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
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