RKMBs Forums .::Important::. Politics and Current Events Coronavirus outbreak in China, and global pandemic

Yeah, there's some palpable tension between Australia and China now. Our ham-fisted leader Scott Morrison said around a year ago there should be a "weapons inspector" type investigation into the origins of the virus. Xi unsurprisingly took offence. Xi is a complete megalomaniac, a modern Hitler, but our Prime Minister should have chosen his words more wisely. There has been a UN inspection team go into Wuhan, so it was possible to frame the idea without suggesting Xi was on par with Saddam Hussein. I think he's much worse than Saddam Hussein, but diplomatic language from our Prime Minister would have helped.

Suddenly, and as a consequence, Australian meat exports, fishing exports, coal exports, wine exports, barley and other grain exports were hammered by China with fake allegations of health issues in the produce, monster tariffs on the wine, over a hundred coal carriers sitting off the coats of China unable to unload, and so on. Chinese students are now being actively discouraged from attending Australian universities, which was a huge source of income to the tertiary sector.

Australia has now found other markets for its produce, and the only other thing for China to hit is iron ore. China won't do that. Australian iron ore is much better than other sources, and their construction industry would halt if that happened - goodbye urbanisation. The iron ore price has doubled over the past few months, and mining royalties from China fill the Australian government's coffers.

China has now run out of targets within the Australian economy to smack, and that has made Australia much more assertive on issues such as Taiwan, the Uighur concentration camps, and Hong Kong. It plays out well with voters, too, many of whom are angry with China for harming small businesses and jobs. Unfortunately, it has also led to a rise in racism. Australia is very multicultural and there is a very large Asian community here. They've become targets for the shittier elements of our society. That of course is something China has made a fuss out of in its domestic media.

Australia has always backed the US in its wars, ranging from the Vietnam War, to the invasions of Iraq, to the 20 years in Afghanistan. Australia is only one of two American allies (the other being Japan) that gets access to top-of-the-line American weaponry (with the exception of Raptors). Also, we are a party to the ANZUS Treaty, in which an act of aggression against one is an act of aggression against all (the regional equivalent of the NATO Treaty). There would be very compelling reasons for Australia to join the US in backing Taiwan against a mainland invasion.

Now, i should note that I don't think a mainland invasion of Taiwan is likely. Setting aside US force projection, Taiwan isn't exactly defenceless. It has hypersonic missiles. The minute PLA infantry landed on the beaches, that's the minute hypersonic bombs are levelled at naval yards and air force bases.

Would China bomb Australia if Australia backed Taiwan and the US? Well, yes, probably. I can't see a scenario where a major city is bombed, but the US Marines have a base in Darwin which i guess is just as much of a target as the US military bases in Okinawa. The Australian Submarine Squadron's naval base is on an island about 50 kilometres from where I am right now so I guess that's a target for precision bombing. Pine Gap is a highly classified US surveillance installation in the middle of nowhere so that's probably a target. But do I think Sydney is going to get rained with laser guided missiles or intercontinental ballistic missiles? That would be a strike dictated by political considerations not military ones. Such an attack would drag the US into the fray because of the operation of the ANZUS Treaty.