[LINK] The Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF)

[Tom Worthington]

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