Toward Decline
Wolf Warriors in Sheep’s Clothing: China’s New Subnational Diplomacy in Australia - The Diplomat – Asia-Pacific Current Affairs Magazine
Why it matters
China's pivot to subnational diplomacy—leveraging local councils, regional governments, and grassroots networks rather than traditional state-to-state channels—represents a strategic shift to circumvent Australia's national-level pushback and deepen political/economic penetration below the federal threshold. This erodes Australia's ability to maintain unified decoupling policy and fractures alliance cohesion by enabling Beijing to cultivate sympathetic sub-state actors who may resist federal strategic posture.
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