We have always been a small fish in a big pond. Yes, the big fish in the pond are going through a "restructuring", but really will our position change that much? We have been out-bid by Japan in the aid stakes for some time. We have been out gunned by any number of players, but it seems to me by the time they are rich enough to out-gun us the cost of actually doing anything becomes prohibitively expensive for them.

What worries me about China's ascendancy is more mundane things, like the annihilation of our manufacturing industries. It seems unavoidable until their wages hit parity with ours, but I do wonder about the cost of resurrecting it when the time comes. It will take a long time to rebuild the education systems, the business know-how and finally the plants if it all dies off for a generation.

This article well highlights the sort of strategic thinking Australia should be able to do, and should be doing now, on China, but isn't. How come China is constructing East Timor's new Foreign Ministry, Presidential Palace and Defence Ministry? They're particularly sensitive facilities and they're right on Australia's doorstep. This brings to mind the bugging of the Chinese Embassy building in Canberra many years ago. Australia should be handling the construction of these sorts of buildings in Dili as part of our ongoing aid program for East Timor. Who's asleep in Canberra and who's likely to bother waking them up? Warren Reed.

Thanks for your comments rstuart and Warren Reed

Another article (from 2003) http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2751/is_72/ai_105369903/pg_8 gives further detail about the type of aid China has been delivering in our backyard:

"...much of the assistance to date has been for highly visible prestige projects, including the construction of a new parliamentary complex in Vanuatu, a multistory government office in Samoa, the new foreign ministry headquarters in Papua New Guinea, ... and has made a practice of donating a fleet of VIP cars [maybe bugs - Watchout] to the island state hosting the annual [South Pacific] Forum meeting. These projects have added little or nothing to the recipients' economic development, however, because China provides all the materials and labor for the construction of aid projects."

"Meanwhile, since the end of the Cold War, Western aid donors have increasingly attached governance conditions of accountability, transparency, human rights and democracy to aid arrangements. When democracy is overthrown by a coup, as happened in Fiji and the Solomon Islands, the curtailment of Western aid disbursements has created resentment. By contrast, China has been widely praised for its policy of "noninterference", which contrasts sharply, as the locals see it, to the "bullying" tactics of Australia and New Zealand."

Would such "noninterference" be a good approach for Australia?

Peter Coates

I suppose it is natural that a country with a size and population of
China's will one way or another throw its weight around.

What concerns me is the financial invasion of Australia.
The share buying of resources companies has been in operation around
the world and has now shifted to Australia.
Remember the quote from the Chinese PM;
"We will burn all our coal and then burn yours"

The rapid increase in oil prices may modify China's ability to suck
money out of the rest of the world. The price of shipping a container
from China to the USA has risen from $3000 to around $8000 plus.
One sign of the times is that furniture manufacture is moving back to
the US. This effect will be found first in bulky goods.

China is in for a difficult time as trade flows shift due to energy
costs. They will face increasing difficulty in getting sufficient
coal and oil at prices that will enable business as usual.
The risk is that they will enter the oil and coal wars.
What would be their reaction if the greens by means of their vote
in the senate stopped coal exports to China because they will not
adopt the same CO2 restriction that we adopt ?

These are the big risks.

My question, every time I see yet another article that sobs "the Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming", is... so what?

Maybe if someone could explain to me why economic colonization is only OK when it is undertaken by the USA?

Or why it is OK for Australian companies to expand overseas, buying up gold mines, toll roads etc., but the same activity is somehow to be feared when conducted by foreign investors on our soil.

Economic fortunes wax and wane. China has been a - the, even - major world power before. So, its turn has come round again.

So what?

Britain, Spain, Portugal all used to have extensive world "interests", that were built on similar foundations.

So what exactly is it about China's actions that cause so much angst and hand-wringing?

China's economy is following a path that many have previously trod. Similarly, it is buying influence in underdeveloped nations in much the same way as they had been colonized in previous centuries.

Instead of the interminable string of articles documenting the obvious, it would be interesting to hear from someone who actually bothers to analyze why we react automatically with fear and trepidation

Do we fear invasion? Is that what this is all about?

There are far simpler ways to achieve economic advancement these days than going to war. And prosperity is not a zero-sum game, as we have discovered over the years. If China becomes relatively more prosperous than us, more power to their elbow - it does not necessarily mean that our prosperity declines as a result.

Pericles, I would suggest that you take a good hard look at how the Chinese government does business with its own citizens and then you might be a bit more concerned about them taking over here.

David

Thanks for this article. I’ve been feeling a bit lonely banging the drum.
Of course we need to be dealing with local issues and stop thinking that we are "a power" to be recon with. Nor should we pretend to be the US' deputy sheriff.
We can't afford to be so arrogantly WAS (P or C).

God wasn't an Englishman after all. We should learn to play nice and smart.
The US is only obliged to consult. It'll only get involved if it suits their interests. In WW2 the Brits were prepared to sacrifice us for mother England why do we assume the US wouldn't do the same?

We need our own 'Regional (Asian) sensitive policy'. We've bullied East Timor and other south Pacific nations and offended Muslims with out ‘arrogant notions’ and adventurism with the US. Why wouldn't they become friend with the biggest Asian power?

We need to ditch short term policies making and go for something more appropriate.
In might help if we also ditch our prejudices and understand them better.
This doesn’t mean we should be bow to the East just be less dogmatic how we do it.

Pericles

You said "My question, every time I see yet another article that sobs "the Chinese are coming, the Chinese are coming", is... so what?"

So many of China’s subject peoples sob because their land was taaken from them by Beijing conquests. Do you blame the Chinese invasion of Tibet on America or Western capitalism?

Many Muslims of Western China appear to be in conflict with the rich Communists of Beijing (16 police dead today http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ed15789e-61f0-11dd-9ff9-000077b07658.html ) I suppose you call Chinese Communist "capitalists". Its easy but its the Chinese Communist Party that is the real world authority on Communist definitions.

You say "Maybe if someone could explain to me why economic colonization is only OK when it is undertaken by the USA?"

The difference is that America protected us in World War Two while the Chinese under Mao fought our troops in Korea.

Times change but the Communist Party that Mao built still rules. A poster of Mao BTW still hangs high over Tiananmen Square.

Why is that? He died in 1976.

Is he some sought of God that the Party and many others revere?

Are we more like that country or America?

Given a choice do we trade with like-minded countries or out of fear and profit?

A balance of all these things perhaps. All very relevant under Rudd.

Why the unprecedented security in Beijing - more than Athens in 2004? - see this earlier article in Newsweekly.http://www.newsweekly.com.au/articles/2008may10_c.html

Does the Central Committee fear that China's subject peoples will rise up or, almost as bad, embarrass it?

The imperialism of western countries in the past does not excuse Beijing's actions in its mainland Empire now. Equally it would be sad for us if we eventually became a dependency of that Empire.

Peter Coates

My concern is the seemingly silent sale of far north Queensland's mineral resources to the Chinese Government. Please see http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15011 ... Billions of dollars have changed hands, massive infrastructure is already planned and budgeted for, ecological damage on a scale unsurpassed in this country is about to happen and there is. Silence.

It is very interesting to note that as many times as I have contacted the Foreign Investment Review Board department of the Treasury offices, nobody is yet to provide me with public documents relating to the common procedures that would normally relate to such a massive overseas purchase of Australian property.

It is a known fact that China has all but depleted their own mineral reserves. See Sudan and Zimbabwe for immediate examples. It is also known fact in real estate circles that the Chinese Government is buying massive packets of land, and the general consensus is that this is to be developed into housing for the 5 million Chinese citizens that will be calling Australia home in the next ten years.

This is not a state issue. This is a national and worldwide issue.

I'm worried.

Adeena,
The large parcels of land are for profit building houses is merely a vector.
They own Bay View in the Redlands a huge development. They bought the land because it had a 30YO building approval (thanks Joh!)
Of the several thousand houses there now most are owned by Queenslanders and the odd foreigner (nothing odder than kiwis :-)).
I don't think your fears are well based.
Some years ago the fear was the Japonese were buying up Surfers. When there was a down turn they mostly sold out.There is more arab money there than asian. If you want something to blame the development laws like IPA with provisions like injurious affection is a good place to start. Profit has no nationality.
The resources may be strategic though.

Many thanks for you response, examinator.

My concern is not based on the real estate sales, my concern is the quiet sell off of mining rights. Generally, such a large international investment in Australia requires FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board) approval. The administrative process of this generates public paperwork. To date, even through numerous requests, this paperwork is not available.

The particular project I am referring to as a project of Chalco has huge economic, environmental and social ramifications for Australia as whole. This is not an income generating project. China has bought the minerals. We will not be selling our product to an overseas buyer. An overseas buyer has already bought it. All they have to do it remove it and refine it.

The buyer in question is now demanding up to AU$300 million investment in infrastructure, to be paid for by Australia. This infrastructure is being planned and has already started with compulsory acquisition of land.

As for the projected environmental impact, I find it very hard to equate the silence surrounding this project. China has already depleted all their reserves of bauxite in their own country. So now far north Queensland is going to be strip-mined and key environmental points destroyed. No more Port Douglas. No more Great Barrier Reef. No more wetlands. The fall out from this type of project is still being felt in Townsville and surrounds, where children growing up in that area have over 4 times the internationally accepted levels of lead in their bodies. Leukemia rates are well above average. I will post links to research in another post.

But for one point, VK3AUU

>>Pericles, I would suggest that you take a good hard look at how the Chinese government does business with its own citizens and then you might be a bit more concerned about them taking over here.<<

I am entirely unconcerned about them "taking over here", because I don't for one moment believe that they have the slightest interest in doing so.

Unless of course we declare war. In which case they will.

No, I strongly believe that they will achieve all their economic goals, without feeling the need to engage militarily.

Pericles
"Why it is OK for Australian companies to expand overseas... Britain, Spain, Portugal all used to have extensive world "interests", that were built on similar foundations.....but the same activity is somehow to be feared when conducted by foreign investors on our soil."
Do not you know what happened to people of the countries where Britain, Spain or Portugal went?
Do not you know why it is OK for Australian companies to expand overseas?
Do not you know who win and who lose from the economic colonization?
Do not you know that sooner or later the colonists (from economic colonization) will bring their culture too?
THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENT BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION.
Do not you know that of cause their population that even if come few persons here from their busuness we will be a minority?
Do not you know that Chinese businessmen do not understand from human rights, labor rights or DEMOCRATIC PRINCIOLESS OR VALUES?
Do not you know that as more Chinese come here especially as businessmen we put more at risk our values?
Britain, Spain or Portugal did what they did to other people many years before, do you expect from us to allow Chinese to do the same things in Australia?
I am European (GREEK) and I prefer to see here European Companies than Asian one.
IT IS NOT ONLY FOR ECONOMIC VALUES, BUT FOR DIFFERENT CIVILIZATIONS.

Antonios Symeonakis
Adelaide

I've left it a couple of days, ASymeonakis, just in case you came back and said "... ho ho, only kidding"

Because you surely were, weren't you?

>>Do not you know what happened to people of the countries where Britain, Spain or Portugal went?
Do not you know why it is OK for Australian companies to expand overseas?
Do not you know who win and who lose from the economic colonization?
Do not you know that sooner or later the colonists (from economic colonization) will bring their culture too?
THERE IS A HUGE DIFFERENT BETWEEN EUROPEAN AND CHINESE CIVILIZATION<<

Answering a question with a string of - almost unrelated - questions in return, is intellectually lazy, and totally unedifying.

For one thing, it does not answer my original question, which was basically "we have done it ourselves, what moral justification do we now employ to object when someone else does the same?"

So, at the risk of getting nothing more enlightening than another xenophobic tirade, can you try again, not to answer this question with another question, but to simply state your case.

>>Do not you know that Chinese businessmen do not understand from human rights, labor rights or DEMOCRATIC PRINCIOLESS [sic] OR VALUES?<<

I suspect from this that you have not worked with Chinese business partners. I have, and can assure you that those I worked with were honest, and treated their employees well. I did not enquire as to their politics, in the same way I do not ask my Australian business partners theirs.

>>I am European (GREEK) and I prefer to see here European Companies than Asian one. IT IS NOT ONLY FOR ECONOMIC VALUES, BUT FOR DIFFERENT CIVILIZATIONS.<<

You are entitled to your preference. But if they come here and work under Australian law, what legitimate objection can you possibly have?

You are aware, of course, that there are people in Melbourne who think the way you do, but about Greeks.

How do you feel about that?