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Letters | Chinese live-fire drill near Australia was not aimed just at the US

Readers discuss the pressure on Canberra to choose between China and the US, and Dr Sun Yat-sen’s legacy

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Australian navy ship HMAS Arunta (lower left) sails near a Chinese navy replenishment vessel and frigate in the Tasman Sea on February 13. Photo: Australian Defence Force/ AFP
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China’s reasonable and well-balanced approach to international relations outlined by Chinese Foreign minister Wang Yi in his press conference on March 7 contrasts sharply with the Trump administration’s bellicose, bullying, imperialist, isolationist approach to international relations (“In turbulent Trump times, China frames itself as defender of world stability”, March 7).

It’s a contrast that presents Australia with an acute dilemma: how to reconcile our conflicting China and US relationships. Central to this dilemma is the fact that we now find ourselves locked in a strategic alliance with an American ally of doubtful reliability.

US President Donald Trump’s behaviour is undermining the basic rationale behind our two strategic alliances with the United States: Aukus and ANZUS. Both alliances exist in defence of democracy and the rule of law in international relations.

Clearly, while Trump behaves as he does, our strategic alliance with the US is incompatible with our developing rapprochement with our largest trading partner China.

The reality may very well turn out to be that, unless Trump desists from his wrecking-ball approach to international relations, Australia will have to make a choice between Trump’s US and most of the rest of the world including like-minded countries in Europe and our Indo-Pacific region (including China).

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