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Australian Polity, Volume 10 Number 1 & 2

March 2022 issue of Australian Polity

March 2022 issue of Australian Polity

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Xi’s assertion that there is ‘no Iron Cap Prince that cannot

be punished’ - an allusion to the powerful princes of the

Qing dynasty - was seen also as a thinly veiled threat to

his prominent political rivals.

The CCP’s threat to Taiwan is real, but Xi’s immediate

goal is to achieve total power internally. His rhetoric is

directed at the Chinese people and members of the

CCP in the lead-up to the 20th National Party Congress

in 2022 where he aims to obtain another five-year term

as General Secretary.

The medium-term threat to Taiwan and the international

rules-based order is why other nations must use this

critical time to build formal and informal alliances and to

strengthen their defences. There is no time for wishful

thinking, sentimentality, or lack of preparedness.

States of America has been focusing a lot on itself and

has strategic interests that are being redirected towards

China and the Pacific”, and “it would also be naïve of

us – or rather, we’d be making a terrible mistake – if we

didn’t seek to learn lessons from it and act accordingly.

And so it’s with the same pragmatism, the same clearsightedness

about our independence, that we must, as

Europeans, play our part in our own protection.’

Oui monsieur le président. Just as France should protect

its sovereignty and seek the optimal means for peace and

stability in Europe, so must Australia in the Indo-Pacific.

This article was first published in the Spectator Australia.

Hence AUKUS. The French expressed outrage about

the submarine decision, complaining that they had been

betrayed by Australia. They were supported by Malcolm

Turnbull and Kevin Rudd who attacked the decision in

Le Monde, despite the revelation that Australia had not

signed on to the next phase of the submarine project,

expressly stating so. The French Naval group has been

on notice for a long time that the arrangement was

increasingly problematic.

Contrast the reaction by the French to AUKUS to another

statement by a world leader: ‘[People] must get over their

naivety. When we’re under pressure from powers that are

sometimes becoming harsher, to react and show that we

too have the power and capacity to defend ourselves

doesn’t mean giving in to escalation, it merely means

ensuring we’re respected…we must, as [People] play

our part in our own protection.’

Was that the Australian, Japanese or Indian PM, asserting

the reality of their responsibility to defend their national

interests? No, replace the word [people] with [Europeans].

The statement was made by the President of France,

Emmanuel Macron, who was outlining French interests

in announcing a ‘Strategic Partnership for Cooperation

in Defence and Security’ including a deal to build naval

ships for Greece in their conflict with Turkey.

Macron added, ‘for just over 10 years now, the United

Australian Polity 29

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