It is impossible to respond to the seemingly 'economic' iron ore issue with China without becoming political, because the issue is really a political one, and not an economic one.
Yes, some of the consequences of the issue are economic, but the causes are ceratinly not.
Even though we unfortunately seem to live in a consequentialist society - a simplistic form of moralism - there are more significant issues within ethical considerations than final comnsequences. Take the finding of a copse for example. The person may have died from any of numerous causes, like natural causes, suicide, or difefrent degrees of murder. It is the causes of this death that are significantly important in making any proper assessment of the consequence, that is, the corpse.
Likewise, the economical consequemnces of China's dispute with Australia cannot be assessed properly without appreciating the primary causes. Only then can a proper repsonse be drawn to determine how to manage the consequences.
According to China, here is a list of 14 items that are their problems with Australia. As you will note, all of them have underpinnings rooted in issues that come prior to economics.
Being Friday, maybe we have set the tone for the weekend's discussion.
