Natasha Kassam and the AFR have it wrong on China-Australia tensions

Australia is fast becoming a sad joke, an object lesson in how not to behave towards China. If we are becoming an example, it is an example of what to avoid.

‘According to lore, or perhaps mythology, a newspaper editor in the Antipodes warned the Kaiser in circa 1914 not to do something or other – which, needless to say, he did. Or perhaps it was the Tsar at the time of the Crimean War. In any event, the phrase ‘We Warn the Kaiser’ has come to illustrate gratuitous warnings by self-important types which have no effect whatsoever.’ (Gerard Henderson’s Media Watchdog, Issue no 457 26 June 2019).

Ms Natasha Kassam, a research fellow in the diplomacy and public opinion program at Lowy Institute, may have hoped that the…