It sounds like a scene straight out of a gangster movie. A new gang looks to take over a rival's territory. Thugs show up at a store and tell the merchant it'd be a shame if anything happened to his business but they can make sure he's protected - for a price. The shopkeeper, caught between two rival gangs, has to make a decision that might cost him his business or even his life.
This time the upstart gang is China and the territory is Australia. The none too subtle message is that it's time for Australia to find a new "godfather" and ditch U.S. protection for Chinese.
"AUSTRALIA must find a ''godfather'' to protect it and cannot juggle its relationships with the US and China indefinitely, according to a prominent Chinese defence strategist.
"The warning by Song Xiaojun, a former People's Liberation Army senior officer, comes after the Foreign Affairs Minister, Bob Carr, was told by his opposite number that Australia's close military alliance with the US was an outdated throwback to the Cold War era - an issue raised in two other meetings with senior Chinese officials.
'''Australia has to find a godfather sooner or later,' Mr Song told the Herald yesterday. ''Australia always has to depend on somebody else, whether it is to be the 'son' of the US or 'son' of China.
''[It] depends on who is more powerful and based on the strategic environment.'''
Mr Song said Australia was dependant on exporting iron ore to China ''to feed itself'' but that it had not done enough to engage with the middle kingdom.
'Frankly, it has not done well politically,'' Mr Song said."
I'm pretty sure the same message was delivered to Stephen Harper a year or two ago, and it looks like Canada has chosen to move towards China.
ReplyDeleteThat's a chilling thought. It brings to mind several years ago when China hooked BC on coal exports. We were going to be BFF. We would be exporting scads of BC coal at great prices. The province developed Tumbler Ridge to mine the gold and the Point Roberts coal docks to ship it. Spent a fortune - real mega-projects.
ReplyDeleteAll the while, China was locking up similar deals with Australia and across the Pacific Rim. Nobody saw it coming. Before anyone knew it, China had market control.
In each of the deals China inked was a provision that, if market prices fell, China's price would be adjusted accordingly. By getting a lock on the market, China was easily able to manipulate the price downward forcing its suppliers and their duped governments to take losses and write-offs when they had expected great bounty. What a fiasco.
"By getting a lock on the market, China was easily able to manipulate the price downward forcing its suppliers and their duped governments to take losses and write-offs when they had expected great bounty"
ReplyDeleteDem abacuses (or is that abaci?) sure do work good, eh?
What can law abiding citizens expect? When Her British Columbian Highness is interviewed on CBC the House last Saturday says...we are presently building a liquid gas pipeline and if there were to be a leak it would only go into the air. Dah, dah and more dah. All those bloody people see are jobs so the stupid Canadian (tongue in cheek) people will vote them in again. 71% of companies in Fort McMurray are foreign owned. Huskey...Canadian...is 98% foreign owned. Suncor..Canadian...is 71% foreign owned. The money is going out of the Country with a possible 20% left in the hands of Canadians with bonuses skimmed off the top of that. 43% of oil used in the Atlantic, Quebec and 13%of that in Ontario is brought in from countries like Algeria, Saudi Arabia, Argentina while all the oil out of Newfoundland is being tankered off to the US at reduced rates. Why would the PM be any different to their Highnesses from B.C., Alberta or anywhere else in this country from any particular named government. The direct job creation in FMcM is 188,000 while 700,000 manufacturing jobs have to date been lost in Canada. Is Malcair far off the mark? To be truthful, isn't oil helping in keeping the Canadian dollar high? It's time being in accord with fact and reality be forced upon those people sitting in political positions with their cushy little arses travelling around the world making deals on behalf of the Canadian people...the amount of wool that has been pulled would make enough insulation for all housing construction going on at the moment in this country. What a friggin joke!!
ReplyDeleteforgot...16% of the Chinese government owned oil company is also taking out of FMcM and now going to help finance the pipe line to B.C. Stupid is as stupid gets. Selling Canada into thin air.
ReplyDelete