First Short Quiz: Our Author – Kevin Rudd

[johnkarls]

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1. Was Kevin Rudd a Member of the Australian Parliament 1998-2013 representing the Labor Party? Did he become the “Shadow Foreign Minister” 2001-2006? Leader of The Opposition 2006-2007? Australian Prime Minister 2007-2010? Australian Foreign Minister 2010-2012? Australian Prime Minister again 8/4/2013-9/18/2013?

2. Since 3/20/2023, has he served as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States?

3. Did he spend part of his time out of politics 2017-2022 to earn a PhD at Britain’s Oxford University for which his thesis was entitled “China's new Marxist nationalism: defining Xi Jinping's ideological worldview"? Was this thesis the backbone of “On Xi Jinping”?

4. Was this a logical progression from his undergraduate studies at the Australian National University in Canberra, where he graduated in 1978 with First Class Honors in Chinese language and Chinese history, and became proficient in Mandarin after taking a year abroad in Taiwan? Was his thesis on Chinese-democracy activist Wei Jingsheng?

5. In 1980 did he continue his Chinese studies at the Mandarin Training Center of National Taiwan Normal University in Taipei, Taiwan?

6. Before entering politics in 1988 (yes, it took him a decade to work his way up to Member of Parliament), was he a member of the Australian Foreign Service 1981-1988 – including Second Secretary and then First Secretary in the Australian Embassy in Beijing 1984-1987?

7. But sandwiched between his leaving politics 9/18/2013 and his Oxford PhD studies beginning 2017, did he serve simultaneously as –

A. A Senior Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs?
B. A distinguished fellow at the Paulson Institute at the University of Chicago?
C. A distinguished fellow at Chatham House, London (a Think Tank aka “The Royal Institute of International Affairs”)?

8. Was Kevin Rudd also the President and CEO of the Asia Society Jan 2021 – March 2023, as well as the inaugural President of its Policy Institute Jan 2015 – March 2023? Is he still President Emeritus?

9. Is the Asia Society a worldwide powerhouse institution founded in 1956 by John D. Rockefeller III and headquartered in NYC – with major centers in the U.S. ((Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and the world (Hong Kong, Manila, Seoul, Melbourne, Sydney, Tokyo, Mumbai, Delhi, Paris and Zurich)?

10. In addition to his undergraduate and PhD theses on China, among Kevin Rudd’s published six books – were two on China?

11. Was his first book on China entitled “The Avoidable War: The Dangers of a Catastrophic Conflict between the US and Xi Jinping's China” (Public Affairs Publishing 3/22/2022)?

12. Did Everest Media publish 4/9/2022 an 85-page “Summary of Kevin Rudd’s The Avoidable War” with Amazon.com’s description (usually from a book’s dust jacket) saying –

A. China has long understood the importance of understanding America, as the Chinese Communist Party believes their survival depends on it. However, America has rarely felt the need to understand China, as their geopolitical footprint is so large.

B. China’s history is one of periodic incursions by foreign invaders. Chinese official culture has long taken pride in its ability to Sinify invaders within a generation of their arrival through the inherited norms, practices, and procedures of China’s formidable Confucian bureaucratic state.

C. The Americans were the dominant Christian presence in China after the Chinese government forced out the Europeans in the First Opium War in 1839. American missionaries led the way in the establishment of Western hospitals, colleges, and universities in China.

D. The American relationship with China changed with the American Revolution. The United States replaced Britain as China’s principal interlocutor with the West. However, American policies towards China were influenced by questions of race.

13. Re Q-12(B), have we marveled at how the American/Western view of Japan’s “Rape of China” by Imperial Japan began in July 1937 with the “Rape of Nanking"?

14. When in fact Japan’s “Rape of China” began with Imperial Japan invading and conquering Manchuria 9/18/1931 – 2/27/1932 with American historians conveniently forgetting that the Manchus had already captured and ruled China for FOUR centuries – by calling the Manchu Dynasty the Qing Dynasty?

15. Can we expect that Kevin Rudd’s second book on China (our focus book) will be similar in outlook to his “Avoidable War” (ref. Q-10)?

16. BTW, since Kevin Rudd’s 3/20/2023 appointment as Australia’s Ambassador to the United States, had Ambassador Rudd faced calls to resign after his slew of disparaging comments about President-Elect Donald Trump resurfaced?

17. Did an Australian Financial Review article on 7/2024 (https://www.afr.com/world/north-america ... 107-p5kom3) open by saying -

“Kevin Rudd has purged his social media accounts of posts disparaging Donald Trump, after the former US president’s re-election raised the prospect the Australian ambassador’s past comments could compromise his relationship with the incoming administration. Hours after Trump’s return to the White House was confirmed, Dr Rudd deleted at least two posts from his personal X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook accounts.”

18. Since they have been deleted, do you think Ambassador Rudd’s derogatory comments were the result of his life-long membership in the Australian Labor Party and his resulting confusion over the reversal of roles of the American political parties caused by President Trump – allegedly Trump representing workers and the Democrat Party now representing The Elites?

19. Or do you think his deleted derogatory comments pertained to President Trump’s approach to the PRC and its President Xi?

20. Do you think our focus book (published 10/15/2024 – 21 days before President Trump’s re-election), will contain derogatory comments that will answer Questions 16 and 17?