Hi Graham,

"It is hardly likely to be coincidental that both these situations are occurring at exactly the same time."

I think the US and it's foreign meddling have precipitated these measures taken by Russia and China.

Taiwanese people do not see themselves as Chinese, but it's not our fight. What if Tasmanians wanted to separate from Australia and become a seperate country and a member of NATO.

Not likely but in any case I say Taiwan's none of our business.
- Maybe others will disagree.

Russia, why would we want to have any part in 'cutting them at the knees by economic deterrence'
How does being involved in this serve our interests?

I don't have a problem with Russia being in Syria, they were invited there by Assad.
- It's the US that tries and often succeeds in overthrowing the leadership of other countries, and every time it does this hundreds of thousands of people die.

What makes you think were the good guys?

They talk about free trade well I don't have any problem buying Russian, Iranian, Syrian or Venezeulan oil and gas if its cheaper at the pump or my bill.

[Cont.]

"Our economic leverage comes as an exporter of raw materials to China. While China can easily substitute for some of these, it can't for others, and diplomatic initiatives can block off some of these other avenues for substitution as well. It may not be palatable to stop iron ore shipments to China, and it will certainly have a destructive effect on the wealth of a number of Australians, but when dealing with a mercantilist government you need to use mercantilist strategies, as they will just exploit free trade to their own advantage."

* Hang on, is free trade a good thing or a bad thing now?
- Or is it just another tool we can use to mess with others?

What do we have that China can't get elsewhere?
They don't really need our meat, we sold them the live cows and the cattle farms.
And as a dying rusting nation, USA has plenty of scrapmetal to export.
I think more importantly China has things we can't easily get elsewhere.

Like lightbulbs and TVs for example, though we can get them from Japan and Taiwan.
I reckon the planet would slip back 50 years tomorrow if it weren't for China, the ways we've shut our manufacturing down to rely on cheaper producers, than now possess the skills in the technical age to do these things when we no longer possess such skills.

It's a pretty sad state of affairs, we all remember the days when 'Made in China' meant 'cheap crap that breaks really easily'

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Dear Graham,

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Perhaps I should mention that I thoroughly approve any measures our state and federal governments take that affirm our democratic values and our sovereignty as an independent nation. Naturally, that includes Marise Payne’s decision to cancel Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements with China.

As a matter of fact, I would also like to see the same decision taken in respect of the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin accorded by the Northern Territory government to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group in 2015. Darwin is one of Australia’s most strategic ports, if not the most strategic port. Leasing it out to a foreign investor – whatever its nationality – is pure folly so far as I am concerned.

Unless I’m mistaken, I don’t think the Chinese government ceded an equivalent strategic national asset to an Australian firm on a 99-year lease. There does not seem to have been any reciprocity involved in the deal.

In which case, I think the best thing to do would be to cancel the lease, reimburse Lambridge Group the amount of its investment to date – with interest – explaining that we have decided that, in future, all national strategic assets must be under exclusive Australian management control.

If there happens to be an acceptable cancellation clause in the lease, then, obviously, it should be applied. If not, we should seek an equitable solution that would allow us to withdraw from our engagements as quickly as possible without causing major undue prejudice to the lessee. This could probably best be assessed by one of the top reputable business management consulting firms, i.e., KPMG, McKinsey, Deloitte, Boston Consulting Group, etc.

An orderly withdrawal would probably take several years to complete and, more than likely, be progressive. Personally, I can’t see why it could not be achieved by the end of the decade at the latest.

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Banjo Paterson,

I'm glad to see that Australia has finally woken up to China's intentions. But there is still a long way to go.

Over the past 30 years Australia's politicians, bureaucrats and business people have been selling us out to the Chinese even to the extent that they were willing to let China transmigrate millions of its nationals to Australia and take ownership of a large part of Australia's economy, industries, infrastructure and property market, with principal ownership located in China.

A lot of damage has been done but I think there is still time to decouple from the Chinese monster and take back control of our destiny.

I think a message has to be sent to the Chinese that we will never allow ourselves to become slaves to the PRC in the way the Uighurs have been subdued. I think we should send a message to Xi and his thugs by nationalising things in the hands of the Chinese and sending Chinese nationals who are residing in Australia back to China.

We should be doing to Xi and the Chinese what Britain and France should have done to Hitler and the Germans in the 1930s.

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Dear Mr. Opinion,

.

I understand your concerns, but I can’t say I share them on such a broad scale as the sweeping remarks you made in your last post.

As I indicated in my previous post, I stand firm on the utmost respect for our democratic values and our sovereignty as an independent nation, neither of which should be ceded to foreign powers under any circumstances.

That is why I approve of Marise Payne’s decision to cancel Victoria’s Belt and Road agreements with China and would like our federal government to also cancel the 99-year lease of the Port of Darwin accorded by the Northern Territory government to the Chinese-owned Landbridge Group in 2015.

Apart from that, I see no reason why we should not maintain excellent relations with China and do everything in our power to facilitate and encourage as much mutually beneficial exchange as possible between our two countries in such domains as trade, commerce, non-strategic investment, education, research, culture, tourism, etc.

I can only reiterate what I wrote to Graham in my post on page 2 of this thread : “The current strategy, on both sides, of political brinkmanship, has already gone too far. We must promote conciliation, understanding, and cooperation instead.”

China is not only our leading trading partner, it is also our friend and neighbour in Asia. There is no reason why our different political regimes, different physical features, different customs, different cultures, and different worldviews should be anything other than a source of inspiration and enrichment for us both.

You also mention the Uyghurs, Mr. Opinion. Allow me to suggest that we reflect carefully on our treatment of our own Aboriginal peoples before we condemn the Chinese for the way they treat theirs.

Quite frankly, I think that in this domain, as in many others, a little modesty on our part would not go astray.

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Banjo Paterson,

I totally disagree with you.

I would put you in the pro-China camp and say that you fail to see the writing on the wall.

I assume this is because you have vested interests in China and that you see money as being more important than freedom.

When the worse comes (and it will) China might make you an honorary member of the PCR.