In China’s Crosshairs: Australia today, USA tomorrow

In 2020, on the heels of the COVID pandemic, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison called for an independent investigation into COVID-19’s origins. As a result of Morisson’s seemingly benign request, China imposed crippling trade sanctions on Australia dealing a devastating blow to their economy. From 2020 to 2021, Australia lost $6.6 billion in revenue thanks to Morisson’s audacity to call for an investigation. This is clearly bullying, and China would take the same punitive measures against the US for any number of provocations if they could get away with it. Australia just happens to be small enough for China to bully around, Make no mistake about it, the US will be next.

What happened to Australia ought to be a cautionary tale about the dangers of what can happen to a nation overly dependent on an adversary. It took China’s economic coercion to wake up Australia to the reality that they were in fact dealing with a potential adversary. Beijing has been all too willing to use economic warfare and now they’re beginning to get very comfortable with the idea that they could achieve their objectives by force if needed.

We need to stand with Australia and other democracies that Beijing might attempt to target. It is only collectively that we can deter China from its belligerence.