A timely article where the following quotes stick out:

“Even so, there is an overarching view that Australia will make concession to China that it would never make to India.” and "Indians are confronted by a Mandarin-speaking Australian Prime Minister who appears to be putting an awful lot of eggs in the China basket."

It may be that our governing Labor Party is currently responsible for Australia's indifferent relations with India:

- Labor's Hard Left faction appears to feel some ideological comradeship with the Old China (study trips anyone?) while

- Labor's green Left is simply ignorant that Australian uranium mainly going to China frees up Chinese mined uranium for Chinese nuclear weapons - yet the green Left see India as the enviromental and peace risk:

- Labor's centre and right see mainly national but sometimes personal benefit in bilateral trade with China.

It is unknown whether China actively discourages a higher level of Australian trade with India in return for more secure and profitable (for Australia) deals with China.

What is effectively Australia's uranium trade sanction against India is more ideological than logical. All the other major uranium exporters are or will be exporting to India - but not us - why is that?

Pete
http://gentleseas.blogspot.com/2008/02/india-australia-relations-under-strain.html

With India's high tech growth, it will probably overtake China in a couple of decades.

We should be more interested in the world's biggest democracy than the world's biggest dictatorship.