[rstuart4133]

I'm an Ozzie. When the TPAA died it was pretty clear the Chinese were rubbing their hands in glee. Trump had handed them the Trump card in trade negotiations, as it were. This is from 2017:

https://rymndp.wordpress.com/2017/01/26/us-withdrawal-on-tra...

It's funny how it's all turned out. Trump ditched the TPAA, and along with it all those onerous copyright laws everybody hated. So we got a nicely watered down version. China steps into the void. But now on the day the RCEP they championed is signed, China ups the ante on the trade war it's having with Australia. They've banned just our wine imports, and threatening iron ore is next.

https://www.msn.com/en-au/money/markets/r/ar-BB1b2NMT

The trigger for this trade war? Our prime minister called for an investigation into the origins of COVID-19, right after Trump intimated it was bio-engineered by China and they were engaged in a cover up. Right now China is engaged in what looks to be genocide against their Muslim population, the Uighurs, egregious breaking of agreements with the UK over Hong Hong, threats to Taiwan, destabilising "Island Building" in the South China Sea, and we choose to take a principled stand over a ... conspiracy theory.

I don't know what it feels like in NZ, but we Ozzies feel like we are living in interesting times.

[star-trek-fleet]

> Right now China is engaged in what looks to be genocide against their Muslim population, the Uighurs

Enlighten me, please.

[throwaway4good]

You have a government which seems to try to out-Trump Trump on China, not recognising that the US-China policies are about to do a 180 and you guys will be left holding the bag - the bag of having pissed off your biggest export market.

[ende]

There will be no 180 so long as china’s reckless belligerence in the region continues. In a time when china could have consolidated its soft power, it ends up pissing off nearly every neighbor and starts a land war with India. The Quad is likely to be more influential in the region than this trade agreement.