In August 2002 the media jubilantly reported that an Australia-based consortium had just won, against fierce competition, a contract to supply natural gas to Guangdong province. Then prime minister John Howard declared that winning the bidding for the $25 billion gas supply was ‘a gold medal performance’ and the fruit of close engagement with China.
…While Australians congratulated themselves, in fact we had been played by Beijing, and in a way that has been paying off for China ever since.
Great stuff from Clive Hamilton again:
