AUSTRALIA has talked of engaging with Asia for decades and China has become by far our largest trading partner, with 40 per cent of our exports going there.
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Last week's The Land featured articles on the accelerating loss of our Chinese markets to the US and Brazil.
Add France and Argentina. Look to Brazil and Africa for China's future iron ore supplies.
Our wool, wine, barley, wheat and beef exports are all at serious risk.
President Emmanuel Macron of France said the age of European naivety was over as he announced trade deals worth over $40 billion with China.
Saudi Arabia has announced the introduction of Chinese language classes in all its schools while Australia's teaching of Indonesian is now almost nonexistent.
Across Asia, Europe, Africa and South America there is a realisation that Western dominance for 400 of the last 2000 years is over.
The Australian newspaper wrote that the US was unhappy with Australia joining the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and drew the line on us joining China's belt-and-road project.
We are ruled by Washington.
Canberra's bureaucrats and the Murdoch's newspaper are doing Washington's bidding in attacking China.
The first Weekend Australian edition in September was full of huge assaults on all China's perceived failings.
It was a reversal of Henry Selfridge's 1909 slogan "the customer is always right" to "the customer is always wrong".
It was as inane as Julie Bishop's "China won't get anywhere until it becomes a democracy".
We would do well to leave China's internal arrangements to China.
They don't publicly criticise Australia's internal politics.
China lost 10-20 million lives from military causes during its occupation by Japan from 1932 to 1945.
They haven't forgotten.
President Trump's 2016 election platform clearly specified withdrawing US troops from Asia and putting America first.
He has delivered and the press hates him.
Here in Australia new legislation aimed at preventing our states doing international deals that Canberra doesn't approve of appears to be aimed at Victoria's Dan Andrews signing a belt-and-road document with China -and him leading an ALP government.
Petty politics is again surfacing.
China has handled the COVID-19 pandemic better than any country with a large population.
They are far advanced with internet technology - a billion Chinese use We Chat for everything and they are very disciplined.
Indonesia has ordered 50 million doses of the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine while we talk of buying the Oxford vaccine - if it eventuates.
Tony Abbott goes to England to represent UK as a trade ambassador and talks of the empire regrouping as a trade bloc.
Meanwhile tiny Barbados drops its allegiance to our Queen.
We are living in the past.
Singapore's great benevolent dictator, Lee Kwan Yew, lifted Singapore from a swamp to the richest-per-capita country on Earth in 31 years.
He once referred to Australia as "the poor white trash of Asia".
Canberra is illustrating his point.
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