Welcome to the Australia-China Youth Association (ACYA) website!

A message from ACYA President Henry Makeham

ACYA is a not-for-profit, apolitical youth organisation that caters to young Australians with an interest in China, and similarly, young Chinese with an interest in Australia. We are a public interest resource that operates through a comprehensive online presence and university chapters in Australia.

Through ACYA’s website and university presence, we aim to become a one-stop-shop career and education information resource and a facilitator and promoter of Australia-China dialogue. The website will be managed and sustained through its National Secretariat, which will also co-ordinate ACYA’s growing university chapter presence.

The university chapters recruit members and host career, education and people-to-people events. These include public forums, lectures, networking events and language exchange study groups. ACYA currently has chapters at the Australian National University (ANU), University of Melbourne, Monash University and the University of Queensland (UQ).

2009 Year in Review

ACYA has maintained an active schedule of activities and events throughout 2009. Some highlights include:

• The ‘Perceptions of China Forum’ at the ANU, which attracted over 300 attendees. Our speakers included: Professor Peter Drysdale (one of the architects of APEC); Dr. Richard Rigby (former Consul-General Shanghai and Ambassador to Israel); Rowan Callick (Asia-Pacific Editor, The Australian); Jiang Yaping (Xinhua News, Chief Australia Correspondent);
• The ‘Does China Play by our Rules and Does it Matter?’ forum at the ANU, which attracted over 150 attendees. Our speakers included: Professor Geremie Barme (Federation Fellow and world-renowned Sinologist); Professor Peter Bailey (Rhodes Scholar, former Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Human Rights Commission); Professor Hugh White (Fellow of the Lowy Institute, former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Defence); and Dr. Jane Golley (Crawford School of Economics and Government, ANU);
• The ‘Coalition’s Policy of an Asia-Literate Australia’ at the ANU, which attracted over 100 attendees. Our keynote speaker was Deputy Leader of the Opposition, Hon. Julie Bishop;
• The ‘BHP, China and Australia’ lecture at Tsinghua University, which attracted over 50 attendees. The keynote speaker was Dr. Jianzhong Lu, Senior Executive, BHP Billiton, Beijing;
• The ‘Australia-China Relations: Now and into the Future’ forum at the University of Sydney, which attracted over 100 attendees. Our speakers included: Dr. Malcolm Cooke (Lowy Institute); and Professor Daniel Kane (Macquarie University);
• The ‘Meet Australia’ social function at Tsinghua University, a social event designed for young Chinese to meet Australian exchange students, which attracted around 40 attendees;
• The ‘Year in China Information Evening’ at the ANU, which attracted around 40 students who were contemplating study abroad in China;
• The ‘Year in China Information Evening’ at the University of Melbourne, which attracted around 30 students who were contemplating study abroad in China; and
• A mailing list of approximately 1500 members and rapidly growing.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me:
Email: Henry.Makeham@acya.org.au
Phone: 0403 141 929

In the meantime, we hope you enjoy what the ACYA website has to offer.

Henry Makeham

National President
Australia-China Youth Association (ACYA)