Mr O,

Yes, the Ambassador is a sweet soy bean, depending on
his mood. He can be hot and sour, but he's no chicken,
and will have you fried and steamed, if you don't answer
his awkward questions to his satisfaction.

As for my being Foxy Mata Hari?

No. "I don't want to be a silly temptress.
I cannot see any sense in getting dressed up and doing
nothing but tempting men ..." (Greta Garbo).

Foxy,

Back to more serious issues.

I assume you have seen the news reports coming out of China where the CCP is using its state run media to escalate tensions between China and Australia with the aim of making Australia look like an aggressive enemy in the eyes of the Chinese people.

This is interesting because about a decade ago Niall Ferguson predicted that this would happen if China's economy was threatened by externalities, in this case the backlash from the WuFlu pandemic with major countries around the world turning away from China. The point Ferguson made was that the CCP would take China down the road to war with universal support of its people in a very similar way that Japan went in the 1930s.

I think we are seeing the start of this and the question is now how far will it go? Are we looking at a hot war or a cold war?

Mr O,

Niall Ferguson warned that a new cold war is coming
between the US and China.

But he also said that Australia should not worry.

There are enough people who don't want China running
the Pacific.

Americans have a coherent reason to contain China and
a means of doing it. Starve it of technology and force
it deeper into the middle income trap it already faces.

As for Australia? As Ferguson stated,

"Even a middle-income China is still a great market.
And why would you want China to be vastly bigger."

See you on another discussion. For me this one has run its
course.

Foxy,

You reckon the US would "starve it [China] of technology and force it deeper into the middle income trap it already faces." (Whatever the middle income trap means.)

The US tried something similar with Japan in the 1930s viz embargo on oil supplies to Japan to thwart Japanese military ambitions in Asia.

And look what happened: It forced Japan into the Second World War.

Yeah so go on, keep poking a stick at the angry beast until it lashes out. So much for your Kumbaya singalongs when that happens.

Mr O,

Again, mind your manners.

Or you shall be subsequently ignored.

There is a lot of ugliness, very visible, in Chinese culture. But we want to retain our humanitarian standard, so we feel it unhumanitarian to see China as it has historically been and neglect observing the ugliness and pretend that China is fine and will turn to liberalism with economic development. (But we went into the Chinese market for money, not from our altruistic motive.)

"It is not China's fault...Americans do not see the obvious, so clearly visible, in China, perhaps to save their Christian moralistic narcissim because it is so ugly," as I said in my comment, It Is Not China's Fault, nov. 16, 2015, on Michael Pillsbury/The Hunred-Year Marathon, amazon usa