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Author: Jeremy Clarke

  • INTERNATIONAL

    When is a fashion fad a nationalist signal?

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 14 February 2024

    In China, the resurgence of traditional Hanfu garb from the Han dynasty is capturing the imagination of social media users, sending a multi-layered message about Chinese identity. The trend goes beyond most online fads, subtly conveying China's desire to project  cultural and political influence. 

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  • MEDIA

    Influencing the influencers of Australian media

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 14 December 2023
    1 Comment

    Can a journalist responsibly undertake impartial reporting while receiving benefits? For an industry founded on the principle of publishing with neither fear nor favour, the acceptance of favours has possibly outweighed journalistic responsibility towards an Australian public seeking objective knowledge. 

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Until handsome becomes cool again

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 13 November 2023
    8 Comments

    In a global landscape increasingly marked by fluid alliances, Prime Minister Albanese's diplomatic foray from Washington to Beijing had the dual aim of warming frosty relations with China and reinforcing the significance of foundational ties. This is not merely diplomatic choreography; it’s a story of Australia redefining its place in a complex global narrative.

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  • MEDIA

    Australia and China through the ages

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 10 September 2020
    7 Comments

    The China story, described this week by the ABC’s Director of News Gavin Morris as ‘the story of our times’, defies simplistic renderings, however much a significant part of Australian-based commentary masquerades as such. The rapid revolutions of the modern media cycle do not permit much nuance or lengthy historically informed pieces.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    On friendship with China

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 30 April 2020
    13 Comments

    China will continue to become the dominant global player, perhaps joined by the USA if it retreats from its new isolationism. However, outbursts from President Trump, obfuscations from President Xi, threats of economic boycotts from China’s Ambassador to Australia and the recent muddied messaging from Australian political figures show that widespread uncertainty exists as to how to shape the relationship.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    We get the leadership we settle for

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 16 March 2020
    10 Comments

    Since late 2019, both President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Scott Morrison have come under fire for their shortcomings in times of national crisis. China as a hotspot of COVID-19 and Australia with the quartet of severe climate change, a lengthy drought, an horrific fire season and the inevitability of the coronavirus crashing onto our shores.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    The sacred secular in China's 'Spring travel'

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 17 January 2020

    More than three billion single trips are taken during the extended period of travel. It is to China's great credit that these journeys occur incredibly smoothly, and on the whole with a convivial spirit. There is too often a tendency to minimise any praise about China's achievements, to the anger of Chinese citizens at home and abroad.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Hong Kong Church silent as the people sing

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 04 November 2019
    12 Comments

    That the Catholic Church in Hong Kong has not only chosen to remain silent, but also enforce this silence through the banning of a song, is itself a political act. Considerations as to whether this silence is a consequence of the Vatican's recent agreement with the PRC about the appointment of bishops within China do seem to have merit.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Bob Hawke's post Tiananmen legacy

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 30 May 2019
    4 Comments

    The events of 4 June 1989 in Beijing were horrific, but then prime minister Hawke's leadership and the skills, passion and sacrifice of the generation of Chinese that stayed in Australia in Tiananmen Square's aftermath have consequently made Australia a more vibrant society.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    China discourse beyond pandas and dragons

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 22 May 2019
    2 Comments

    While Bob Carr's institute was deemed to be a panda hugger and Clive Hamilton's position on Chinese influence was considered to be dragon slaying, knowledgeable discussion is a distant third. To China-watchers, the relative lack of a sophisticated focus on Australia-China relations during the election was simply business as usual.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    China's cultural memory can't be contained

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 18 April 2019
    2 Comments

    One hundred years on, the power of symbol lurks uncomfortably. To honour these students — these young protestors in Tiananmen — rallying for their nation in 1919 cannot but bring to mind other students marching through Beijing decades later. And yet, given the historical weight of 4 May, the government must commemorate it all the same.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Winter road trip to the China-Russian border

    • Jeremy Clarke
    • 06 March 2019

    Any tourist to this spot presumably stands in awe under the character, having crossed the full delineation of Chinese territory, and then gazes out over the Heilongjiang to Russia on the other side. North: them. Here: us. Cue national pride.

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