Australia's location in the Asia-Pacific region and its strong links with China put it in a prime position to leverage academic and other expertise to help the world better understand Chinese development, especially amid current global challenges, according to the director of a studies center at the University of Sydney.

"Since Australia decided it was part of the Asia-Pacific, which was really at the end of the 1980s, a lot of effort in think tanks and universities has gone into developing China expertise. Of course, we are not the United States, we are not Europe. We are different, and that gives us some advantage," said David Goodman, a professor and director of the university's China Studies Centre.

Australia's strong economic ties with China in turn help provide a firm base to leverage that advantage, Goodman said in an exclusive interview with China Daily.

"Trade with China is the bedrock of the Australian economy. Without that trade, we would be in serious trouble. And it's not just exports which are very important. We have a trade surplus with China. … It's very important for the Australian economy. And for the continued development of Australian society," he said. "So Australia is well placed in research on and interactions with China."

The China Studies Centre, which describes itself as having "the largest collection in Australia of academic expertise who research China and Chinese culture", boasts more than 100 members drawn from the social sciences, business studies, health, engineering, the humanities, science, law, architecture and music.

"We have people who do healthcare in China and people who do the healthcare of Chinese in Australia. We have engineers who carry out engineering projects in environmental sustainability, waste management in China," said Goodman, adding that the center's research groups cover areas ranging from Australia-China relations and the digital economy to education and philosophy.

One of the center's flagship efforts is the Local China Project, which is designed to produce research on China's development at local levels.

"When we say local … local is anything that is not central. So anything subprovincial, the city, prefecture, counties, districts and everyday life," Goodman said.

Looking at China through this "local lens" helps plug gaps in understanding the world's second-largest economy, Goodman said.

Despite increasing efforts to use its strengths in developing China studies, Australia does not take enough advantage of the opportunities, he said, adding that one promising area is people-to-people exchanges.

"It would be better if we did more, particularly with young people," he said. "Getting them to China from Australia and getting young people from China to Australia will help the future of the world."

However, "at the moment, exchanges of that kind are very limited", he added.

Such exchanges could be expanded to include more participants in the business, health and other fields, Goodman said.

"There's a certain nervousness in our government about some technological subjects, which they think might be open to security abuse or something like that, and of course that makes that almost impossible to do," he said.

"But environmental engineering, for example, is for the good of the planet. China has led the way in the development of a renewable energy industry, and I hope it goes on doing it because it's in everybody's interest."

Goodman said that views from the West about how China and its development are a "threat" pose a major impediment to exchanges and research for better understanding across borders.

"There's the notion largely put out … that China is a threat, that makes people believe that you have to be wary of the so-called rise of China.

"I say so-called rise of China because whilst the Chinese economy has gotten very large, it's still (got) a long way to go," said Goodman, adding that while China's GDP per capita has risen (to more than $12,600 in 2023, according to World Bank data), it is still not "horrendously huge".

It is unfortunate that resources in Australia have been directed toward defense spending in response to the so-called "threat", he said, when "we could do so much more with that money. Not all that money has to come to the China Studies Centre. It could go anywhere, it could do a lot of social good".