Originally Posted by
Barksdale Boy
It seems to me that 2020 is unlikely. .
I hope you're right.
But personally, I see a rapidly emboldening (is that a word?) China - led a by a shrewd and calculating authoritarian strongman - and I believe that somewhere in Beijing, there is a 20 year plan of militarisation of the Nine Dash Line, the deployment of viable CVAs, the not so subtle economic diplomacy in the South West Pacific and the veiled threats to Australia are all part of.
Am part way into a book about CCP influence in Australia; it was derided by Chinese commentators as biased and xenophobic when published - yet so far it seems very reasonably argued - and more than a little disturbing.
Had the privilege of spending two weeks in Shanghai with the BBC in 2001, producing two programs on the Internet in China.
Two things remain with me to this day.
The jaw dropping, complete lack of knowledge (honest) of our lovely young Chinese interpreter and guide about Tiananmen Square, and more latterly the Hainan Island P3 incident which had happened months before.
And the absolute certainty that China rivalled ancient Rome and other similar societies, and should therefore be accorded the due international respect they deserve.
I like my Peking duck, Chinese culture and mad, cosmopolitan craziness of Shanghai as much as anyone else.
But I feel this is all going to get very ugly.