Dear PM Albanese, on Monday 30 June, the Chinese Ambassador to Australia, Xiao Qian, had a letter published in The Australian entitled “China and Australia are friends, not foes. This should never have been in question.”  It’s best to read the full version on China’s Embassy website.

Without mentioning the US, Xiao Qian warned the Australian Government against succumbing to demands from the Trump regime to increase our military spending on the pretext of a non-existent threat from China. He wrote that such demands “are steeped in Cold War mentality, blatantly creating division, fuelling a global arms race as well as threatening world peace and stability…”  Xiao went on to imply that what’s behind the narrative of “China threat”, which Australians are being fed, is the US military’s desire to maintain its hegemony. He added that “dramatically increasing military spending places a heavy fiscal burden” on countries that obey these (American) demands. All true!

It is well known that the US has a policy of “containment” of China because, despite little evidence, Americans assume that China wants to take over as the world’s military hegemon. So the US tries to block China’s success in every arena. As Xiao implies, this policy “runs counter to fairness, justice and the prevailing trend of global development”.  That trend is the emerging BRICS group and the growing autonomy of the so-called Global South.

Trump has established what Robert Reich calls “his uniquely American version of fascism”.  The American and Zionist war machine is, or ought to be, increasingly isolated. Trump’s regime has its own (false) version of reality, and is sanctioning your heroic namesake, Francesca Albanese. Amid such insanity, Australia should look to join that BRICS group.

Any objective observer can see that America’s democracy is in huge trouble. The Trumpists deny the truth of accelerating global heating and the regime eschews both the UN and international law. We, Australians, don’t need the US, or its costly AUKUS deal, because we should strive to be an independent, peaceful and neutral country. If we fail to read world events correctly, we will suffer the dire consequences of choosing to be on the wrong side of history.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Elliston

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