Singapore’s new Prime Minister Lawrence Wong sat down with the ABC on 2 October and offered something rare in Australia’s China debate: clarity, confidence, and a middle-power strategy that doesn’t involve shouting or submission.

In one interview, he delivered more useful insight than some of our pundits and politicians have managed in years — saying things many here wouldn’t dare admit, or have simply never thought of.

Wong, calm as ever, laid it all out: build real defence ties, do tech and logistics with friends, don’t pick fights for fun, and — the killer line — don’t get dragged into “what-if” games about Taiwan. “We don’t talk about hypotheticals,” he said, like it was the most normal sentence in the world.

Imagine saying that in Australia. By morning tea you’d be accused of appeasement, flagged for disloyalty, and chased off breakfast TV with a pitchfork and a poll from some foreign owned media pretending to be Australian.

Wong doesn’t grovel, posture, or go looking for enemies. His Singapore hosts US forces, trades heavily with China, backs regional unity and politely tells both sides: “We’ll do what’s best for us, thanks.” It’s not some fantasy of balance – it’s calculated hedging with actual leverage.

Meanwhile, in Australia, we get sucked into a never-ending loyalty test.

Say you want stable trade with Beijing? You’re soft.

Say you don’t want war with China? You’re naïve.

Say we should think for ourselves? That’s practically sedition.

Labor’s tried, to be fair. They’ve improved ties with Beijing without bowing, talked to the Pacific without lecturing, even showed a bit of backbone by not shouting and chest-beating at China during state visits.

But the noise machine never sleeps. Foreign-owned outlets doing Aussie battler cosplay. Defence-funded analysts waging war on social media. And retired politicians clocking frequent flyer points at overseas think-tanks – with the pay to match. Together, they drown out any hint of nuance with the same tired soundtrack: “Traitor or Tough!”

Wong doesn’t play that game. He talks about agency – that quaint idea that small and mid-sized countries don’t have to be flung around like driftwood between superpower tsunamis. Australia talks about “shared values”, then acts like we’re under a contract to follow the sheriff’s lead, no matter what direction that takes.

Let’s talk defence. Wong’s idea of military co-operation is the boring, adult kind: shared logistics, tech swaps, supply chain redundancy, base access – stuff that actually works in peacetime and wartime. No grandstanding. No $368 billion submarine time machines.

But here? If it doesn’t have a zero or a ribbon-cutting ceremony, we’re not interested. Preferably both. Never mind that the gear arrives in the 2040s, the strategy’s a Cold War remix, and the sales pitch was written by people who still think 5G is a Chinese plot.

Wong even dared to say the quiet part out loud on Trump’s tariffs: they’re messy, expensive and unfair. Singapore’s economy got slammed. Their response? Spread the risk. Build new trade routes. Make themselves indispensable.

Here? Write op-eds begging Washington to remember we’re besties. Offer up “shared history” like a coupon code. And when that doesn’t work, start blaming China again – for steel, for solar panels, for EV, for breathing.

Australia could do better. We’ve got the geography, infrastructure, and diplomatic room to become the region’s grown-up moderator. A middle-power that doesn’t just shout from the sidelines or carry someone else’s bags. Host backchannel talks. Offer logistics that work for everyone. Be the place where the superpowers meet – not the place that picks a side, burns bridges and asks why trade dried up.

Singapore does this with fewer people than Melbourne and no desert full of missile test zones. They juggle US security access, Chinese capital, regional trust and AUKUS talking points – and somehow don’t need to scream into microphones or host press conferences under fighter jets.

Labor’s given hints they get it. They’ve cooled the loud anti-China bluster, re-engaged with Asia, even tweaked AUKUS language to sound less like cosplay. But it’s not enough. As long as we treat independence like a dirty word and assume saying “no” to DC is an act of treason, we’ll be stuck in this loop: perform loyalty, hope for a reward, rinse and repeat.

Wong’s interview with ABC isn’t just diplomacy. It’s a masterclass in playing smart, not loud. Will our elites study up – or keep auditioning for the sheriff’s B-list buddy flick?

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