Michael Shoebridge of Strategic Analysis Australia writes that Communist China’s latest taunt - dropping flares in front of a RAN helicopter - shows that Xi is happy to see his pilots and ships captains acting in a way that could kill ours and other countries’ military personnel.

Also, the Albanese government’s China policy is doing nothing to restrain the dangerous and arrogant behaviour.

Our region is getting much more dangerous because of Communist China.

Marles is touting a $760 million defence budget over the next ten years (will China wait that long?), but the awful truth is that “our military will get less capable and less powerful between now and 2034, while others – notably China and its partners – get more powerful.”

If it's too hard for Albanese to show some self-respect and take his mate Xi to task over these matters, it will be even harder for Australia to play any constructive defence role against the Communists in the future.

We must face up to reality as countries like Poland, Japan and Ukraine already are.

The fact that the helicopter and the sonar incidents were perpetrated outside Communist air space or waters should be enough of a warning, even for the Albanese government. There's been quite a lot of things going in other countries’ economic zones and space.

There might be even more that the Albanese censorship squad are keeping from us.

Communist China could not be blamed for thinking that their aggressive and dangerous behaviour is trivial to the Albanese government.

AC

America trying to start a war with China? It's Communist China doing all the threatening and bullying in our region.

We need Donald Trump as US President. All the anti-West countries, including Communist China, behaved themselves during his last Presidency. They will do so again.

"America trying to start a war with China? It's Communist China doing all the threatening and bullying in our region."
- Well, the U.S. does have troops stationed 2 klms from the Chinese mainland...

Ttbn.

Reading your posts, it’s difficult to determine more than an emotional attachment to fear itself.

In your world, a military style attack on Australia is imminent. Where is the evidence.

There is evidence Chinese incursions into the Australian field of influence at the tip of Asia, below a more likely target, Indonesia, is very minimal.

There is evidence of Chinese incursions and destabilisation tactics in and around the Phillipines, which are a strategic necessity to counter US influence in the US strategy of defending Taiwan. These are current events which don’t concern or threaten Australia in any significant way, and certainly doesn’t warrant spending billions of dollars we don’t have to spare, propping up US industries which are incapable of supplying them.

In its current state of collapse, the US is incapable of the most fundamental of objectives in deciding who is the actual enemy. The group think in Washington has become more abstract than a Picasso painting.
Study closely the US-Israel souring relations currently, and the consequences to Israel of the
Alliance with the US, through other times Israel was at war with its neighbours.

Cont.,

Our time now and the US of today, are far flung from the US of 1945 with its ability to win a war on display with MacArthurs determination.

Above, very lightly sketches a picture of who we must allie with. We definitely need to be taking a backwards step and a very sober view with our US engagements: As much as possible should be put on hold or stalled with the current Administration, at least until after November, when a clearer view into the future gives a better guide.

If Democrats are re elected at that point, Australia would be given the green light by a sense of survival, and engage more deeply with China to avoid becoming another Ukraine, or Israel for that matter.

ttbn, I heard another unbelievable stuff up by the politicians and
the bureaucrats;
The new SW airport that is to start operations next year has had a
rail line built to connect the airport to the main line at St Marys.
Great except it is not compatible with the rest of the electrified
network, so passengers will board at the airport and a short while
later get off the train and wait for a western line train to go to
the city or elsewhere.
The reason; the NSW electrified system is 1500 volt DC but the new
shuttle line is 24,000 Volt AC !
Such a ding-a-ling decision could only come from politicians & burocrats !

America is probably going to double down on hostilities with China.

No Substitute for Victory
America’s Competition With China Must Be Won, Not Managed
http://www.foreignaffairs.com/united-states/no-substitute-victory-pottinger-gallagher#

"Amid a presidency beset by failures of deterrence—in Afghanistan, Ukraine, and the Middle East—the Biden administration’s China policy has stood out as a relative bright spot. The administration has strengthened U.S. alliances in Asia, restricted Chinese access to critical U.S. technologies, and endorsed the bipartisan mood for competition. Yet the administration is squandering these early gains by falling into a familiar trap: prioritizing a short-term thaw with China’s leaders at the expense of a long-term victory over their malevolent strategy. The Biden team’s policy of 'managing competition' with Beijing risks emphasizing processes over..."

I don't have access to the rest of the article unfortunately.

MATT POTTINGER served as U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser from 2019 to 2021 and as Senior Director for Asia on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. He is a co-author and editor of the forthcoming book The Boiling Moat: Urgent Steps to Defend Taiwan.
MIKE GALLAGHER served as U.S. Representative from Wisconsin from 2017 to 2024 and chaired the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party.