Between the Eagle and the Dragon: Economics and Security in Australia in the new millennium

Australia is a classic “resource rich state,” deeply dependent upon a hegemon (the American Eagle) for its national security, with whom it also shares cultural and political values, but very economically dependent upon a rising challenger (the Chinese Dragon), with whom it has moral problems and security concerns. This triangular structure leaves Australia buffeted by Sino-US tensions. But, does Australia’s ties with one pole (U.S. or China) affect its ties with the other? Does Australia’s deep economic dependence on China affect how Australians view their security alliance with the U.S.?  And does this security alliance with the US influence the nature of Australia's ties to China? Therefore, will Australia be able to keep its balance in this difficult tradeoff?

 

David Zweig is Chair Professor and Director, Center on Environment, Energy and Resource Policy (www.cctr.ust.hk), HKUST. He is Associate Director, South China International Talent Institute, Guangzhou and a Senior Research Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, Vancouver. In June 2012, he gave former head of the Organization Department, Li Yuanchao, a policy presentation on the CCP’s 1000 Talent Plan.

 

He was a Canadian exchange student in Beijing, 1974-76, a Visiting Scholar at Nanjing University in 1980-81, 1986 and 1991-92, and has lived in Hong Kong since 1996. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University and his 1983 Ph.D. is in Political Science from The University of Michigan.

 

He is the author of four books, including Internationalizing China: domestic interests and global linkages, which will be out in Chinese in late 2013. He is writing a book on Mainlanders who studied overseas and editing a book on US-China resource competition, forthcoming from Routledge in 2014.

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