Abstract

This article examines the manner in which the People’s Republic of China seeks to obtain long-term leverage through multiple channels of influence among elites in politics, business, and society in both Australia and the United States. It does so in order to identify what outcomes China has sought to engender, how effective this has been, and how successfully the two countries in question have sought to mitigate the challenge. In doing so, its findings reflect both common and divergent strands. Australia’s concerted campaign to unmask Chinese influence has served to undermine public cohesion although it, too, continues to play a hedge-and-balance role with respect to China’s rise. In the United States, in contrast, where public discourse has been dominated by alleged Russian interference, Chinese influence has served mainly to reinforce an elite consensus about the path-dependent nature of Sino-U.S. strategic competition.

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