There is little or no evidence that China poses a direct military threat to Australia. However, the Sinophobes among political ranks and the commentariat are trying to ensure that Beijing will treat Canberra as a hostile entity.

The shock waves generated by the circumnavigation of Australia, including live-fire exercises, by three Chinese warships last February continue to ripple through the defence and security establishment.

Despite Defence sources confirming at the time that there was no breach of international law, the local usual suspects went into overdrive.

Opposition defence spokesman Andrew Hastie condemned the Chinese navy’s exercises as a “provocation”. Former senior defence official Michael Shoebridge then escalated the language significantly, describing the Chinese navy as engaging in an “aggressive act”.

The Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s executive director Justin Bassi claimed Beijing was testing Australia’s resolve. “Yes it’s legal, but it’s clearly an intimidatory gesture,” he declared.

Given that Defence confirmed that the exercises occurred well over 600km off the Australian coast and well into international waters, our so-called national security experts seemed both very easily intimidated and quick to shoot from the hip.

On last Sunday’s ABC Insiders program, journalist Jane Norman reported that Bassi, in light of the public reprimand administered by Anthony Albanese regarding ASPI’s often febrile and exaggerated claims in national security matters, has attempted to further exploit the affair by claiming without any evidence that the Chinese flotilla was “rehearsing strikes on Australian cities, national infrastructure and joint military facilities".

We should be concerned at such intemperate and inflammatory language. It risks building up a head of steam, or hot air perhaps, based on exaggerated claims, distortions and outright fabrications.

Australia is at a critical historical juncture. We can continue with our traditional reliance on great and once-powerful friends, recently epitomised by the ill-conceived and hastily agreed AUKUS pact, now even more quickly unravelling as it becomes increasingly evident that the development and deployment of military technologies is an exponentially evolving field, strewn with outdated war toys. Just look at Eastern Europe.

We can also continue to be constrained by a Cold War mentality that binds us to allies in decline via treaties like the Force Posture Agreement (2014), which gives the US unfettered control over what forces and materiel it can deploy on Australian territory, and what weapons it can launch from that territory, including nuclear weapons.

This is an unprecedented and direct negation of our sovereignty. It’s vitally important to understand that through the FPA we have made arrangements with the US which make our country a nuclear target.

The implications of these agreements are that China has little choice but to regard them as constituting a hostile, possibly nuclear, threat. In the event of war breaking out, the American military can attack an adversary from our soil without our knowledge or agreement. This arrangement clearly benefits the American homeland as it is protected by the vastness of the Pacific Ocean, while Australia bears the brunt of retaliatory attacks.

Hence the recent softening up of Australian public opinion by the Defence Force Chief Admiral David Johnston who, in a radical departure from conventional strategic thinking, has foreshadowed that this nation must be prepared for the possibility of having to launch combat operations from our own soil.

Why so? Firstly, we will be drawing fire because we have willingly chosen to be a launching pad for US aggression against China, which understandably will want to counter by destroying the US military assets on our soil. The Americans will expect us to contribute to the defence of those facilities. As well, our country will be under attack and, of course, we will be highly motivated to defend our own country.

The evidence that China currently presents a direct military threat to Australia amounts to precisely zero. However, to the extent to which we treat China as an enemy state, it will surely become one.

Diplomacy, trade, scientific co-operation and cultural exchanges, all engaged in with good intentions and good faith, are the paths to a peaceful future.

The views expressed in this article may or may not reflect those of Pearls and Irritations.