Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
1–10 of 11 posts
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#2I think the discussion of trade here misses two points.
First, it can be argued that Australia started this trade war. Long before China put any restrictions on imports from Australia, we were putting "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese steel. The ban on Huawei is a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want every mobile router in Australia to come from the same Chinese vendor. But the choice we actually have is between N networks with western hardware, or N+1 networks where the extra one uses Chinese hardware (and is possibly a lot cheaper and a bit shonkier than the others). It's not clear how that extra network would cause the collapse of Australian democracy: no one is forcing us to use it. On the other hand, it's very clear how it might cause a collapse in the profit margin of a monopolistic telecom company with close ties to the Liberal Party.
Secondly, there's that thing which everyone knows but pretends not to: trade benefits consumers much more than producers. For farmers in Australia, this means plowing some crops into the ground and delaying buying their kids the latest smart phone. For farmers in China, it means feeding their kids a diet of mercury, cadmium and melamine, when they lose access to safe and unadulterated produce. That isn't a very smart way for the Chinese government to spend its political capital, and you have to suspect this is more about vanity than deliberate strategy.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#3I think the discussion of trade here misses two points. First, it can be argued that Australia started this trade war. Long before China put any restrictions on imports from Australia, we were putting "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese steel. The ban on Huawei is a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want every mobile router in Australia to come from the same Chinese vendor. But the choice we actually have is between N networks w…
Shame on you.
When you act as a free apologist for a totalitarian government like the CCP, you're a useful idiot:
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#4I think the discussion of trade here misses two points. First, it can be argued that Australia started this trade war. Long before China put any restrictions on imports from Australia, we were putting "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese steel. The ban on Huawei is a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want every mobile router in Australia to come from the same Chinese vendor. But the choice we actually have is between N networks w…
> trade benefits consumers much more than producers
In the short term. Long term, if you don't protect them while your trading partner does, it means your key industries will become foreign-owned, or simply bankrupt. After that, the idea of sovereignty, when you own none of your economy, is laughable.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#5If I owned China I'd see the biggest threat is Western influence.
I'd see two fronts on that.
Hollywood and students studying overseas.
Every student you convince to not study in the West means you have a greater internal control.
I would have waited a few years, but Covid-19 gave the time to strike.
I'm sure it's not all of it. But I think it's a factor, Australia needs to be thought of as more of an enemy.
[edit] "bipartisan group of parliamentarians who call themselves the Wolverines"
And the Red Dawn remake was of course against China, until the Chinese shut that down.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#6I think the discussion of trade here misses two points. First, it can be argued that Australia started this trade war. Long before China put any restrictions on imports from Australia, we were putting "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese steel. The ban on Huawei is a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want every mobile router in Australia to come from the same Chinese vendor. But the choice we actually have is between N networks w…
Shame on you. When you act as a free apologist for a totalitarian government like the CCP, you're a useful idiot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot
If anything you’re the useful idiot, for the US.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#7[dead]
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#8I'm not over worried about this. While China is by far the biggest trade partner of us Australians. Australia actually has a low proportion of trade as a percentage of GDP and the products being blocked by China are all fungible (perhaps wine being the least fungible). At worst this will cause harm to some sectors for a few years, or drive down the the Australian Dollar or Australian commodities and give China's competitors an advantage. I can't see it having a large impact on Australia being more pliable to Chinese demands or the Australian economy as a whole. I don't think it will even serve the purpose of disuading other countries from taking actions Chinese finds provocative. They are alienating so many countries at the same time, including; Sweden, Czech republic, India, Japan, South Korea, United States, Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Canada at once.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Shame on you. When you act as a free apologist for a totalitarian government like the CCP, you're a useful idiot: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Useful_idiot
If anything you’re the useful idiot, for the US.
I have no problem if you want to line up for the CCP to harvest your organs, which they do to multiple religious groups.
But is that really who you want to serve?
Waiting to see your "whataboutism" for involuntary organ harvesting. No other country on earth does that.
Re: Australia faces down China in high-stakes strategy
#10I think the discussion of trade here misses two points. First, it can be argued that Australia started this trade war. Long before China put any restrictions on imports from Australia, we were putting "anti-dumping" tariffs on Chinese steel. The ban on Huawei is a bit dodgy. You wouldn't want every mobile router in Australia to come from the same Chinese vendor. But the choice we actually have is between N networks w…
> trade benefits consumers much more than producers In the short term. Long term, if you don't protect them while your trading partner does, it means your key industries will become foreign-owned, or simply bankrupt. After that, the idea of sovereignty, when you own none of your economy, is laughable.
The problem with that argument is that industries are consumers too. If anything is going to send Australian firms bankrupt, it's forcing them to pay exorbitant prices for steel and network routers that their competitors can buy cheaply.
Fun fact: these days, Australians own more of everyone else's farms and factories than they own of ours.