China has for many years been the world’s number one trading economy. At the same time, it undertook rapid modernization of its military. For many years defence spending rose in line with GDP growth, but more recently it has been increasing as a share of GDP. In view of China’s size and opaque political system it is not surprising that neighbours are apprehensive.   Frictions and tensions between China and neighbours in the South China Sea and with Japan and more muscular foreign policy posture under President Xi Jinping have heightened concerns about China’s strategic intentions. China’s strategic outlook and priorities, however, look very different when viewed from Beijing, than from Canberra or Washington. China is still an empire with significant unresolved territorial issues within its formal borders. It has extensive land borders to defend and a number of security challenges with North Korea and Japan. Most importantly – and unlike the US when it rose to global dominance – China for the first time in its history is utterly dependent on international markets for all its key resource and energy needs and increasingly food. For all these reasons, it is highly constrained in its ability to project and exercise power beyond its borders.

Dr Raby, the former Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade provided an interesting discussion on China’s foreign resource dependency.

Dr Raby was the Deputy Secretary in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2002 to 2006. He has held a number of senior positions in DFAT, including First Assistant Secretary, International Organisations and Legal Division (2001-2002), Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the World Trade Organisation (1998-2001), First Assistant Secretary, Trade Negotiations Division (1995-1998), and APEC Ambassador from (2002-2004).