Beware the bully who's supposed to be watching Australia's back

1. https://www.smh.com.au/national/beware-the-bully-who-is-supposed-to-be-watching-australia-s-back-20200521-p54v72.html

2. Opinion

   Beware the bully who is supposed to be watching Australia's backGeorge MegalogenisColumnist May 23, 2020 — 12.00am
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   Scott Morrison might owe Donald Trump a strategic apology. Australia's success in suppressing the first wave of the coronavirus doesn't sit well with the US President's latest attempt to avoid responsibility for the American death toll now approaching 100,000.

   Because if Trump is to be believed, no one could have stopped the plague. How else should the Prime Minister read the tweet Trump sent on Wednesday, directed at "some whacko in China" who was "blaming everybody other than China for the Virus which has now killed hundreds of thousands of people"?

   President Trump isn't paying much attention to Australia's success against COVID-19.Credit:AP

   "Please explain to this dope that it was the 'incompetence of China', and nothing else, that did this mass Worldwide killing!" the President tweeted.

   By that reckoning, the roll call of nations that have avoided the worst of the pandemic so far, including Australia and New Zealand in the Asia Pacific, South Korea and Taiwan in Asia, and Denmark and Greece in Europe, must have been lucky. All were in the direct line of transmission from Wuhan, but somehow the plague didn't bother knocking on their door.

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   This is patently absurd. In Australia's case, the country responsible for the greatest number of infections happened to be the United States, not China. We closed our borders to China as soon as we appreciated the risk; just as Trump himself did in late January. But the Americans weren't testing for the virus, and Australian health officials drew false comfort from their apparent low number of cases in February. The virus almost got away from us because of a failure to anticipate the threat of community transmission from Australians returning from winter holidays in the US.

   It was only after we shut the border to the US in late March, and enforced a 14-day quarantine for all Australians coming home, that the virus was suppressed. But that detail is best avoided between friends, because it would only draw Morrison into the cross-hairs of Trump's digital grievances.

   Illustration: Simon LetchCredit:

   The President's trash-talking approach to international diplomacy lost its power to shock soon after his inauguration in 2017. Allies like Australia, and competitors like China, don't take his tweets literally because they know his intended audience is domestic, and that he routinely changes his positions. A threat to wipe out a country soon turns to a sheepish invitation to talk, as North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un learned.

   But it can't have escaped Australia's attention that Trump is testing a new boundary in his attacks on China, and that this might complicate the Morrison government's attempts to stand up to Beijing.

   Trump wanted to preserve the appearance of mutual respect with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Until this week. On Thursday, he followed up the "wacko" tweet with a direct jab at Xi. "[China's] disinformation and propaganda attack on the United States and Europe is a disgrace. It all comes from the top. They could have easily stopped the plague, but they didn't!"

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   Trump sees China as a useful foil in the coming election, and the Democrat nominee Joe Biden is happy to fight on this turf. Biden's campaign team has already broadcast racially charged ads accusing Trump of rolling over to the Chinese. A bipartisan escalation appears to be unavoidable.

   There is a long history of "using China as a campaign cudgel" at election time, dating back to Bill Clinton in 1992, the former US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, wrote in The New York Times this week. But she warns that the old playbook is "particularly dangerous in these tense times when it fuels anti-Asian hostility at home and anti-American sentiment abroad, makes governing more difficult and raises the prospect of a costly Cold War – or worse".

   Australia should pause and reflect. There has been a tendency lately for the Australian and Chinese governments to trade cartoonish insults. Who started it tends to get lost in the mutual indignation. The danger for Australia is that we validate Chinese invective by accepting it as the normal way to do business. The risk beyond the immediate commercial relationship with China is that the rest of the world sees us as a smaller version of Trump's America, and stops taking us seriously.

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   Obviously, the values of Trump's America don't align with ours. Trump divides his country by political reflex. This wouldn't be unusual if he understood where to draw the line between robust debate and vilification, and between the scrutiny of his opponents and the criminalisation of their public service. But he doesn't. The race baiting at home, and abroad, isn't a tactic; it comes from deep within. So do the calls to lock people up. It is who he is. The bully that is supposed to have our back, Washington, is often indistinguishable from the bully who now threatens our economy, Beijing.

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   And Trump's economic interest in promoting an America First international order undermines our interest in a global trading system in which all nations continue to do business in good faith.
   Australia's two-way trade with China represents 26 per cent of our total trade with the world. Last financial year, that relationship was worth $235 billion, which almost equalled the combined value of our two-way trade with Japan ($88.5 billion), the United States ($76.4 billion), South Korea ($41.4 billion) and Singapore ($32.7 billion), our trading partners ranked second to fifth.

   Our two-way trade in goods and services with the Chinese has been in surplus since the global financial crisis of 2008-9, and for many decades more with the Japanese. With the Americans, we have always been in deficit. Last financial year, the surplus with China was $71.4 billion, and with Japan it was $34.9 billion. The deficit with the US was $26.9 billion.

   Australia is the world's largest supplier of iron ore and coal, and China is the world's largest importer of these two commodities. In the year to March, Australia sold $82.6 billion in iron ore and $14 billion in coal to China – 64 per cent of our total export of goods to China in that period. The Chinese don't have another quarry, either at home, or overseas, that can easily replace Australia's. Their dependency on our raw materials might increase in the short run as Beijing restarts its industries after the lockdown.

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   If Trump took the time to ponder these numbers he might just advise Morrison to play nice with the Chinese because they let us screw them. He'd also be grateful that Australia allows itself to be ripped off by the Americans.

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   On the other hand, if the Chinese continue to pick off our second-tier exports to teach us a lesson for speaking out, perhaps Trump might want to open up his economy to Australia to compensate us for our losses? For example, Australia is the world's second-largest exporter of beef. But the Americans only bought $1.1 billion from Australian farmers in the year to March, while the Chinese imported more than double that amount – $2.8 billion. The Americans would surely want some Aussie wine to go with their Aussie steak. Australia is the world's fourth-largest exporter of wine but once again, the Chinese have been more willing to buy alcohol from us than the Americans – $1.2 billion versus $450 million.

   But this is not how Trump sees the world. He'd like Americans to buy local, and to sell their surpluses to the rest of the world. A world where China cuts out Australia, and leaves us to bargain with a protectionist US, is not one that serves our interests.

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   • Trump diplomacy
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   George Megalogenis

   George Megalogenis is a journalist, political commentator and author.

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This is all propaganda BS spread by the China sycophants,  They want open borders and a globalist government controlled by a dictatorship.   Sorry BB - but I do not buy in on what the idiots try to sell to people.  Trump was not responsible for the spread of the virus - China was.   It started in China and they did their very best to lie through the WHO to cover up the potential danger of the virus,   When Trump banned the travel of foreigners from China - the fake media and the China apologists as well as the WHO called him a racist,   When he did the same iro Europe the New York Mayor tried to take him to Court,   

Meantime about a third of the deaths occurred in old age homes in the USA because the Democrat Governors of some states decided to send carriers to those homes,  That could well be called murder, but the media blame Trump while the bribed Democrats are subordinates of the Chinese Communist Party,    You will obviously enjoy it to be governed by the Chinese Communist Party of you fall for this kind of BS,              

Nooit ouMaaik, its about Australia, China & the US.

Blob please go and look at the deaths per millions on Worldometer. 

There you will find the USA doing pretty well. Especially if you realise that according to Dr Birx 25% of USA deaths reflected were NOT covid deaths

Secondly it appears some 39% of deaths occurred in old age homes very largely because 4 demonrat Governors committed genocide by sending infected people  back to these old age homes.

Taking these two things into account you can conclude the USA death rate is at the very least half the Worldometer level and so is the death rate per million. 

Getting a glimmer BLOB.  What a fathead ou Blob is  ??????

“  Secondly it appears some 39% of deaths occurred in old age homes very largely because 4 demonrat Governors committed genocide by sending infected people  back to these old age homes. “

Massively important. Especially in view of some armchair experts who like to blame Trump personally for “close to 100,000 deaths”. 

Yes they also stupidly talk about total deaths not deaths per million. The USA with a population of some 330 million is far more populous than any European state. 

You can be sure also that the 25% figure touted by Birx is a lot higher. 

It's all anti Trump spin from these idiots. 

We established some months ago that the Globalist States of America is a federation of 50 different states . . . exactly what the anti-globalists are preaching against in Europe. 

EU bad, GSA good!

LMAO!

Amazing. Defending China as they punish Australia for asking fair questions and threaten Hong Kong again. You can’t deter the liberals/communists.

Moz they are so full of hate they have even away the fact that they are nasty little commie loons. Actually its amazing all that has been unmasked since Trump became President. Much more to come of course.

Well Blob is obviously a Red Chinese fan. Amazing really, these guys are so confused it’s comical.

Indeed, let's forget about China in all this. 

Great idea.

I'm sure Blo fully supports the new regulations i n Kiwi land that allow for cops to drag you out of your house if you're suspected of having Covid.

@Plum. Ou Blobbie can sometimes be a strange character. Notice how he often throws out quite a lengthy, often boring  article, without any comment or indication of what it is that attracted his attention, prompting him to post it. 

Nothing wrong with Blob, he just really detest Trump and don't like reading positive propaganda about him, so he tries to balance it somewhat with negative propaganda. 

Well, that's my take on it anyway....everyone can't agree on everything all of the time...the test is in the way we disagree...and unfortunately things get out of hand around here at times...I must say that Blob's conduct in disagreement has been much more civil than my own on occasion...I'd like to buy him a few beers one day when things return to normal again.

“ .I must say that Blob's conduct in disagreement has been much more civil than my own on occasion... “

Yeah true. Point taken. 

Blob has descended from being a decent sensible poster into a raving loon. Nothing can avoid that sad conclusion.

Like his communist demonrat friends ou Blob spews forth CCP propaganda. Very few are buying this BS. One of the reasons ou quid pro Joe will lose in a landslide to Trump. All his pro China treason is on tape! Should be in jail now.

Because Xi has a permanent smile on his face doesn't mean he is a decent guy. Again, just because Blob generally behaves himself but spews forth communist propaganda doesn't mean he is right or even decent.

Sad yet predictable ....... no sympathy from the fanboys for the Aussies.

"Sad yet predictable ....... no sympathy from the fanboys for the Aussies."

???

It has nothing to do with backing the Aussies and everything to do with pro-Chinese propaganda, which will before 2025 turn the world into a dictatorship with China being the predominant force in it,    The Aussies and New Zealand will be flooded by Chinese migrants and that will make them an extension of Mainland China.  Watch out for it - it is coming   

I hope I do not live to see that happening - the destruction of western democracy and freedom of the individual and of culture,      

China is so fked.

The CCP is just fine though. 

They've declined to project a growth figure for this year. And that's likely because their economy will shrink by 10%. 

For them, -10% is still a better result than what would have occured had they acted responsibly and in good faith by keeping the virus within their borders. That scenario would have seen investors running for the hills.

As it stands, they'll take a decade to fully recover, dipping in and out of recession all the while.

There was a very clear motive for their deceit. Question is, does the rest of the world sue them for reparations and do the CCP survive such a push by the west? 

It would be great if culminates in the CCP losing power and China leaving their commie ways behind. Wish I knew enough to know if that was a possibility.

I didn't read your "tarticle" Blo as I only do so when the poster adds some of his own views. Something you don't appear to be fo nd of.

BB

See what is happening in Hong Kong:-

"The U.S. government will likely impose sanctions on China if Beijing implements national security law that would give it greater control over autonomous Hong Kong, White House National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien said Sunday. 

The draft legislation represents a takeover of Hong Kong, O’Brien said, and as a consequence U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo would likely be unable to certify that the city maintains a “high degree” of autonomy. This would result in the imposition of sanctions against China under the Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act of 2019, O’Brien said.  

Pompeo has already called the proposal a “death knell” for Hong Kong’s autonomy. O’Brien warned that Hong Kong could lose its status as a major hub for global finance. 

“It’s hard to see how Hong Kong could remain the Asian financial center that it’s become if China takes over,” O’Brien told NBC’s Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” He said financial services initially came to Hong Kong because of the rule of law that protected free enterprise and a capitalist system.

“If all those things go away, I’m not sure how the financial community can stay there. ...They’re not going to stay in Hong Kong to be dominated by the People’s Republic of China, the communist party.” 

The legislation was announced during the annual session of China’s parliament, the National People’s Congress. The session had been delayed for months during the coronavirus pandemic. Hong Kong faced months of at times violent anti-government protests before the pandemic effectively shut China down.  

Hong Kong has been governed under the “one country, two systems” principle since the former British colony was returned to Chinese rule in 1997. The system gives Hong Kong a high degree of autonomy and a greater degree of freedom for the special administrative region than the rest of China. 

A draft decision on “establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms” for Hong Kong was submitted to China’s parliament Friday, according to state news agency Xinhua. A document explaining the decision said the one-country two systems principle “has achieved unprecedented success in Hong Kong,” but the “increasingly notable national security risks” in the city “have become a prominent problem,” according to Xinhua.  

The document says activities “have seriously challenged the bottom line of the ‘one country, two systems’ principle, harmed the rule of law, and threatened national sovereignty, security and development interests,” according to Xinhua.

The move from China has incited strong opposition from pro-democracy activists and politicians. Thousands of protesters demonstrated for the first time since the introduction of the national security law on Sunday. Hong Kong police fired tear gas and pepper spray to disperse the crowd.

Nearly 200 political figures from the U.K., Europe, Australia, North America and Asia condemned the law in a joint"

Be happy - it is coming your way!!!!  

Poor redshark and Redrooi will be in tears as Europe, the United States, Canada, Australia and many other countries take back their supply chains from China. 

The CCP  redshark is going to get slammed. 

120 countries want an investigation. 

Boris Johnston is now not going for Huawei  5 G. 

Redshark you and your commie buddies are losers. 

The GOP are going to hammer the communist demonrats for their support of China against America. Should poor old senile corrupt racist quid pro Joe the China ou be nominee he will get eviscerated on the China issue. Joe is done. 

I know  China had a huge impact on the property market in NZ for years now...suppose the same will be true for Aussie...and South Africa to a lesser exte nt.

Ozzies must be thankful they don't have to rely on the kiwis to watch their backs.

Draad one can only hope the kiwis haven't sold their land and country out to china. The Ozzies are realizing their errors relating to China big time.