NEWS WRAP

Coalition-building met with blackmail allegations

• A wall of friendship | US-China tensions escalated on Monday, when China’s Foreign Ministry accused the United States of attempting to ‘blackmail’ China. The accusation comes in response to the United States’ recent coalition-building visit to Asian allies, which China purports was an ‘anti-China’ coalition-building mission. US Indo-Pacific Coordinator Kurt Campbell explicitly stated the United States is not prepared to improve its bilateral relationship with China while Australia is subject to Chinese ‘economic coercion.’ READ MORE HERE
   

• Is "nuclear winter" coming? | As Democrats become more vocally opposed to the Senate filibuster rules, Mitch McConnell warned if the filibuster is abolished, the Democrats will “turn the Senate into a sort of nuclear winter.” This week, McConnell vowed to protect the filibuster with every procedural manoeuvre available stating, "I think if they destroy the essence of the Senate, the legislative filibuster, they will find a Senate that will not function." READ MORE HERE
   

• Demands for gun reform | Following recent deadly shootings in Boulder, Colorado and Atlanta, Georgia, Democrats have once again called for nationwide gun reform. President Biden urged the House and Senate to "save lives in the future" by passing two bills which would expand current policies on background checks and close loophole gun sales. The president is also arguing strongly for a ban on assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. READ MORE HERE
   

• Don't feel like dancing | While the United States seeks to firm up its friendships across the Indo-Pacific, Chinese and Russian officials met on Tuesday to criticise the United States for forcing the world to "dance to its rhythm." The Chinese and Russian foreign ministers issued a joint statement criticising the United States and the two nations agreed to deepen cooperation to break free from US control over international rule-making and outdated Cold War tactics. READ MORE HERE

VIRTUAL EVENT

US Politics and Policy Series

featuring special guest Elise Hu, host of TED Talks Daily

The United States Studies Centre and Perth USAsia Centre host a monthly web series reviewing the latest in US politics and policy and what it means for Australia.

This month hosts Simon Jackman and Gordon Flake will be joined by Elise Hu, the host of TED Talks Daily, a correspondent for VICE News Tonight and a host-at large at NPR, where she spent nearly a decade as a reporter. She has reported stories from more than a dozen countries as an international correspondent, and opened NPR’s first-ever Seoul bureau, in 2015. She is based in Los Angeles.

WHEN:
Wednesday 7 May,1pm AEDT (Sydney)
Wednesday, 7 May, 11am AWST (Perth)

COST:
Free but registration is essential.

You can also subscribe to have event invitations and reminders sent straight to your inbox, so you never have to miss an event!

ANALYSIS

Can Biden succeed on guns where Obama failed? He must try

Bruce Wolpe
Non-Resident Senior Fellow

President Joe Biden is going to try to do what Barack Obama could not – finally pass effective gun control in America. When 10 people were killed in Boulder, Colorado, this week, flags were already flying at half-staff across the country in memory of the eight murdered in Atlanta last week, most of them Asian Americans.

Now, from the White House, Biden has urged Congress to try once again what Obama could not accomplish. He is calling for legislation requiring background checks on all gun sales and banning assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. “This should not be a partisan issue,” he said.

But it has been in Washington. In this moment of national mourning, the National Rifle Association base is deeply dug in. Over the past decade, even after the slaughter of school children in Connecticut, and teenagers in Florida, after marches and candle vigils by millions across the country, there has been no breakthrough in Congress. Although a clear majority of Americans want action, the best efforts in recent years in the Senate have never reached more than 54 votes – six short of the supermajority required to pass controversial legislation.

This is an excerpt from Bruce Wolpe's latest in The Age. 
Click below to read the full article.

BY THE NUMBERS

Not in my family: Political polarisation

A relatively novel development in American public opinion is “negative partisanship,” reporting negative evaluations of supporters of a different political party.

As part of our State of the United States (SOTUS) polling, we assessed measures of negative partisanship in the United States and Australia, asking respondents whether they would be "happy, unhappy, or if it wouldn't matter" if an immediate family member said they intended to marry someone who is a Democrat or Republican, or in the Australian context, a Labor supporter or Coalition supporter.

Forty-four per cent of Trump voters would be unhappy if a family member married a Democrat. In contrast, 52 per cent of Biden voters would be unhappy if their family member married a Republican. In Australia, just 17 per cent of Coalition voters said they would be unhappy if an immediate family member intended to marry a Labor supporter; conversely, 28 per cent of Labor supporters and 32 per cent of Greens supporters said they would be unhappy if an immediate family member intended to marry a Coalition supporter.

For more polling insights from the United States and Australia like this one, head to our newly released flagship publication, State of the United States: An evolving alliance agenda.

VIDEO

Empowering American allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific

Did you miss our event featuring Abraham Denmark and Ambassador Jane Hardy on empowering American allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific? The webinar, hosted by the USSC's Director of Foreign Policy and Defence Ashley Townshend, is available for replay on our YouTube channel. Watch the full event HERE.

Catch this and other recent webinars on the USSC YouTube channel!

THE WEEK IN TWEETS

#InMourning