China threatens Australia over helping fleeing Hong Kong citizens, page-27

This is not a revelation. It has been happening for multi decades. Remember 1997 when Hongkies flee temporary then decided to come back wholesale when those shadows never jumped out? I suspect the CCP has worked out that if they let the political situation degrade to a Tianamen condition of desperate action, the cost would have been much more severe.

We have to remember that "my enemy's enemy is my friend" and there is no better 'friend' to turn to than Putin with another 16 YEARS on his reign. Besides IO, they got what the China needs:

Gas
Beef
Milk
Grain
Military hardware

Just to name a few resource. Markets that China can expand on is Tech/communication that Russia lacks because of sanctions from the West is where Huawei and the Chinese tech revolution can expand their markets lost. What is better than 2 strong leaders making plans while the 3rd desperately looking to emulate. I am sure China has observed the reaction on Russia when they aided in the shooting down the MH flight, annexing Crimea and support Ukraine rebels with little cost. The key is Merkel and Germany playing the long game and pragmatism while our leaders are jumping on the Trump bandwagon thinking they can exploit the situation. I think the bully in this case is Scomo because he is playing image politics to clean out the soot of bush fire & ST horizon of the next election.

Unfortunately there will be a price to pay economically and I am trying to anticipate not to get caught in the crossfire.