| >Im surprised to hear that about Australian public opinion. Dissenting voices in Australia seem far more aware of the profit motive behind potentially unneeded militarization. I believe this is due to less complicated accounting of government spending when compared to countries like the US. >The diplomatic messaging from the CCP became extremely aggressive a couple of years ago. The outcome of this bullying was essentially to wake up the world to the threat that China had become. It's clear the Chinese hear western propaganda and respond to it, shouldn't be surprising. Everything from the blame for covid (which recent signs point to being a US lab creation) to western thought leaders openly discussing nuking a billion relatively peaceful people and not being condemned for it. This naturally results in a re-adjustment in approach to engagement. >This period of Chinese open hostility towards the world essentially made many countries into enemies or at least adversaries of China. This statement doesn't ring true. They havent been hostile to the world, just to factions within a few western countries that make up a small minority of the planet's population. I doubt any recovering nation that's been invaded by these same western countries and is planning to survive the next few centuries would take further threats of mass murder and invasion lightly. |