Australia has swiftly turned down China’s offer to “join hands” against Donald Trump’s tariffs, as Washington escalates its trade war with Beijing.
The White House recently imposed an import tax of 10% on Australian goods, but for China - Australia’s biggest trading partner - raised tariffs to 125%.
China’s ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian argued joint resistance is “the only way” to stop the “hegemonic and bullying behaviour of the US”, appealing for Canberra’s cooperation in an opinion piece on Thursday.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, however, said Australians would “speak for ourselves”, while the country’s defence minister said the nation would not be “holding China’s hand”.
Former Australian here, long story short
In one hand Australia has sold off to China via raw resources, real state, education, etc. so they are quite dependant on them; but in the other hand, China has had no problem throwing its weight around using the above’s fulcrums.IMO trusting the chinese gov would be silly, as they lie, obsfucate, use and scheme against everyone; they are just another bully.
Trusting any foreign government is silly if it is about something where your and their interests don’t align (or might diverge in the future), trusting any foreign government makes sense if it is about something where you are sure interests will stay aligned for the relevant time period. Governments are not people, you can’t make friends with governments or trust them with matter 10 because matters 1-9 all worked out okay.
Have any of these countries tried being nice? I see a lot of sticks and no carrots.
They’re all run by corporate sociopaths. You’re never gonna see “nice” again from any of the plutocracy.
Read up on what China has been doing with green energy. Then Australia.
While I appreciate what China has been doing in the green energy sector, let’s not pretend it’s out of anything other than self preservation. They’re just prescient enough to realise that they need to move away from fossil fuels to not destroy their own future.
Wish I could say the same for other Western democracies. We’re too hellbent on maintaining materialistic consumerism to properly invest in our own future.
Besides that, one of their other major concerns is population, apparently they are trying to get a headstart on fixing it?
So what? China fixed climate change and is willing to sell affordable solar and batteries and EVs to the world.
USA did not do that. China did.
My point is that acting out of self interest doesn’t constitute being “nice”. They’re still willing to meddle in the internal politics of other nations if it benefits themselves, just like the US is.
China fixed climate change?
EDIT: I genuinely didn’t know climate change had been “fixed.” This is great news!! You’d think more people would mention it.
“The bottom line is that the world runs on imported fossil fuels under the umbrella of the Pax Americana,” said Kingsmill Bond, an energy analyst at Ember, a London-based energy think tank. “As Trump destabilizes that, then people will look to their own domestic energy sources, which in most cases means renewables and electrification.”
The new order that Bond is describing would push the United States to the side. While this view is optimistic about global growth of renewables, heat pumps and EVs, it also indicates a slower and dirtier path for the U.S.
Bond argues that since most countries do not have plentiful oil and gas within their borders, they need to import it and have confidence in the stability of supply and pricing. As that confidence erodes, they will look to alternatives.
Most countries do not have substantial solar panel, wind turbine or battery production, so reliance on those resources would also require imports. But the difference compared to fossil fuels is that a shipment of solar panels, for example, can provide benefits for 30 years. The buyer isn’t signing up for dependence on daily shipments of fuel.
Smart decision. China has already made clear attempts to coerce Australia, not just economically1, but militarily as well 2, 3.
As grim as foreign relations look with the USA, it would be foolish to immediately run to China instead, because they clearly do not intend to have a symmetric relationship with any of their partners either.
That’s a mistake in my opinion. We should all join hands, as a united block against these bullies.
Can’t expect a US vassal state to go against their bosses interests
The US prenteded to be Australia’s ally and friend, China is just another country who happens to be a great customer and that should be recognised but that’s about it.
I’d pivot away from the US and try and forge better and closer alliances (more like we have with NZ) with places, The EU, Canada, Japan for tradr and defence but theres no warm embrace with China.
As an Australian I’ve long been a Green voter and their policy has been arms length from the US (and China)
That the US treats us with disdain has been obvious for decades.
Oh great Australia is dropping the ball again… Sigh
honestly this is a bit more complex than that, aus has a far different relationship than US and EU have with them
