China

[ElwoodBlues1]

I see you think that anyone who doesn’t want to go to war against China is pro-China rather than anti-annihilation. We had our hands full when a relatively small nation in Japan swept towards Australia and we played only a minor role in that war. Yet you say you fear the US will back away from any conflict but say you want Australia to go it alone? F&*$ that! I want Australia to build alliances in our neighbourhood while arming itself so it can mount some sort of defence if the worst happens. That involves smart diplomacy rather than bluster, bravado and braggadocio.

You must have been under the table with your tin hat(embossed with the hammer and sickle of course) and a copy of the little red book and missed what is happening in Ukraine.
Who are we building alliances with?...New Zealand?, Indonesia, I can see the Indo's running to our aid when the Chinese come a calling...not, maybe our old friends in Papua New Guinea can give us a hand.
You must be slow on the uptake with China, happy to murder, squash their own people with tanks, slaughter Muslims up Nth(watch out Indonesia) and sort out Hong Kong with their kind of diplomacy that usually starts with a gun and ends in a re-education camp if you dont disappear first.
Our neighborhood relies solely on the USA breaking out the big guns and IMHO they wont do that for Taiwan and its 50/50 if they would do it for us and start a massive war with China. I'm no military analyst but we need to be arming ourselves first before we talk diplomacy imho because thats the only diplomacy China respect and they will continue to test the boundaries leading up to the eventual take over of Taiwan which wont be a war but a methodical political isolation of Taiwan first with other countries in the Pacific and then they will strangle them financially by blockades and denying them access to aid from other countries even if it was offered. The USA will not try and break blockades either in the air or by sea and Taiwan will be forced into submission with a puppet government. You, Penny, Dicky Marles and Albo can do your best to try and talk them out of it but I'd be putting energies into obtaining major defensive capabilities and encouraging the USA to build more facilities so they have something to think about defending. Pine Gap which I believe is under USA direction might not be enough one day......