Mark Harrison
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mhar4.bsky.social
Mark Harrison
@mhar4.bsky.social
Taiwan, China, social theory, ideology, politics, foreign policy.
"To assure peace and prosperity, secessionists would be crushed, state media declared brightly. It’s obvious – Beijing just doesn’t get it.

Yes, it is. And Beijing is holding the whole world hostage with its Taiwan delusion.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
China is bearing down on Taiwan – enabled by Trump’s weakness and vacillation | Simon Tisdall
The US hasn’t just left Ukraine vulnerable; it is also provoking Xi’s intensifying attitude towards what he considers a renegade province, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall
www.theguardian.com
November 30, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Generous account of our new @aspi-org.bsky.social @defenceaustralia.bsky.social report "Australian Public and Institutional Responses to Taiwan Strait Crises" from Paul Monk in The Australian, with important insights into facing realities of Beijing's threats against the Taiwanese.
November 29, 2025 at 8:49 AM
Dreadful and irresponsible from @mattbevan.bsky.social's ABC "If You're Listening" series, on China and Taiwan, blithely and glibly imagining that Taiwan has no history before 1949, so believing that China and Taiwan corresponds to the CCP and the KMT and so getting it all wrong.
November 28, 2025 at 3:02 AM
"But Taiwan is a legacy from the Chinese civil war, a final bastion of the Nationalists that lost the mainland to the communists."

Please, @jamesoaten.bsky.social, Taiwan was a Japanese colonial territory from 1895, the end of the Qing, to 1945.

www.abc.net.au/news/2025-11...
Japan's PM said the quiet part out loud and unleashed Beijing's fury
China was already wary about Japan's new Prime Minister, Sanae Takaichi, a renowned Beijing hawk, before she weighed in on one of its most sensitive issues: Taiwan. Now it's unleashing economic pain.
www.abc.net.au
November 21, 2025 at 4:55 AM
Good explainer on a "crisis" in China-Japan relations that has had bizarrely little coverage in Australia.

"Crisis" in quotes because obviously Beijing is using the Japanese PM's remarks as a pretext to test her government early in its term.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China and Japan are in a war of words over Taiwan – what happens next?
Japan’s hawkish new PM has angered Beijing after suggesting her country could become involved in a military conflict between China and Taiwan
www.theguardian.com
November 17, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Nothing here that surprises anyone who has followed transnational education with the PRC, but highlights that whatever of the overheated hopes or claims by foreign universities, these partnerships are always just relationships with the state.
www.thetimes.com/uk/scotland/...
Inside Scotland’s China campuses: military drills and propaganda
Joint ventures between Scottish and Chinese universities have proved lucrative — but controversial, prompting concerns about the involvement of the authoritarian state
www.thetimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 9:25 PM
Interview with the incomparable Leona Chen, eloquent on the work of living, representing and making Taiwanese identity and politics across generations and geographies.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=v15T...
How TaiwaneseAmerican.org Chronicles Evolving Taiwan Identity|Zoom In Zoom Out
YouTube video by TaiwanPlus News
www.youtube.com
November 16, 2025 at 3:20 AM
Honda's reusable rocket prototype.
November 14, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Important piece from @heldavidson.bsky.social tracking a shift from Beijing's military warfare to political warfare against Taiwan, as military activity in the Taiwan Strait hit their current threat salience limit just short of a kinetic event.

www.theguardian.com/world/2025/n...
China sharpens its language on Taiwan as part of ‘longer-term’ strategy
A series of statements, articles, photos and even a new national holiday indicate a shift in Beijing’s stance over the island, analysts say
www.theguardian.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:03 AM
Important and shocking report from Amy Hawkins in @theguardian.com

Furthermore, foreign universities, including in Australia, have partnerships with inland PRC universities directly involved in the central government campaign against Uyghurs since 2017.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...
UK university halted human rights research after pressure from China
Exclusive: Leading professor at Sheffield Hallam was told to cease research on supply chains and forced labour in China after demands from authorities
www.theguardian.com
November 3, 2025 at 6:06 AM
"Our Al turned your paper into a shareable comic."

Oh ... no.
November 1, 2025 at 2:58 AM
Comments by me on the research report "Australian public and institutional responses to Taiwan Strait crises", on better coordination between the Commonwealth and state govts. and industry, and listening to the Taiwanese-Australian community.
www.canberratimes.com.au/story/910142...
Taiwan crisis could happen without Australia noticing
Australia is not well equipped at any level of government or industry to identify and respond to increasing...
www.canberratimes.com.au
November 1, 2025 at 2:50 AM
Reposted by Mark Harrison
🚨 NEW REPORT 🚨

In ‘Australian public and institutional responses to Taiwan Strait crises’, Mark Harrison, Mei-fen Kuo, John Fitzgerald, Nathan Attrill & Marc Ablong PSM provide vital insights into how Australians understand & are likely to respond to crises in the Taiwan Strait.

🔖 : bit.ly/43BHggS
October 30, 2025 at 10:30 PM
Good from @gideonrachman.bsky.social, getting a proper read on what an invasion of Taiwan by China actually means regardless of the US position and placing agency where it belongs, with Xi Jinping.

In truth, the crisis would never end, as Japan learned in 1930.
www.ft.com/content/f2de...
Trump, Xi and the danger for Taiwan
The US president has unnerved Taiwan. But the island can still resist Beijing
www.ft.com
October 27, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Reposted by Mark Harrison
When pundits discuss Taiwan’s fate without recognizing its people’s voice, they are not describing geopolitics — they are performing it. The language of “strategic calculation” becomes a tool of erasure.
October 26, 2025 at 1:41 AM
The self-ascribed progressive alternative to ABC's The Insiders, #SundayShot, @instanterudite.bsky.social and Bruce Wolpe with dreadful comments about Taiwan, bizarrely claiming the US could cede Taiwan to China as if it is it US territory, erasing 23m people with their own story.
October 26, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Shocker from David Speers, taking Trump's comments with Albanese and spinning them into a misguided commentary on a "war over Taiwan" that has no meaningful understanding of Taiwan or its relationship to China.
www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10...
Trump said something that alarmed analysts. It had nothing to do with Rudd
There was something Donald Trump said that alarmed strategic analysts. And it had nothing to do with disliking Kevin Rudd.
www.abc.net.au
October 22, 2025 at 8:37 PM
"‘Country could shut down’: Australia has just 28 days of petrol"

Racking my brains trying to think of some possible regional crisis that could disrupt Australia's oil imports.
www.afr.com/policy/forei...
October 15, 2025 at 2:49 AM
Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia Cultural Park, under construction for many years, vandalised with "中国统战部AUS HQ".
October 11, 2025 at 12:08 AM
"...on the other is the Kuomintang (KMT) party, which has always been friendlier with China, and encouraged more dialogue."

Has it, though?
www.bbc.com/news/article...
October 1, 2025 at 12:33 AM
"An absolute resolve to stand together and defend democracy itself."

Australian PM Albanese on defending democracy.

A line with far-reaching implications given the active threat to one particular democracy in our region.
www.pm.gov.au/media/addres...
Address to UK Labour Conference
Thank you all, for that very warm Labour Party welcome.Here in Liverpool we are 10,000 miles from where I joined the Labor Party.A long and winding road.But in our mighty global movement, you never walk alone.And – for balance - a shout-out to all the Everton supporters here as well.Thank you to my mate, and your leader, Prime Minister Keir Starmer.Thank you for the great honour of inviting me to speak at your conference.And thank you for your kind introduction.
www.pm.gov.au
September 28, 2025 at 11:31 PM
"Funding deal for research program about Australia's polar security rejected by Tasmanian government."

A lot to unpack here.
Antarctic and Southern Ocean security in spotlight after failed funding bid
A funding bid to establish a polar security research program has been knocked back, despite the changing geopolitical dynamics in Antarctica and the Southern Ocean.
www.abc.net.au
September 28, 2025 at 11:24 PM
"Classified US intelligence warns of China's preparations for Taiwan invasion."

Yes.
China ferry fleet built amid Taiwan invasion preparations, classified report warns
A classified US intelligence report, seen by the ABC, says vessels have been modified to carry tanks and partake in amphibious operations in what Taiwan considers part of China's "expansionist intenti...
www.abc.net.au
September 28, 2025 at 11:23 PM
Those were the days. A 594 page reading pack.
September 26, 2025 at 1:38 AM