澳大利亚国立大学（ANU）的中国研究系处于混乱状态，亟需整顿。一份外部审查披露，前总理陆克文（Kevin Rudd） 在位时拨款5300万澳元建立的“中华全球研究中心”（Australian Centre on China in the World，简称CIW），如今面临900万澳元的赤字，已经接近破产。
《澳大利亚人报》获得的这份评审报告由澳大利亚外国事务和贸易部（DFAT）的高级官员以及来自哈佛大学、牛津大学和新加坡国立大学的教授编写。 报告就该机构面临的“可怕”境况提出了警告和担忧，特别是在中国政府对澳大利亚影响力日益增加的情况下。
“中国正在越来越多地寻求影响澳大利亚经济和社会重要领域的政策和讨论，包括澳大利亚华人社区，”审查小组称。“没有哪所大型学术性大学能够忽视中国的崛起……但目前澳大利亚国立大学并没有准备好应对这些挑战。”
2010年，时任总理的陆克文为在他的母校ANU设立澳大利亚中华全球研究中心，向该校拨款3500万澳元作为创办资金，并拨款1800万澳元建立一座新大楼。在这份评审报告于去年11月份完成之后，该大学承诺对该研究中心进行重大调整，并剥夺了该中心的独立运作权。
“中华全球研究中心如今步履蹒跚，不能说是达到了预期…… 不能排除中华全球研究中心倒闭的可能性，”评审小组称。“我们提出的解决办法是，将CIW改造成为大学的中国研究和教学活动的‘枢纽’。”
在该大学发表的声明中，澳大利亚国立大学亚太学院院长Michael Wesley表示，新的变化将“加强中华全球研究中心的研究能力、独立性和范围”。
该审查概述了该中心严重的财务问题，因为该中心无法吸引足够的独立收入，并过度依赖于捐赠。“（该中心）有缺陷的资金和预算模式，导致了长期赤字支出，”报告说。
评审专家组建议该大学尝试与联邦政府重新谈判拨款协议，免除其900万澳元的透支，并将其年度运营成本削减一半。
该大学拒绝进一步评论中心的财务困难。
根据审查，截至8月，该大学只有一位以中国研究作为主要研究领域的教授，令研究能力“严重削弱”。而这名教授很快转为兼职员工。报告说：“员工数量已经减少，大多数高级教员已经离开，士气低落。”
在新的整顿下，该中心将留在为其设立而建的大楼中，并将任命一名新的总监，但是将不会有永久性的系员工。该大学将招聘以中国精英政治，中国近代史，文化研究和当代中国社会为中心的高级学者。
审查小组成员包括，DFAT官员，北亚区首席助理秘书Graham Fletcher，哈佛大学教授Mark Elliot，牛津大学教授Rana Mitter，新南威尔士大学教授Louise Edwards，格里菲斯大学教授Sue Trevaskes和新加坡国立大学教授Wang Gungwu。
学术界对该中心的调整意见不一。Swinburne大学的中国专家John Fitzgerald说，该中心的概念从一开始就存在缺陷，而计划对该中心的新投资是“绝对必要的”。
Fitzgerald教授说：“CIW中心是在总理的领导呼吁下创建的，没有进行竞争性招标，因此它不一定是以最佳方式建立的。”
“它的管理不透明，其研究与该大学已有的中国专家知识和资源并没有很好的结合。”
另一位不愿透露姓名的中国学者说，剥夺该中心的独立运作地位是一个错误，并质疑为什么该中心没有关注中澳关系领域。
“我认为，所计划进行的改革意味着，国立大学对于澳大利亚的中国研究产生重大影响的可能性的终结，”该学者说。“他们似乎很愿意看到（Bob Carr领导的）悉尼科技大学（UTS）的澳中关系研究院（ACRI）成为这类研究的唯一中心。”
《澳大利亚人报》此前曾报道过对于澳大利亚政府内部缺乏中国专业知识的担忧。
去年11月，一份向国库部发出的报告警告说，负责就中国经济政策提供咨询意见的官员对中国领导人和决策者如何运作缺乏了解。欧洲知名智库，墨卡托中国研究中心（Mercator Institute of China Studies）也曾警告说，欧洲各国政府缺乏高质量的独立中国专业知识。
Introducing CIW
On 23 April 2010, in his George E Morrison Lecture titled, Australia and China in the World the then Prime Minister, the Hon Kevin Rudd, announced the establishment of the Australian Centre on China in the World (Zhonghua quanqiu yanjiu zhongxin 中华全球研究中心／中華全球研究中心, CIW for short in English) at The Australian National University (ANU).
In his lecture Prime Minister Rudd said of the establishment of the Centre:
We must take scholars, experts and policy makers out of the silos of separate academic disciplines and departments. We need to foster a new degree of collaboration and engagement between scholars and practitioners of different backgrounds and expertise. And to do that, I believe we need to establish a new centre for study, learning and the exchange of ideas and understanding. A place where scholars, thinkers and policy specialists can engage in an across-the-board approach that brings history, culture, literature, philosophy and cultural studies perspectives into active engagement with those working on public policy, the environment, social change, economics, trade, foreign policy, defence policy and strategic analysis.
I can think of no better place than the Australian National University to further the sophisticated research and dialogue on China's engagement with Australia, our region and globally.... The Australian Centre on China in the World will enhance the [University's] existing capabilities to create an integrated, world-leading institution for Chinese Studies. The Centre will be a hub for national and international scholars. It will also be linked virtually with other university centres with related expertise both at home and abroad.
The Australian Government's aspiration is to make this centre the pre-eminent global institution for the integrated understanding of contemporary China in all its dimensions - and for the study of contemporary China's regional and global engagement.
Former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd before delivering the 70th GE Morrison Lecture at ANU, 23 April 2010, with (from left to right): Emeritus Professor Geremie R Barmé, Executive Director of the ANU China Institute Dr Richard Rigby, then ANU Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb, and the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research, Senator the Hon Kim Carr.
In recognition of the Centre and its ambitious vision, the Vice-President of the People's Republic of China, Xi Jinping (习近平 / 習近平）, presented a major gift of books during his visit to ANU in late June 2010. The gift to the Centre of over 1,000 works reflects some of its key interests and includes works on Chinese thought, history, literature, society, politics, economy and trade and the environment.
The Centre has been created with the concept of what we call 'New Sinology' (后汉学／後漢學) in mind. As Kevin Rudd put it in his April 2010 Morrison Lecture:
I believe it is time for what the Australian National University's Professor Geremie Barmé has described as a 'New Sinology' (Hou Hanxue).
That is, a Sinology or study of China that is mindful of the positive traditions of exchange and learning with China, from the time of Matteo Ricci in the sixteenth century, through the time of George E Morrison and CP Fitzgerald to the present day. A New Sinology that inherits the positive legacy of understanding and engagement that enlivened so many people who were drawn to the study of China in the past. A Sinology that engages with the Sinosphere and a vibrant and energetic contemporary China - in all its dimensions.
Geremie Barmé has written that a New Sinology advocates "a robust engagement with contemporary China and indeed with the Sinophone world in all of its complexity, be it local, regional or global."
New Sinology is not based on old theories. It is about engaging with a re-emergent China. It says that China should not simply be viewed as a threat. Nor should this New Sinology be based on a reticence towards speaking honestly or critically about today's China, for fear of causing offence.
Instead we seek a new balance.
One that goes beyond old Cold War concepts of fan-Hua (反华 / 反華) or qin-Hua (亲华 / 親華) - that is, of either being anti-China or pro-China - as if we are eternally locked into a binary world. This is about a more sophisticated way of understanding today's China.
A New Sinology capable of opening up new ways of understanding this great and ancient civilisation, and what it might offer again in the future. The challenge for us all is how we move forward to promote a deeper, textured understanding of the China in the twenty-first century. Both a China that encourages us all, as well a China that from time to time causes us to ask ourselves where China is going.
Australian Centre on China in the World
中华全球研究中心／中華全球研究中心
The Australian Centre on China in the World is a research institution established to enhance the existing capabilities of The Australian National University (ANU). It aims to be an integrated, world-leading institution for Chinese Studies and the understanding of China, or what has been called 'Greater China' or the 'Chinese Commonwealth' (the People's Republic of China, the Hong Kong and Macau Special Administrative Regions, as well as Taiwan and the Chinese diaspora), on a global scale.
CIW takes a broad, holistic view and engages multidisciplinary expertise in areas including Chinese history, thought, culture, media, politics, society, gender, environment, economics, foreign and strategic policy, and regional affairs. The Centre aims at realising a national capability by enhancing the University's ability to guide national research and educational efforts, and to stimulate interest in the study of China by working with other key research/teaching institutions and scholars in Australia and internationally. We will use these connections to help train and support upcoming generations of China scholars, specialists and China-literate young people.
The Centre is primarily a research body led by humanities work in collaboration with the social sciences. The brief and vision of the Centre are for it to pursue research, education and outreach activities in innovative ways not achieved by similar institutions. The Centre will also serve the long-term national interest through the pursuit of independent scholarship and thought, and will go beyond a reactive and short-term approach to issues related to the Chinese world and the global presence of China.
The activities of the Centre constitute an addition to the range of China-related research and teaching work being undertaken by the ANU China Institute (the umbrella and coordinating body for ANU-specific China work university wide), and the various schools of the ANU College of Asia & the Pacific. The Centre is not a replacement of, or substitute for, the already substantial commitment ANU places on Chinese Studies. It will draw on ANU expertise in the context of the Centre's brief.
The key aims for the Centre are:
- to enhance innovative research and education on China;
- to enhance Australian understandings of China in the global context;
- to increase substantially the profile of China-related work in Australia and internationally.
Read the full transcript of the 70th George E Morrison Lecture Australia and China in the World given by former Prime Minister the Hon Kevin Rudd MP on 23 April 2010, in which the Centre was announced. (Chinese language version also available. 中文版)
