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CHINA PANIC

David Brophy

Australia's Alternative to Paranoia and Pandering

In 2014, Chinese president Xi Jinping said there was an ‘ocean of goodwill' between our country and his. Since then, that ocean has shown dramatic signs of freezing over. Australia is in the grip of a China panic. How did we get here, and what's the way out?

In this brilliant book, David Brophy takes apart Australia's China debate – its strange alliances and diplomatic failures. Justified criticism of China has too often given way to paranoia and exaggeration. While the xenophobic right hovers in the wings, some of the loudest voices decrying Chinese subversion come, unexpectedly, from the left. They call for new security laws, increased scrutiny of Chinese Australians and, if necessary, military force – a prescription for a sharp rightward turn in Australian politics.

In China Panic, Brophy offers a progressive alternative. Instead of punitive moves and chest-beating that will only make Australia more like China, we need solutions and strategies that strengthen Australian democracy.

David Brophy is a historian of Uyghur nationalism, and the author of Uyghur Nation and China Panic. He is a frequent commentator on the Xinjiang crisis and a senior lecturer in modern Chinese history at the University of Sydney.
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Published 2021-06-01 by La Trobe University Press

Comments

“The most stimulating book I've read on the most important question facing Australian foreign and strategic policy. Brophy is not just answering questions others have asked, he's asking new questions.” —Allan Gyngell, author of Fear of Abandonment “Anyone who wants to know how and why Australia's China narrative has descended to such a dismal point needs to read China Panic. Brophy is that rare China scholar whose moral convictions, unflinching courage and probing intellect combine to deliver a devastatingly sharp critique. China Panic embodies a virtuous circle of formidable knowledge, dispassionate reasoning and surgically precise analysis, all of which are in desperately short supply in the current China debate. China Panic brings to light a wide array of uncomfortable truths about our collective neurosis when it comes to China, and highlights the urgent need for Australians to take a long, hard look at our national consciousness and political process. A powerful antidote to Australia's growing China phobia, this book is long overdue.” —Wanning Sun, Professor of Media and Communication, UTS “In China Panic, David Brophy introduces much-needed nuance to the increasingly polarised discourse around Australia's relationship with China. He dissects the cliches and prejudices that are stifling Australia's ability to think clearly and act in a principled manner when it comes to dealing with China – revealing the flaws in the thinking of both the “China hawks” as well as elements of the left. With his detailed, knowledgeable and incisive analysis of everything from Xinjiang and Hong Kong to domestic politics, the independence of universities and the American alliance, he offers a unique and valuable perspective. China Panic is essential reading.” —Linda Jaivin, author of The Shortest History of China