Chinese state media: “Strike ‘paper cat’ Australia”
From The Japan Times:
Chinese state-run media has called Australia “an ideal target for China to warn and strike” if it ventures into the contested South China Sea.
The Global Times, known for its hard-line nationalist stance, blasted Canberra on Saturday in an editorial slamming its support for the July 12 ruling by an international arbitration tribunal at The Hague that invalidated China’s historical claims to much of the South China Sea.
Piling on insults, the paper called Australia a “country with an inglorious history. … at first an offshore prison of the UK. … established through uncivilized means, in a process filled with the tears of the aboriginals.”
The commentary also criticized Australia’s joint declaration with the U.S. and Japan last Monday, which urged China not to construct military outposts and reclaim more land in the disputed waters.
Linking statements condemning China’s moves in the waters to Australia’s alliance with the U.S., the editorial said that Canberra “also intends to suppress China so as to gain a bargaining chip for economic interests.”
“China must take revenge and let it know it’s wrong,” the commentary said. “Australia’s power means nothing compared to the security of China. If Australia steps into the South China Sea waters, it will be an ideal target for China to warn and strike.
“Australia is not even a ‘paper tiger,’ it’s only a ‘paper cat’ at best,” it added.
And the great straddle between Super Powers tears our trousers a little. Of course, cooler heads in Beijing know that the only strike necessary to bring Australia to heal is a tweak to iron ore tariffs or tourism visas.
