You say China has never threatened Australia this century and offer praise for being our number 1 trading partner? 1.0. How do you account for the wine tariffs and agricultural product interference. They want our iron ore, gold and other materials for their own interest not ours. Yes it has benefited us by creating goods that we buy back instead of producing ourselves....especially critical ones. 2.0 spreading into Asian countries first to exert influence over them by intimidation, grabbing control of the seas surrounding them and threatening them is an advanced warning for us of our future in 20 or so years time. Prepare now and counter the the threat on sea and air is what we need. 3.0 Read up on the Philippines as an example of how they have experienced the affect on their territory with a weak counter defence system as they now are trying to play the catch-up game. Australia was a great beneficiary of the Philippines holding out in WW2 for as long as they did in the advance of Japan. Possibly even saved us from the invasion timeline to give us time to prepare for military fighting in our north.
