mate, and your leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Thank you for the great honour of inviting me to speak at your conference.And thank you for your kind introduction.

"An absolute resolve to stand together and defend democracy itself."

Australian PM Albanese on defending democracy.

A line with far-reaching implications given the active threat to one particular democracy in our region.
www.pm.gov.au/media/addres...

28.09.2025 23:31 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Antarctic and Southern Ocean security in spotlight after failed funding bid A funding bid to establish a polar security research program has been knocked back, despite the changing geopolitical dynamics in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.

"Funding deal for research program about Australia's polar security rejected by Tasmanian government."

A lot to unpack here.

28.09.2025 23:24 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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China ferry fleet built amid Taiwan invasion preparations, classified report warns A classified US intelligence report, seen by the ABC, says vessels have been modified to carry tanks and partake in amphibious operations in what Taiwan considers part of China's "expansionist intenti...

"Classified US intelligence warns of China's preparations for Taiwan invasion."

Yes.

28.09.2025 23:23 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Those were the days. A 594 page reading pack.

26.09.2025 01:38 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Call in the Hobart Mercury for "multipolarity", a codeword for great power spheres of influence and abandoning the liberal principle of universal human rights.

24.09.2025 21:50 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

New regulations on transnational education, or δΈ­ε€–εˆδ½œεŠžε­¦ Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools just released.

20.09.2025 23:44 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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SPEECH | Australian Institute of International Affairs

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...

19.09.2025 01:37 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
The politicians making their way to Beijing hoping to boost Chinese investment in Victoria | 7.30
YouTube video by ABC News In-depth The politicians making their way to Beijing hoping to boost Chinese investment in Victoria | 7.30

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...

18.09.2025 23:24 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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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"

18.09.2025 08:39 β€” πŸ‘ 13    πŸ” 5    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 1
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This is not the time to lower scrutiny of Australian unis’ deals with China | The Strategist A review of Australia’s law on sub-national foreign relations has erred in suggesting that universities should face less scrutiny over their transnational education programs. The legislative proposal ...

www.aspistrategist.org.au/this-is-not-...

17.09.2025 06:42 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

Imagine trying to teach about Taiwan at any Victorian education institution under this agreement, or being a student who identifies as Taiwanese-Australian.

16.09.2025 01:09 β€” πŸ‘ 8    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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...

"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...

16.09.2025 01:02 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 1    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

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".

15.09.2025 23:15 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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

"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...

15.09.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 5    πŸ” 2    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 1

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.

14.09.2025 23:06 β€” πŸ‘ 14    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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.

14.09.2025 00:16 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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.

14.09.2025 00:14 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0

Those figures don't include current efforts to restructure the national budget by the legislature.

13.09.2025 23:45 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Taiwan has a very small national budget compared to Australia.

13.09.2025 23:24 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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"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.

10.09.2025 00:39 β€” πŸ‘ 4    πŸ” 3    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 1
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Japan-Australia security partnership not as well-intentioned as claimed: China Daily editorial

Excellent commentary in the China Daily on the Japan–Australia 2+2 Foreign and Defence Ministerial Consultations.
www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202509/07/...

08.09.2025 06:33 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Across cultures and centuries, Aristotle and Confucius agree: virtue is good in moderation What would our philosophers and spiritual leaders have to say about β€˜virtue signalling’? They might be in agreement

Come for the pop philosophy, stay for the Wade-Giles.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

07.09.2025 23:08 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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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.

06.09.2025 23:43 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0
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Nice save.

06.09.2025 22:34 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

Did I say GDP? The point is that the fiscal structure of Taiwan is different to Australia's. That also applies to its defence. I get that you want to use "Taiwan" to make arguments about Australia's defence spending and the US alliance but Taiwan needs to be taken on its own terms.

04.09.2025 20:58 β€” πŸ‘ 0    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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a cartoon of donald duck holding a stack of money ALT: a cartoon of donald duck holding a stack of money
04.09.2025 09:51 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

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