Former ACBC Chief Duncan Calder Fears Consequences For Australia Of Apec Confrontation

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Former ACBC Chief Duncan Calder Fears
Consequences For Australia Of Apec Confrontation
Former ACBC Chief Duncan Calder Fears
Consequences For Australia Of Apec Confrontation
- Duncan Calder, past National President of the
Australia China Business Council, is fearful that
the fallout for Australia from the recent APEC
gathering will be significant and lasting.
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Has President Donald Trump's genius been on
display again at APEC? Have we just witnessed a
re-run of his successful NATO strategy? He has
fractured the APEC regional structure that
Keating promoted to bring both sides of the
Pacific together and he has left it less relevant
and less of a problem for him. This ugly APEC
confrontation will mean more than a sour and
bitter aftertaste for Australia - and no-one in
our media has even noticed. When I came to
Australia 30 years ago, I was most impressed by
the celebrated Aussie principles of "fair go" and
"fair dinkum". This was even reflected in
Australian journalism which, back then, largely
presented balanced and independent
analysis. Sadly those days are long
gone.  Tabloid journalism combined with falling
revenues has seemed an alarming plummet in the
quality of reporting. That was very much in
evidence this week in the reporting of the APEC
summit.
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Thank goodness for the Straits Times, which
publishes, in English, a balanced perspective
not one crafted by puppets of US' worldview or
China's worldview. After all, neither side is
angels both have self-interest at heart. 
Perhaps a read of this article and others by ST
will highlight for you just how far our standards
have fallen in Australia.  Even the Financial
Review plumbed the depths yesterday with an
inflammatory and inaccurate headline "China
revolt derails APEC". Total nonsense. Let's
examine some facts (just for a change). The US
sought to direct APEC debate towards aggressive
criticism of the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
and away from Asia Pacific issues. Why? APEC has
no charter over the WTO. The WTO is the forum
that is appropriate for such debate.  I remember
when the US used to defend the WTO as the gold
standard - but now China has thrived within WTO,
the story changes. The Australian media ignore
this fact. At APEC, China simply stood.
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At APEC, China simply stood up for the WTO as an
invaluable multilateral trade system. Did
Australia? APEC is a consensus-based forum - for
the US to seek to manipulate the closing
communique for its own political ends is unheard
of in all previous APEC meetings. No western
media notes that. Trump has long stood against
regional consensus and non-US controlled regional
structures (his withdrawal from the TPP is a
testimony to his). Again we see the genius of
Trump's aggression and strategy in that he leaves
APEC fractured and with reduced influence and
relevance going forward - which aligns nicely
with his goals.  I look forward to Paul
Keating's observations as the architect of APEC
as a vehicle to bring both sides of the Pacific
together.  APEC losing relevance is not in
Australia's interest - but why don't our local
media see that? We are Trump's puppet and we
don't even see it!
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US and Australia used the forum for
inflammatory geopolitical military announcements,
rather than trade and positive agenda items -
with the announcement of Manus as an expanded
military facility clearly targeted at China. In
fact, China has no history of deploying its
troops around the globe, not even when it was the
global super power in the 14th and 15th
centuries. Yes, it has a small overseas presence
- but minor and in places like Djibouti. On the
other hand, the US has 800 overseas military
bases in over 70 countries.  Who does that
suggest is using military power for economic
hegemony? Where is the common sense or "smell
test" filter on the ridiculous fear-mongering
coming out of the Garnaut/ASIO inspired Canberra
hawks as the more balanced view of DFAT is,
sadly, increasingly being sidelined and
ignored? China does not, in fact, have a history
of aggressive overseas military actions (except
as a victim). Can we say the same about the US
and Australia after the Iraq WMD debacle?
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The Australian media seems to be falling nicely
in behind a dark, hard-line anti-Belt Road
Initiative stance. Fear mongering is widespread
suggesting that China is attempting to take over
the world through helping countries to grow
through providing critical economic
infrastructure, especially, port, rail and
roads.  NOT ONCE have I seen the Australian
media comment on the jobs, trade and massive
revenue inflows and massive benefits that are
being experienced within countries who are
beneficiaries of BRI. NOT ONCE have I seen any
recognition of the political reality that China's
overriding, primary motivation with BRI is to
continue to provide jobs for the millions in its
workforce who have built China's road, rail and
port infrastructure and need new markets to be
opened up to stay employed. China's primary goal
is always internal stability. This is all
incredibly sad to watch as the sad state of
Sino-Australian relationships over the last 3
years worsens with falling levels of investment
into Australia.
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Being one consequence. Perhaps Canberra needs a
reminder from those of us in business dealing
with and relying on our friendships with China
and Chinese people that our relations with our
(far and away) most important trading partner
need to be treated with respect. Much more
respect. Like we rightly show the US. Let us not
forget that, without China's custom our resources
sector, our tourism sector and our education
sector will collapse. We have provoked China
repeatedly, starting with Julie Bishop's claim in
Singapore that China has no role to play in the
region, through to selective anti-China use by
the Treasurer of FIRB approvals and on to
criticisms of Belt Road and the announcement of
new military alliances. Let's hope that the
price we will inevitably pay as a country for the
lack of respect shown to China does not bring
catastrophic economic consequences for us.
Western Australia and Victoria are particularly
exposed - perhaps why the Victorian Government
has taken a more balanced approached.
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BRI with its recent vague but important MOU? We
Australian businessmen all need to play our part
in reversing the decline from close, trading
partnership to aggressive, deep mistrust and
blatant antagonism. The price of failure
doesn't bear thinking about. The sad trend needs
reversing. In the meantime, Australian
businesses need to collaborate proactively to
seek to capitalise on the 10 trillion being
spent on BRI projects around the world, since we
don't look like receiving any BRI infrastructure
investment into Australia any time soon in this
current environment. Lets pack our sunscreen
and head to Africa for some friendly
business! Duncan Calder, past National President
of the Australia China Business Council, sees
that the role of investment advisers, like
Contour Capital, is to encourage a focus on
win-win relationships that yield cultural, social
and economic benefits for all parties.
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Source Link https//www.issuewire.com/former-acbc
-chief-duncan-calder-fears-consequences-for-austra
lia-of-apec-confrontation-1617742446002216 Thanks
for Watching Duncan Calder PO Box 1431, South
Perth WA 6951 duncan.calder_at_manna.org.au https//w
ww.manna.org.au/