Given the reliance of Australian economy on China, its a lot braver than UK or US lobbing some nasty words and finger waving Chinas way. They could easily take the NZ approach and play nice with them.
That's very true.
And that reliance is multi-faceted: it's exports of commodities, it's the country's education sector, and it's an increase amount of direct investment.
When you think about it, its quite incredible that it is now just expected that they land the booster back on the drone ship...which of course they have done again.
@MacaesBruno I must confess I am perplexed. Everything about today’s announcement seems designed to rile continental Europeans. The whiff of “English-speaking peoples”, the coincidence to the day with important, strategic announcements in Brussels, the direct hit on French industrial base…
@MacaesBruno I must confess I am perplexed. Everything about today’s announcement seems designed to rile continental Europeans. The whiff of “English-speaking peoples”, the coincidence to the day with important, strategic announcements in Brussels, the direct hit on French industrial base…
@MacaesBruno I must confess I am perplexed. Everything about today’s announcement seems designed to rile continental Europeans. The whiff of “English-speaking peoples”, the coincidence to the day with important, strategic announcements in Brussels, the direct hit on French industrial base…
@MacaesBruno I must confess I am perplexed. Everything about today’s announcement seems designed to rile continental Europeans. The whiff of “English-speaking peoples”, the coincidence to the day with important, strategic announcements in Brussels, the direct hit on French industrial base…
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
It’s revealing how they frame Australia as a pawn with no agency.
France is now forced to develop a true EU defence capability, with Germany as an equal and eventually superior parther. But I sense their heart isn’t in it. Intriguing
Isn’t the more likely outcome Taiwan has a referendum and votes to unite with China? They fled communism, but now China got more billionaires and millionaire than anyone. Being under the nationalistic umbrella might actually appeal to the Taiwanese
And the silk road China is building reaches Europe, and UK workers all use their jobs because of cheap imports? Can we blow up that dangerous road with our subs instead? Isn’t that the realistic threat. There’s numerous ways to take a country into serfdom and client state. ☹️
I thought that was a pretty likely outcome a decade ago. There was a massive thawing of relations under Hu Jintao, with direct flights opening up, and Taiwan changing its laws to allow Chinese firms to own strategic assets.
Not any more.
Relations have really deteriorated. The Taiwanese are investing heavily in defensive weaponry, including a fleet of hunter killer submarines, and upgrading all their planes.
Yet despite what governments are doing unification is still a thing amongst the people.
the same reasons you thought it likely a decade ago, they will never go away will they?
Firstly, the Taiwanese share the same nationalism as China, so that’s a factor in reunification that’s never going to go away. As Norman Tebbit would put it, who do the Taiwanese cheer for when the US and China play each other at cricket?
Secondly, they actually share the same capitalist idea’s now - look at the number of Billion and Millionaires in China.
Which brings us to an interesting third factor, how people overlook some things when there is opportunity to get get rich. As in many Taiwanese may see unification as making them and families richer and open up all sorts of opportunities.
Good. Not finding the more assertive China under Emperor Xi to their liking?
Is that how the article reads to you?
I am reading it now. That's why I put it as a question mark beforehand, as a potential guess.
My take out, amongst the articles waffle and oddly chosen metaphors, Two factors could, in a period distort such polling, if KMT or DPP are currently in the political ascendency, the sort of thing that will be in cycles, and Hong Kong, how it actually plays out in terms of impacting Taiwanese thinking, independence or unification.
So it’s not what snapshot polls may say at anytime, it’s what wise old heads sense will happen in the long term. As the article itself says, they look to Hong Kong and imagine that to be their fate eventually. Who is actually laying it on the line for Hong Kong?
So fatalism also the greater Chinese resolve to win this seemed to be the suggestion how it eventually plays out. Though pretty much disguised in the article behind fighting talk.
We haven’t really been awake to how China has been winning this Cold War for so long. It’s not an old fashioned military thing. How many countries throughout the third world, and around the world from Caribbean throughout Africa, love China for the largesse, the construction projects that would never have happened if it wasn’t for China?
Even UK. It’s only in recent years the Tory government have thrown China out of our telecom networks and cancelled the nuclear power station China was to build for us, isn’t it? Even US. only under Trump was the manufacture of all the Apple products brought back to the United States.
Chinese soft power. The sort that ought to have concerned the government before it cut the aid budget.
This is a powerful answer to those who thought the US was pulling back and the propaganda claiming Washington wasn’t a reliable ally... Doesn't "those" include Tugendhat ?
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
It’s revealing how they frame Australia as a pawn with no agency.
France is now forced to develop a true EU defence capability, with Germany as an equal and eventually superior parther. But I sense their heart isn’t in it. Intriguing
You need to be more cynical. France would love an EU defence capability because it means spending German money in French arms factories. France's complaint about last night's announcement is that it hoped to sell French submarines to Australia.
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
It’s revealing how they frame Australia as a pawn with no agency.
France is now forced to develop a true EU defence capability, with Germany as an equal and eventually superior parther. But I sense their heart isn’t in it. Intriguing
France has some pretty solid defence technology: Dassault makes pretty good fight planes (and their drone program is late but moving quickly), Safran is good in rockets and jets for fighters, Thales makes (overpriced) big ticket items like submarines.
Sweden also has some pretty decent tech.
Germany has money.
It's not that bad a combination, from a technical point of view.
The real issue the EU has is that it's not unified in its goals. Some see Russia as an enemy to be opposed, others a friend to be embraced. Some see China as a threat, and others as an export market.
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
France was excluded, not because they're unreliable (from a security perspective they're actually pretty good), but because any negotations would have taken four years, and there would have to be a Senior French ex-Politician as the public figurehead. And France just isn't that important any more.
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
France was excluded, not because they're unreliable (from a security perspective they're actually pretty good), but because any negotations would have taken four years, and there would have to be a Senior French ex-Politician as the public figurehead. And France just isn't that important any more.
France was excluded because the whole point was to cancel a French submarines order and replace it with an American one. Obviously, France could never have agreed to that.
Jeeps. The French ambassador in DC. They’re not happy
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
France was excluded, not because they're unreliable (from a security perspective they're actually pretty good), but because any negotations would have taken four years, and there would have to be a Senior French ex-Politician as the public figurehead. And France just isn't that important any more.
France was excluded because the whole point was to cancel a French submarines order and replace it with an American one. Obviously, France could never have agreed to that.
To be fair, the French got exceptionally greedy on that order. The Shortfin Barracuda had already increased in cost, and the Aussies were getting less of the construction work than they had paid for. Key deadlines had been missed. They really should have gone with the Japanese Soryu-class.
I do wonder if a deal could be done to prevent the Aussies having the vast cost of refitting their existing Collins-class. Whilst they wait for new boats, 'loan' the Aussies a spare Los Angeles class, to get nuclear know-how into the Australian navy.
Comments
And that reliance is multi-faceted: it's exports of commodities, it's the country's education sector, and it's an increase amount of direct investment.
I must confess I am perplexed. Everything about today’s announcement seems designed to rile continental Europeans. The whiff of “English-speaking peoples”, the coincidence to the day with important, strategic announcements in Brussels, the direct hit on French industrial base…
https://twitter.com/MacaesBruno/status/1438297184512974854
https://twitter.com/AFP/status/1438298533686243329
“The 🇺🇸 choice to exclude a 🇪🇺 ally and partner such as 🇫🇷 from a structuring partnership with Australia, at a time when we are facing unprecedented challenges in the Indo-Pacific region (...) shows a lack of coherence that 🇫🇷 can only note and regret.”
https://twitter.com/franceintheus/status/1438297090845720577?s=21
Doesn't "those" include Tugendhat ?
Sweden also has some pretty decent tech.
Germany has money.
It's not that bad a combination, from a technical point of view.
The real issue the EU has is that it's not unified in its goals. Some see Russia as an enemy to be opposed, others a friend to be embraced. Some see China as a threat, and others as an export market.
I do wonder if a deal could be done to prevent the Aussies having the vast cost of refitting their existing Collins-class. Whilst they wait for new boats, 'loan' the Aussies a spare Los Angeles class, to get nuclear know-how into the Australian navy.
That would be a real prize for Boris. No going back to the EU if it meant leaving that.