On 6 January 2021, the same day as President Donald Trump crossed the red line into incitement of insurrection in Washington through the assault on the Capitol, his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo also crossed a line in provocations against China.
He issued a strong statement condemning China for the mass arrests in Hong Kong and threatened sanctions against any individual or entity involved in the attack on the Hong Kong people. Where he crossed the line was by adding “I am pleased to announce the upcoming visit of U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft to Taiwan, a reliable partner and vibrant democracy that has flourished despite CCP efforts to undermine its great success. Taiwan shows what a free China could achieve.” Three days later he added further fuel to the fire by declaring the self-imposed restrictions on US diplomats, service members, and other officials’ interactions with Taiwanese counterparts as “null and void”.
Fortunately, Craft’s visit was later cancelled, due to the forthcoming Biden transition. Mike Pompeo was also intending to visit Europe but also made a last-minute cancellation, ostensibly due to the change in president, but in fact, several major Europeans he had intended to visit indicated he was not welcome.
Though obviously relieved at the cancellation of a visit to Taiwan by so senior an official as the representative to the United Nations, China had made no attempt to disguise its displeasure over increased relations with Taiwan. Considering how much Taiwan matters to the Beijing leaders, and how provocative Pompeo has been in his behaviour towards the People’s Republic of China in the last few months, it is difficult to imagine anything he could do more likely to anger the PRC in his last days as secretary of state. Maybe he is just preparing the ground for a tilt at the presidency himself in 2024.
And then on 12 January, a secret strategic Trump Administration document from 2018 was released prematurely about the Indo-Pacific. Its content was to note emerging convergence with a range of countries, including India, Japan, Australia, South Korea and others, but the list also includes Taiwan. Not surprisingly, the enemy is set up as China. Probably the reason for the premature release was to try and tie the hands of the incoming Biden Administration.
The mainstream media have warned that China would use the chaos in Washington to provoke an attack on Taiwan. It seems to me, however, that precisely the opposite is happening. It is Washington that’s doing the provoking, with Pompeo apparently doing as much damage to relations with China as he can on his way out the door. He seems to enjoy poking Beijing in the eye, an action I think should be condemned in the strongest possible terms, especially considering the “century of humiliation” that was hopefully firmly in the past. Meanwhile, China is acting with restraint so remarkable that it’s difficult to know how long it can last. If he has any sense at all Biden will renounce Pompeo’s latest provocations.
On 10 January Marise Payne and the foreign ministers of the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, but not New Zealand, issued a statement that they wanted to “underscore our serious concern at the mass arrests of 55 politicians and activists in Hong Kong for subversion under the National Security Law.” Fortunately, this joint statement avoided mentioning Taiwan. This is a line that even loyal allies are so far unwilling to cross. If ever there was an issue that Australia and others should keep right out of, it is Taiwan. It is true that for China this is an issue of top importance, whereas the West and especially the United States do not really care about it. But I would argue that, since the international community, including the United States, still recognizes Taiwan as a province of China, to change that now would be unprecedented treachery and folly, and a huge and unwarranted insult to China, which could easily lead to war.
As for Hong Kong, China immediately demanded Washington respect its judicial sovereignty. One can imagine how scornful the United States or Australia would be at Chinese intervention in our law systems. In a news conference on 7 July spokesperson Hua Chunying noted a big irony. She noted that in July 2019 there were riots in Hong Kong, with violent protestors breaking into the Legislative Council, ransacking the main chamber, smashing facilities, and throwing toxic liquid and powder at police officers. Powerful Westerners had described the scene as “a beautiful sight” and the rioters as “democratic heroes”: “The American people stand with them.” But when the same thing happens in Washington, she said, the protestors were “rioters”, “extremists” and “thugs” carrying out “an assault on democracy”.
In an opinion piece in The Australian (11 January), right-wing analyst Alan Dupont dismissed the distinction Hua had raised: “This is spurious”, he wrote. “There is no moral equivalence between a society that defends its democratic institutions and one that subjugates its people to the dictates of an autocrat.” Actually, I think there is a moral equivalence. Both sets of protestors were unjustifiably trying to damage legitimate legislatures. What makes the difference is the eyes of the beholder.
The coalition of groupings coming out in support of Trump during the last few days of his presidency is very striking. Here’s a very incomplete list.
In Australia, they include anti-China hawks such as Queensland Liberal Member for Dawson George Christensen and New South Wales Liberal Member for Hughes Craig Kelly. Several Chinese groups hostile to the CCP have expressed ongoing support for Trump, such as the government in Taiwan, Hong Kong former and current protestors and even some dissidents who marched against the authorities in Beijing in 1989.
The sooner we are rid of Trump and his Secretary of State Pompeo, the better. This Administration has done more damage to both American and Australian relations with China than any since the 1960s. There’s no need for me to contribute here to the speculation about what incoming President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken will be like. But they’d have to be better than Trump and Pompeo.
The Washington insurrection reveals a faltering American society in which serious divisions, violence and racial, class and other inequalities appear to be worsening. What follows about Australia-China relations is that we should downgrade our security relations with the United States. It is not a country appropriate for us to deal with on such a level.
COLIN MACKERRAS, AO, FAHA is Professor Emeritus at Griffith University, Queensland. He has visited and worked in China many times. He is a specialist on Chinese history, theatre, minority nationalities, Western images of China and Australia-China relations and has written widely on all topics. His many books include Western Perspectives on the People’s Republic of China, Politics, Economy and Society, World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2015.
Comments
26 responses to “It’s dangerous for Australia to be so dependent on the United States”
Dependent ?
There’s nothing more submissive than the Canberra Poodle Club are to Washington’s dog’s of war.
Thank you. Pompeo in 2024 would be worse than Trump in my humble opinion. A complete zealot and more dangerous by far. Joe the world needs you to grab this opportunity with both hands!
Keep your friends close and your enemies closer. China has never been a threat, nor has it any reason to threaten Australia so there is no need to start an arms race on behalf of another country when Australia can chart its own foreign policies and peacefully coexist with its neighbours as she has done for centuries.
Because of the 1975 CIA orchestrated coup against then prime Minister Gough Whitlam no thanks to the treasonous John Kerr – AU has effectively become a US vassal state where the steps of parliament house serve as steppingstones towards cushy and or lucrative corporate appointments.
Same goes for any other nation that’s deemed to be part of the WEST – aka Washington’s Economically Submissive Territories.]
Thank you Colin Mackerrass.
As I mentioned yesterday I was concerned about an editorial I read on the 10th January in the Global Times. I think China was predicting an impending clash in the Taiwan Strait in the last days of the Trump presidency and they had got to a point after more than four years of his administration to have had more than enough US interference in Taiwan and the general region. Pompeo’s recent meddling was cited in the article. Trump has been underhandedly backing Taiwan for years with increased weapons sales, and he also created a de facto US embassy on the island earlier during his term; this while the US still officially supports the One China Policy. In my view the Chinese have been very patient in not triggering action over the entire term of Trump’s presidency, especially over his abusive anti-Chinese and racist rhetoric – it was clear in the article that they had had a gutful.
Since then Trump has been impeached again and had his wings clipped, and while he and Pompeo go about their campaign of revenge and setting traps to cause problems for the Biden administration, the Democrats don’t see this as much of an issue. If you know Trump through the many books that have been written about him, he specifically enjoys revenge. But Democrats say today that Trump has done all of this through executive action, so they can undo it the same way and it will not take that much time. While the US will continue with its geopolitical aims over China, the rhetoric will change and a more rational approach will be taken after Biden is inaugurated. Matters are likely to cool down from the shrill levels of abusive talk. Ironically none of it has worked for Trump or Pompeo either, both have effectively achieved nothing.
Here in Australia our federal government is painting itself in to a corner with many issues. Morrison seems quite adept at backing the wrong horses, he cannot possibly win when his luck finally runs out. If we had a MS media that was in any way decent instead of feeding us bland junk-food journalism full of omissions, he would have been gone long ago.
One thing I notice reading American newspapers like the NY Times or the Washington Post is that their journalism, particularly at he moment is incisive and well researched, and they will get to the bottom of all of the details surrounding Trump’s inciting of the Capitol event. Every day more people are arrested, and it is becoming clear that those who entered the building were primarily connected with white supremacy terrorist groups, and they are not going to get away with it. This is a serious problem in the US now as many people know.
Focusing back on Morrison: I say he backs losers ultimately, in that he cannot possibly win against climate change, nor can he win if he goes down path of the Trump direction, of which Scott’s party has more than its fair share of members who align with Trump’s fascism inclined views. Scott’s new cabinet is also stacked with Pentecostals (Pompeo is also one), and Evangelists, some of which are also anti-Chinese stirrers. Some of the right wing religious followers that exist now are literally crazy in their Yellow Peril views. It is neo-medievalism.
Trump is not popular in Australia by a wide margin, and I don’ t think Trumpism will stick here. We don’t like egotists, braggers, and pathological liars, at least to Trump’s extent, while America doesn’t always see this in its confusion over what ‘freedom’ actually means. Morrison is also going to have to face the wrath of voters when the Santa Claus money dries up, as it is already doing. And if the China situation doesn’t improve with sensible and rational diplomacy then we are going to be hit seriously in economic terms. To date Morrison’s megaphone diplomacy has failed completely, and we are only shooting ourselves in the foot if we continue to dream that Trump is still president. The prime minster’s unwillingness to criticise Trump inspired brutes at the Capitol, and his inability to condemn the comments that the US election was fraudulent, from members of the Coalition somewhat gives us clues about where his mind is at.
While there has been much discussion on what Morrison actually stands for, it has become much clearer since the storming of the Capitol. It certainly isn’t quiet Americans, like the ‘quiet Australians’ he favours in this country. And we know from ASIO that white supremacist groups in Australia are now our main terrorist concern, just as in the US.
When full details of those that carried out the attack on the Capitol are released, it is certainly going to make it very clear where Scott’s views stand, and he will have most certainly backed another loser.
Got to laugh at this: “……….. and they had got to a point after more than four years of his administration to have had more than enough US interference in Taiwan and the general region. ”
China holds no right to the “general region” and the US has had ties to countries in that “general region” for 80+ yrs. In addition Taiwan is not Chinese territory, it’s an independent country.
The joint communique of 1972 only states we acknowledge China’s position that Taiwan is province of China, it doesn’t state we accept that claim.
“The Australian Government recognises the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China, acknowledges the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China, and has decided to remove its official representation from Taiwan before 25 January 1973.”
BTW, how’s the virus hunt going in Wuhan; have they locked everyone up who isn’t toeing the CCP line as yet?
You really need to examine your tendency to jump to wild conclusions about what I and many others say. You go strait to hyperbole and inventing exaggerated views, and assessments of people that are completely off the mark. You are not here to discuss anything, but force your mistaken opinions on everyone else.
I cite ‘general region’ because where the war games are played out, freedom of navigation exercises that could trigger a clash, and permanent reconnaissance and interference on the part of the US. I would say it extends from the East China Sea, Strait of Taiwan, to the South China Sea, and meddling with Hong Kong = General region. Get it?
Taiwan is not recognised as an independent country by the US or Australia.
“Australia adheres to its one-China policy, which means we do not recognize Taiwan as a country. We maintain unofficial contacts with Taiwan promoting economic, trade and cultural interests.” Reference from DFAT.
https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/china/Pages/china-country-brief#:~:text=Australia%20adheres%20to%20its%20one,economic%2C%20trade%20and%20cultural%20interests.&text=Most%20Australian%20state%20governments%20are%20represented%20in%20China's%20leading%20commercial%20centres.
You can play around with semantics but this is the US position:
“When the United States moved to recognize the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and de-recognize the Republic of China (ROC) in 1979, the United States stated that the government of the People’s Republic of China was “the sole legal Government of China.” Sole, meaning
the PRC was and is the only China, with no consideration of the ROC as a separate sovereign entity.
Repeat:
” the PRC was and is the only China, with no consideration of the ROC as a separate sovereign entity.”
The United States did not, however, give in to Chinese demands that it recognize Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan (which is the name preferred by the United States since it opted to de-recognize the ROC). Instead, Washington acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan was part of China. ”
Again: “Washington acknowledged the Chinese position that Taiwan was part of China. ”
https://www.csis.org/analysis/what-us-one-china-policy-and-why-does-it-matter
And thank you for the quote about the Australian government’s position. You must be only one of a few people on this site that supplies evidence that actually defeats your claim.
The last bit about the virus is just spurious nonsense. Have they locked up everyone in the US yet that stormed the Capitol? Have they locked up Trump yet who largely neglected his people to the point that you have the largest infection and death rates in the world, and it is still no better.
And after the UN investigation report, we can discuss the origin of the virus. The rest is just aggressive nonsense.
Once again you don’t actually counter anything I say in my article, other than the One China policy, and your wild interpretation over “general region”.
Again, supplanting your view over the actual facts.
There is no document that confirms any diplomatic language, the so called recognition of China’s claim over Taiwan is a one page communique: https://pmtranscripts.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/original/00003119.pdf
That is it. DFAT can say what it likes, it has no legal standing. The communique allows China to think as it likes and the same as us. It’s a word game, China’s happy with the wishy washy wording, it’s vague and deliberately so. Same goes with the US as you have pointed out. No western gov accepts Taiwan as a sovereign Chinese province and for you to argue so is ridiculous. The west could shut down Taiwan in an instance if it so chose to, but it doesn’t, and why? Because they do not accept China’s claim on Taiwan.
Still no answer from you as to how Xi became a billionaire, why, is it because he’s more corrupt than any western leader ever has been.
Once again you give me a link that supports my claim. I talk about the One China policy which is the officially agreed and stated position, but you go off on a whole lot of other tangents about legalities etc, that you somehow conclude I was writing about.
Taiwan was in the hands of the Japanese for 50 years from 1895-1945. Before that it was under Qing (Chinese) rule from 1683–1895. After 1911 and the demise of the Qing dynasty, Chiang Kai-shek controlled China as leader under the Kuomintang authoritarian one-party state (no democracy). China was then called ROC. The US had always backed Chiang with a great deal of financial and political support, something well documented. After world war II and the Japanese surrender, the US actually ferried ROC troops to Taiwan to accept the Japanese surrender. So it was in fact giving it back to China because Chiang Kai-shek was the leader, was born there, lived there, and waged the civil war in mainland China. It was the later split after the end of the Chinese civil war that made Taiwan a place for ROC supporters to escape to. Of course no thanks were given to Mao for helping in repelling the Japanese forces in China when the communist and Kuomintang forces joined together in pushing the Japanese out. Yet this is what led to taking Taiwan back. Clearly when Chiang was eventually defeated it changed from ROC in China to the PRC.
So if Chiang was Chinese, was born and lived on the mainland, was the official leader at the time, and it was he that claimed Taiwan back for China, then it was China’s was it not? He lost against Mao’s forces later in 1949 and he and around 2 million of his troops escaped to Taiwan. How would that make Taiwan an independent country?
You make a claim about Xi Jinping’s personal wealth but provide no evidence.
And even if you could from a reliable source, why is it OK for POTUS Trump to be a billionaire as he claims and not for the Chinese leader?
test.
Ummm, responded to this before and it disappeared!
If you don’t get this I can’t help you!
“The Australian Government recognises the Government of the People’s Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China,………..
So Australia recognises China as the sole gov of China, thus refuting Taiwan’s claim on ALL of China.
Continuing………….,acknowledges the position of the Chinese Government that Taiwan is a province of the People’s Republic of China,……
Note, it states we acknowledge the POSITION of China on Taiwan, that’s it, end of story. That doesn’t mean acceptance of China’s claim.
continuing…………and has decided to remove its official representation from Taiwan before 25 January 1973.
Yes, we downgraded our diplomatic office to enable trade, that is it.
The US position is no different.
“The history of the island of Taiwan dates back tens of thousands of years to the earliest known evidence of human habitation.[1][2] The sudden appearance of a culture based on agriculture around 3000 BC is believed to reflect the arrival of the ancestors of today’s Taiwanese indigenous peoples.[3] The island was colonized by the Dutch in the 17th century, followed by an influx of Hoklo people including Hakka immigrants from the Fujian and Guangdong areas of mainland China, across the Taiwan Strait. The Spanish built a settlement in the north for a brief period but were driven out by the Dutch in 1642.”
So China are colonisers as well. Well, we all knew that as China has never been one, it was many and was colonised by the Han.
As to Trump’s wealth, well we all know where that came from, his daddy. Where did Xi’s wealth come from? I won’t state what I think, I guess that’s why my previous post was deleted, you can say what you like about Trump here, but not Xi.
You have an idealogical penchant for the CCP style of gov, a gov that imprisons its own people for daring to speak out.
Dependency on the US has an advantage (security blanket) and disadvantae (loss of export revnue).Being too dependent of the US means adopt US foreign policy so easily and without thinking about our own interests – perhaps a noble unselfish attitude as a friend. However friendship is 2 way street, and if it is not reciprocal, then we have been had. If US is a true friend then it would have adviced us to tread gently with China else we lose our livimg. Goading us on would be an eventual decoupling and great economoc loss to Australia. Question is –
What is a friend?
What kind of friend destroys your economy?
America Has No Allies, Only Hostages [Caitlin Johnstone]
What, compromising the sovereignty and economy of Oz for unneeded and expensive military protection is “security”?
Gimme a friggin’ break.
Seriously and long term, it could be dangerous for us to drastically amend our dependence on Washington.. Not because of China.Washington is going to be around a lot longer than China, but if we set our own agenda we might just find ourselves in a very unpleasant predicament. In principle of course we should go our own way, but world politics is not like that. If we ruffle too many feathers in Washington, we just might pay a heavy burden for it. The USA has no compunction in insisting on their own way and saying we must oblige. Do we want to set such a path for ourselves?
That makes no sense whatsoever.
Do the math, and over a couple of decades see what happens.
How can you justify that America will be around a lot longer than China? And what do you actually mean by that?
I’m not saying China is poor. What I am saying is that China doesn’t have the resources to match the USA over the long term. China may match the USA for a decade or two, but it’s basically a poor country in matching assets.
What about human resource? Israel is a resource poor country but has huge human potential. Britain has been known to produce a huge number of very talented physicists for the US. Many south American countries have huge resources, and so has African countries. You can’t say that many of the North European countries are wealthy and advanced because they have lots of resources – the North Sea oil is all they have and even that is shared. You said China cannot last as long as the US without understanding that the US has a history of about 700 years. China has a continuous history of at least 2,500 starting from the time of my ancestors in the Zhou dynasty. It dipped about the early 1800s when it was ravaged by Britain and followed soon after by several countries in the West including the US and Japan. It is now recovering and regaining its previous place in its region. I know that you are anxious to see the West succeed and eclipse China. How history will pan out will be revealed to us as it would. Meanwhile, I wish your wish all the best.
We are not talking about today. You are. It’s a finite planet, remember? Finite means it’ll be different in the future. Better maybe for a while then worse. It’s inescapable eventually. Think scarcity.
May I also point out that what you said about China being not able to feed itself is totally incorrect. In fact, just a few clicks in Google will produce many reliable sources that tells you China is self-sufficient in grain. In fact, recent information indicates that it produces enough to feed 22% of the world’s population on 6% of arable land that it owns.
Chinese written history goes back 3,500 years. It is thought the civilisation may predate that far more and is likely to be much older. It is the longest continued history that we know of.
During all of that time and through many dynasties, Chinese people have demonstrated over and over again their extraordinary resilience and ability to survive. This despite periods of mass flooding, drought, disease, famine, earthquakes, typhoons, and times when they faced invasion from many directions.
It is said that the reason why Chinese diet is so extensive and varied (and has foods unpalatable to some in the West) is only because they learned to eat anything and everything in order to survive. There are accounts from history that tell stories of Chinese people eating mud from rivers in order to see through temporary famine.
If I had to choose one characteristic that stands out about Chinese people, it is their ability to endure and rise from the phoenix’s ashes over and over again. They have not been afraid either, to dispense with dynasties when the emperor/empress lost the ‘mandate of heaven’ culminating in his/her loss of the support of the people, and the start of a new dynasty. They survive by working very hard in organised ways, and working together as extended families and communities to overcome virtually everything that has come their way.
There is no doubt all indicators tell us that China is most certainly at the beginning of a new phase where it will rise again, probably more than any other time in the past. Despite Western views that are often patronizing, the country continues to exceed the predictions of its critics. It’ s doing it again now despite Covid-19.
We know that China’s economy is now rivaling that of the US yet it is still a developing nation due to the poorer people, often in rural regions. If it is a developing nation then it will continue to develop. Overall, Chinese people appear to be quite happy with the increase in prosperity since capitalism was reintroduced and that the CCP has vastly improved their lives. While the American dream has subsided, the Chinese dream is only just beginning.
As part of that development China has secured many markets for its products throughout the world, and also many sources of imports including food. That is also part of the BRI. It has also vastly improved infrastructure. This has been because of the work of the CCP, its long term plans of up to 50 years, and the fact that the government can achieve them because unlike Western democracies, there is no partisan opposition that frequently destroys or inhibits the plans of the elected party, or act out of malice to stymy the advance of another party as we see Trump doing in America with the Republican Party’s support.
America is internally focussed, and some of the issues that plagued the country during the American Civil war are still causing division in US society. The US has massive debt and just added another US 2 trillion to the bill. Perpetual wars for more than 100 years have cost it dearly, and its military budget is staggering. Many people work two jobs but are still poor. The transference of wealth to the rich 0.6% of population has been staggering. Infrastructure in the US such as its roads and bridges are in much need of repair. The country appears to be losing its power and place in the world because of internal bickering and social division. The US also imports quite a reasonable amount of food, such as tomatoes from Xinjiang (thanks to Trump telling us so) and many other staples.
In the war of minds, it appears that SE Asia is turning more in the direction of China, as they see it as the key to a centralised Asian rise in the world. Pompeo’s recent trip to the region was a failure.
I don’t agree with your assessment, I think you are mistaken. There’s a lot more I could say, but I’ve already used a lot of space. Personally I’d rather see the US survive, improve its situation for its people, and sort out its divisions. I’d also like to see it get along far better with China and vice versa. But for that to happen notions of one country being better than the other, or that only one country should dominate the world are going to have to change. We are all better off working together for a common purpose, every problem in the future requires that we do.
You know what they say;”thePast is another country” I’m not making an unrealistic forecast. The reality will be that we all collapse the way we are going on this finite planet. It will depend on how we husband the available resources. right now China is doing well. But it will end. There is no survivable alternative unless we change tack and stop overexploitation of the natural resources. available. Do you believe China will do it first? I don’t. I see no signs of their changing dircction. All your proposals require resources to just continue endlessly. The cliff is not that far away for China.
I can agree with your views on climate change, and we are all going to be affected by that far sooner than later. More and more reports come out that predict catastrophic scenarios (as you would know), and the media and world in general are still trying to prop up the delusory view that the consumer society can continue unabated. I am one of the only people who also see the virus as positive in some ways given it is actually slowing down capitalist-consumerism and flagrant use of fossil fuel energy and it will be a long time before it is over. We have to adapt to a different model of economy and even governance because the current system appears full of corruption. Personally I have opted for a post-consumerism life style.
Given climate change and environmental degradation will affect all of us, then all countries will be submitted to that in varying degrees including China, and the US.
There may be a some hope now that Biden is coming into power, but Xi Jinping has been outlining the direction China will take in 14 points and it also includes 2 points on environmental policy:
4. Adopting new science-based ideas for “innovative, coordinated, green, open and shared development.
5. Coexist well with nature with “energy conservation and environmental protection” policies and “contribute to global ecological safety”.
I think he is serious about this and because China can plan, commit, and deliver without opposition it can mobilise and act very quickly.
Whether you want to believe that or not is up to you, but one constant pitch made at China by the West is that they can never be trusted, and that is pure prejudice. As I say, we tend to underestimate modern China over and over again.
By the way I not pushing for China’s system of governance, but the facts are that the one party system can move much more quickly without opposition to its policies.
We can also observe that given China has 1.4 billion people, is the industrial hub of the world, and processes raw materials like steel from iron ore, has been on an infrastructure boom etc., per capita they still use far less energy than Australia or America.
There was a time, not so very long ago, when the Liberal Party had leaders who were not mere mouthpieces for foreign hawks and ideologues. More recently one of them, disillusioned by his successors, warned us about “dangerous allies”. Paucity of vision, ignorance and fear of regional neighbours characterise the Limp Narrow Party.
Malcom Fraser turned a bit bolshie after Lloyds of London cleaned him out.
The mainstream Australian right has always been hyper-imperialist because they are so frightened for their property in this little white outpost at the arse-end of Asia.