On 27/5/22 19:53, Stephen Loosley wrote:
Biden launches Indo-Pacific economic framework to counter China ... By Julian Bingley, May 23, 2022https://www.zdnet.com/article/biden-launches-indo-pacific-economic-framework-to-counter-china/
In 2005 ANU sent me to Samoa to run an Internet course for people from across the Pacific. The staff and students stayed at a hotel in a compound shared with the US Government's Peace Corps. Each morning as our mini bus left the compound, the local security guard would salute us. The only uniform they had was a peaked cap. Looking at it closely one morning I noted it was from the a Chinese Peoples Liberation Army. I don't think this was a plot by the Chinese, just something the wearer picked up second hand in the market. But it did say something about relations with the Pacific. ;-)
Pacific nations will deal with China, Australia and other countries, in the interests of the Pacific nations. If Australia wants good relations, we need to be respectful, and offer a good deal, over the long term. One way we can do that is providing education. China is gearing up to provide more. We can't blame people of the Pacific if they enroll in online Chinese courses (in English), or attend local vocational colleges and universities build by China, with Chinese linked Internet, staffed by Chinese trained teachers, if Australia doesn't offer a better option.
China's pivot to online education in English: https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2020/04/china-pivots-to-international-e.html
Here is my report from the visit: https://www.tomw.net.au/2005/emuseums/report.shtml
What I later proposed we do: https://blog.highereducationwhisperer.com/2019/01/education-for-indo-pacific-does-not.html
-- Tom Worthington, http://www.tomw.net.au _______________________________________________ Link mailing list [email protected] https://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
