Chris.

Now onto historical issues with Chinese.

*…Give us the solutions? ..*

I’ll give you my version based on the practicality of real life and not on theoretical stabs in the dark. The view from the ground.

Taiwan:
The historical significance of this question gives us a lead to a sensible answer.
Taiwan is a losing gamble to the west.
The west, as it did in Vietnam and now Afghanistan, should pull up stumps and accept defeat. It’s a lost cause from the outset. On a par with Hong Kong..it’s Chinese.

Hong Kong.
China only needs put a time line for an exit strategy to objectors of Chinese rule in Hong Kong.
We have no rights of disruption by supporting agitators in their destabilising actions, bleeding all over the spilled milk of Democracy. That’s another war we need not engage with.

South China Sea.
The West should engage with Chinese aggression if it interferes with international conventions of free navigation. The high moral ground.

Chinese in Australia.
I take the view that all Chinese are the enemy, since there is little chance of identifying the good guys. We should assume all are untrustworthy, and deal with them from that position.

There you go Chris, your question answered!

Dan

Aye Chris

Ya feeding peanuts to monkeys.

What do ya expect!?

Thanks for your article Chris and for the commenters.

Based on my limited understanding China needs to be divided up into ethnic self ruling regions similar to ancient times- to cure it's craze for conquest. Sadly many Chinese ethnicity's were apparently wiped from the gene pool during the warring states period- with entire civilizations of women and children literally being thrown off castle walls in the name of conquest. The Mongols of the Yuan and Chuan periods- though fierce in battle- seem to me to treat the Chinese more like the Roman's treated the Greek's and preserved their culture but ruling it.

I've come to believe that every culture needs their own nation. As the Dalai Lama says Europe is for the European's. So multiculturalism is an issue and so is the pervasive Chinese diaspora in the West. But perhaps we can help them retrieve the homeland many of Chinese ethnicity have lost- replace the dystopian Chinese Dengian Communist regime- and create more stability for all. But we can't help everyone. And if we lose our own identity in the process it's pointless. The Dengian's will deterritorialize us out of existence if we let them.

The biggest problem is population. Everyone will have more if we have less population in the world.

Thanks Dan for providing your views on China. All opinions are valid, and all opinions provide some food for thought.

However, I think the last thing the world needs is western societies treating their chinese peoples within as enemies when it probably is the case that most also embrace western systems.

CM, your view is interesting. I still believe that a liberal democracy, if it is good enough, can absorb different cultures and still reach common norms.

Chris,

I might have agreed with most of your points a month back, but the events in Kabul and DC over the past month has changed everything.

Australia and other western democracies were right to resist China's bullying hegemonic behaviours. But all of that was utterly dependent on the fact that the US, ultimately, had our back.

The ascension of Biden raised questions about how dedicated the US would remain in opposing Chinese aggression. See his own comments over the past few years as well as the high likelihood that he had received bribes, via his son, from CCP associated groups.

In the disastrously organised and implemented withdrawal from Kabul, the US has shown all, but especially its foes, that it's a paper tiger, unwilling and incapable of using its overwhelming force advantage to achieve its aims. The US might have the biggest defence force on the planet but it is led by people no longer able to use that force.

The upshot for Australia is that, if we elect to oppose China, we do it knowing, or at least doubting, the ability of the US to back us. A coalition of Australia, Japan and India might be a check on China, but not an effective foil.

China is effectively offering Australia vassal status to imperial China. Its an offer we cannot wantonly reject. While the future dominance of liberal democracy in the world is no longer certain, it isn't obvious that adhering to China would mean we had to surrender our internal liberties - although it should be noted that, over the past year, it is clear those liberties aren't a first-order priority for most Australians.

We shouldn't be precipitous in our decisions here. There remains a chance that the US, post 2024, will stage a come-back. So we shouldn't burn bridges in the hope of that eventuality. But equally, we shouldn't be going out of way to tweak the oriental nose. From where I sit, China is way in front in the battle for global dominance, and we need to work out where we fit in that world.

mhaze, thanks for your excellent comments.

I sort have shifted as well. It may well be that the CCP keeps gaining influence for a while yet, although I hope it does not happen.

However, there will indeed come a point when the US (and allies) will have to take a stand.

It will depend on how far the CCP is prepared to rock the boat, and how far the West is prepared to stand up the CCP.

Let's hope that the clash does not lead to war.