One man's opinion from a very different bygone era will change nothing. Keating comes over as either a crimson fool or a China loving quisling. Better the world suspects he's a fool, than to as he did and remove all doubt.

I hope we have an enduring peace with China and never ever have to use our subs in anger. To that end we need to transition to nuclear power, i.e., MSR thorium, to peacefully power this nation's independent self-sufficient manufacturing sector, ASAP!
Alan B.

ASAP!
Alan B,
With wall to wall Labor ?? Albanese whom I had quite some hope in will be worse than Morrison by this time next year !

He just spent all the money Australia ever needed for top of the range infrastructure & manufacturing on a few submarines which will be blown up at the first sign of trouble !

The author is clutching at straws.

The AUKUS agreement is illegal and unsustainable. It shows that new despotism is alive and well not just in the US and the UK but also among political elites in Australia. They have a distaste for deliberative democracy and provide the basis for challenging their undemocratic policies and practices which multicultural Australia is rejecting vigorously

Because the United States global power is tied to the Military Industrial Complex and it's own global hegemony, it firstly needs perpetual war and secondly will treat anyone that rivals it's power as an enemy.

China has 4 times as many people and leads the world in 37 of 44 critical technologies as stated by a recent ASPI research.
Also China is fastly outpacing STEM phd graduates, and the BRICS countries now have a higher GDP than the G7.

With 32 trillion in debt, the US faces economic collapse, it won't be able to sell it's bonds to fund its debt obligations without the petrodollar and losing its world reserve currency status.

M.A. Disagree with your take. But for the yanks and their blood sacrifice, we may well be speaking Japanese.

And we live in relative peace because of their defence umbrella. And that pisses off those who would like us to become the most southern state of a massively militarised China.

China has also created macho plenty debt as has many of her citizens.
Alan B.

"And we live in relative peace because of their defence umbrella. And that pisses off those who would like us to become the most southern state of a massively militarised China."

China doesn't want to project power all over the globe or be a nation in perpetual war you silly old fool.
It supports a multipolar world, and opposes US sponsored coloured revolutions and their interfering in the internal affairs of others.
It has a belt and road project, it wants to build a better world, unlike the West who wants to rule over the entire world with threats blackmail, regime change and military interventions.

All of you old timers are standing in the way of a better world, because you were taught to be hysterical over the communist menace.

The things China's accused of are done in the name of defense against a hostile United States and their attempts to stir up civil unrest inside China.

AC,

You do no research before you post your drivel.

China is building a massive navy with aircraft carriers for the sole purpose of projecting power globally. To this end, it has built armed islands in the territorial waters of other countries. Presently China is one of the most aggressive countries in the world.

As for China's belt and Road initiative, it has been a disaster. China used only Chinese Labor and charged double the interest rate than other aid programs many of these projects are either failing or vanity projects with no infrastructural value. 60% of the countries are in default with China unlikely to get any of its money back.

As for China's economy, due to its massive debt burden and mistreatment of foreign investors China is in real danger of slipping into a prolonged recession.