General Discussions

[Mav]

Meanwhile China have bought off the Solomon islands and now have a security agreement which is a nice cover for a military presence and refuelling depot for their shipping and all close to our backyard.
Bad form from the Solly govt but after cutting ties with Taiwan a few years back hardly surprising they have a new best buddy in the expansionist Chinese.

Morrison is great at sound bites about China but isn't so good at diplomacy and strategy. Did he see the Solomon Islands fiasco coming, and if so did he do anything to head it off? Allowing the Chinese a permanent air carrier positioned on Australia's doorstep doesn't seem to be a great strategic development.

And if he's so concerned about the Chinese threat, why didn't he stop the lease of the Darwin Port to the Chinese? Don't give me the line that the Federal Govt didn't have any role in that deal; if he'd wanted to stop it, he could have made sure it was declared against the national interest or used the Fed Govt's power over a territory to bring it to heel. It seems he's only interested in playing the tough guy by lobbing insults or doing a deal for nuclear submarines in 2038.