Well, it is worse than I feared. I have to wonder whether a lot of Australia's policies are being affected by China's rising military and economic clout:
The hardest heads in the Australian system understand what the Hu business is all about. Beijing has sent a message to Australia: tremble and obey. ...
Of course it is remotely possible that Hu, like millions of others in China, paid or received a bribe, although there is no reason to think so. But Beijing's decision to prosecute him, and the ostentatiously contemptuous manner in which it has dealt with the Australian government, was taken to intimidate Australia. In this, Beijing seems to have succeeded.
Read the article to get the context of Stern Hu. But for my purposes, the point is that China is clearly looming over Australia, and as the self-professed middle kingdom, expects those near them--like Australia--to orbit nice and quiet like.
At some level, Australians recognize that they need to bulk up to resist that gravitational pull that we can see now. If Australia doesn't tremble, Australia will have no need to obey China.
