Back in 2005, my little magazine, The Diplomat, asked Peter Costello how Australia would reconcile China’s dictatorial government with our growing economic dependence. He replied it was not an issue because China’s liberalising economy would ultimately liberalise its political system.
I’m not sure if he believed it. It was convenient for everyone to believe at the time. Just as it was fed by Chinese propaganda that its rise was peaceful and beneficial to all.
Now that those illusions have passed like rain on the mountainside, it is time for the violent rise (or fall) of China. On multiple fronts.
