Dear Commander M 2019 may be seen for Australia in retrospect as the year of China. The extent to which public debate has become centred on the growing and not wholly benevolent influence of China across a range of subjects from the Pacific islands to our universities has been striking. The otherwise routine visit of a Chinese task group to Sydney created controversy when it became apparent that the date coincided with the 30th anniversary of the Tiananmen Square massacres. Getting the visit into perspective was helped by the realisation that the ships’ companies were engaged in purchasing the…
