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Letters | Australia and China must take off Cold War-tinted glasses and really see each other
- Readers discuss Sino-Australian relations, China as viewed by the US, and how China must make real progress in protecting women
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Australia is off to a good start resetting its relationship with the Pacific Islands and China. Its participation in the recently concluded Pacific Islands Forum was most promising in this regard.
But it’s early days. Most urgently, we need a better Sino-Australian mutual understanding as the basis for a rapprochement between our two countries.
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China needs a better understanding of Australia’s close relationship with the United States, arising from the Pacific war; and Australia needs a better understanding of China’s long-standing view of itself as the centre of the civilised world and its resentment at having been pushed around by the West and Japan in the past.
Clearly, China is – legitimately, from its point of view – challenging the Western hegemony in the region that was established by force during the Pacific war. So far it is not doing so by direct conquest but rather by non-violent, mainly economic, means.
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Both Australia and China need to disregard strident voices within their own ranks wanting to redefine the relationship using provocative Cold War rhetoric.
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