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Paul Keating’s Press Club speech raises important questions about Australia’s relationship with China
When Paul Keating speaks it pays to listen, especially when he speaks about the world and our place in it.
As prime minister he helped build the political architecture to meet what would be the defining challenge of the 21st century: the rise of China.
- Stan Grant
- ABC
Despite what some of his detractors may say, he is not an apologist for Chinese authoritarianism but a cold-eyed realist about Chinese power and how it can be incorporated into a global political order.
Simply: Chinese engagement but not Chinese dominance.
The Keating prime ministership though was a different time.
China still applied Deng Xiaoping’s dictum: hide your capabilities and bide your time.
No longer…