Dear Readers,
It will be a consequential week in the Asia-Pacific region. Australia holds elections this weekend, and President Biden is visiting South Korea and Tokyo for the Quadrilateral Strategic Dialogue. The members of the Quad are India, Japan, the US and Australia. The meetings are sure to be seen as provocative by China; North Korea can be expected to lob a missile or two during the proceedings.
To talk about this and other timely issues, my guest for the 29th episode of the Hale Report is the Honorable Kevin Michael Rudd, the 26th prime minister of Australia. A fluent Mandarin speaker, he is in the unique position of having interacted with the leaders of both the US and China at their level, and in their language. He has a new and very timely book, The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China which he has dedicated to his grandchildren. I urge you to read it, for yours.
As an old China hand, Mr Rudd is also 老朋友 an old friend, and I think you will enjoy a personal anecdote we discuss at the beginning of the podcast. It involves an unannounced late night visit I made to The Lodge (the Australian White House) with my husband David Hale, who was a keen follower of the Australian economy. I will say no more, details to follow, as well as many quotable quotes and insights into the current state of US-China relations.
By Kevin Rudd
The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China
May 16, 2022 / South China Morning Post
China’s slowing economy ‘the biggest elephant in the room’, Kevin Rudd says
Ji Siqi
Former Australian prime minister says China is dealing with ‘self-inflicted’ problems, including ‘poor policy choices’.
May 10, 2022 / Wall Street Journal
Xi Jinping Scrambles as China’s Economy Stumbles (Podcast)
His recipe for stagnation: Hostility to the private sector, friendship with Russia, and ‘Zero Covid.’
May 5, 2022 / The Sydney Morning Herald
Kevin Rudd didn’t write his US-China book for us. That’s why you should read it
Daniel Flitton
Kevin Rudd is an optimist. Which is quite the feat for anyone writing about the downward spiral in relations between China and the United States in recent years – let alone for Rudd, the Mandarin-speaking diplomat-turned-Australian prime minister at times angrily torched by both countries.
April 6, 2022 / ABC News
'Very high' risk of US-China conflict without 'guardrails': Former Australia leader
Former prime minister of Australia Kevin Rudd discusses his new book, "The Avoidable War" on how to avoid the dangers of a catastrophic conflict between the U.S. and China.
March 18, 2022 / NBCUniversal
Former Prime Minister of Australia joins Chris Hayes to discuss China's Russia dilemma
Russia's actions “diverts American attention, it diverts the strategic focus of the United States away from the China challenge. So for those reasons, Xi has an enormous attachment to keeping Putin and Putin's Russia operational,” says Fmr. PM of Australia Kevin Rudd.
Related News
May 10, 2022/Cambridge University Press
In Government We Trust: Implicit Political Trust and Regime Support in China
Haifeng Huang, Chanita Intawan & Stephen P. Nicholson
High levels of self-reported trust in government found in China has invited skepticism about the authenticity of survey results. To address this question, we examine implicit political trust, an automatic, intuitive orientation toward government.
May 10, 2022/Yonhap News Agency
N. Korea will be at 'front and center' of Biden's trip to S. Korea, Japan: Psaki
Byun Duk-kun
Mr Rudd is now the CEO and President of the Asia Society in New York, a wonderful organization dedicated to identifying future pathways for Asia and the world which enhance peace, prosperity, freedom, equality, and sustainability. That it is a very worthy mission.
With all best wishes,
Lyric Hughes Hale
Editor-in-Chief
EconVue
Chicago
lyric@econvue.com
Twitter: @lyrichues
@HaleReport
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