Australia is more than just a “middle power”

Australia is more than just a “middle power”. Australia ranks as the 14th largest economy, the sixth largest land mass, with a population ranked about 50th and a military assessed as the 15th most powerful. We sit in the 90th percentile of nations. We are one of the world’s oldest and most successful democracies, with more than our share of Nobel prizes, Olympic medals, Oscars and Grammys. We will survive COVID-19.

We will survive COVID-19, and part of that is ignoring the illusionary $600 million in ‘lost’ exports to China because of the 80% tariff Beijing has imposed on Australian barley. That figure is based on the amount of barley exported in 2019, driven mainly by sales of high-end barley used in brewing beer. In 2020, Chinese middle-class consumer demand is nosediving, and unemployment is growing. That, amongst other social unrest concerns is driving the Chinese Communist Party’s behaviour, at home and abroad.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has been on ‘self-inspection’ tours urging industry and commerce to get the economy up and running, talking up poverty alleviation and talking down his previous goal of achieving an affluent society. Why not give Australians a bit of a trade scare whilst he’s at it. What a desperate man leading a desperate CCP.

“China currently faces the most daunting international environment since it began opening up in the late 1970s, and now it risks suffering lasting damage to its image and interests. A boomerang effect from Xi’s overreach seems inevitable. A pandemic that originated in China will likely end up weakening the country’s global position and hamstringing its future growth. In this sense, the hollowing out of Hong Kong’s autonomy in the shadow of Covid-19 could prove to be the proverbial straw that breaks the Chinese camel’s back.”

Just remember, Australia is more than just a “middle power”.