Thanks for providing your perspective. I'd like to comment on a few things and I hope to hear your thoughts on them.

> The Australian Minister who made the call (Peter Dutton) did it just as he returned from a trip to the US. He's something of a mini-Trump (with a worse TV manner) and clearly made the call to get support from the US. It wasn't something that anyone else in government seems to have known about, and support for it has been lukewarm.

All right. There's a disconnect between the political class and the public.

Unfortunately, this is just one of the multiple diplomatic incidents. There seems to be quite a few China hawks in your government. For example, Australia was the first country to ban Huawei. This looks especially bizarre to me because 1) nobody has ever found proof that Huawei spies, 2) multiple intelligence agencies actually said that they're not worried, and 3) it has been proven that the US spies on its allies, yet nobody's talking about banning US equipment.

You mentioned that Australia doesn't want to be seen bowing to China, yet it looks to me as if you have no problems bowing to the US. And now that you did what the US wanted, they're not even coming to save you by e.g. buying from you. Doesn't sovereignty mean that you make your own decisions?

> Australia had been opposed to Chinese policy in the South China Sea, in Hong Kong and in Tibet, but didn't do anything to help Trump in his stupid trade war.

South China Sea: okay. I also agree that this South China Sea thing needs to be resolved.

But Tibet and Hong Kong? Those are landmines. As far as China is concerned, those are sovereignty issues, and any poking by outsiders is seen as neo-imperialism. And I'm not just talking about the government: the population at large is also not pleased at how foreigners keep poking into Chinese territorial issues. It's seen ast the last remains of 19th century humiliation, where western powers could walk all over China with guns and warships and put people on drugs (literally). I think many westerners don't realize just how sensitive those topics are, in part because they have a bad understanding of China's history (or just don't care at all).

> I can't emphasise enough how strange it is to hear someone claim that. Over 1/3 the population of Australia was born outside Australia, and China is the second most common place of birth of those. I worked in the university sector and we funded almost as many PhD students from China as were born in Australia.

What do you think of these events? Demanding that Chinese-Australians (who were born in Australia) testify in front of parliament that they unconditionally condemn CCP. This looks like "guilty until proven innocent" to me?

https://archive.is/PwwXN (bypasses SCMP paywall)

https://www.smh.com.au/national/i-was-born-in-australia-why-...

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/16/eric-...

> My point is that if China had been smarter about this they could have come out ahead in Australia while making the US look bad. Instead they play the "oh we are offended" card and have lost a lot of the support they enjoyed in Australia over it.

Oh yes, I agree with that. China's public communications and attitude is terrible. They have problems dealing with things in a way that makes westerners comfortable.

Oh the other hand, the reverse is also true: many westerners lack an understanding of China's history, as well as what topics are sensitive and why. They believe western ideology is (or ought to be) universal, and dismiss alternative perspectives out of hand. That doesn't help either.

China is like that Asian kid who's had to endure racism all his life but was afraid to speak up. Now that he built muscles he overcompensates by getting angry at everything he doesn't like. Everybody gets surprised at that behavior and thinks he's just being sensitive for nothing.

I hope both sides can work towards better mutual understanding and cooperation.