It's not just the economy, stupid. or signup to continue reading The recent growth of global "de-risking" and "de-coupling" has a moral dimension. Deglobalisation is the new black and it's accessorised with ethics.
On his trip to China, Treasurer Jim Chalmers will talk about lobster, foreign investment and critical minerals processing, but . A hot-mic recently picked up our Prime Minister's chat with an American official about the problem of Chinese influence in the Pacific. At this week's Quad meeting another one recorded President Joe Biden declaring that ".
Some have blamed the hot mics and the journalists, but they're simply revealing the tectonic plates of the new global order that are sliding into place. A by the International Monetary Fund found more than 2500 recent policies - implemented by mainly advanced economies - were geared towards resilience and national security. Free and democratic nations are nervous about the influence of less democratic and less free nations.
Australian export dependence on China has dropped from 40 per cent to 25 per cent. Global government measures that restrict trade have outnumbered those that encourage trade, by 300 per cent over the past six years. Admittedly, this recalibration is guided by the same old Machiavellian playbook that has dominated international politics for centuries.
However, geopolitical divisions are increasingly fuelled by disagreements over civilisational values, not merely economic interests. After the Berlin Wa.