{"id":109056,"date":"2020-11-26T16:11:34","date_gmt":"2020-11-26T23:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=109056"},"modified":"2020-11-26T16:11:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-26T23:11:34","slug":"trump-bowing-out-opportunity-for-australia-to-mend-fences-with-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2020\/11\/26\/trump-bowing-out-opportunity-for-australia-to-mend-fences-with-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump bowing out; Opportunity for Australia to mend fences with China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first\nmake them mad<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump has taken the USA down an abyss of\ndespair and duplicity. Domestic divisions and international disorder dominated\nthe Trump era. Many questioned the sanity of Trump\u2019s approach to governance,\nnationally and internationally. Now, more than 80 million voters and popular\nvote majority in excess of 7 million, and 306 electoral college votes has given\nJoe Biden a clear victory over Trump. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris will have a\ntough time resurrecting some trust and confidence that their own people, and\nothers in the rest of the world, had with the USA. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the age of information technology, the world\nhas become smaller and closer to each other whether one likes it or not, and\nwhether it is a good thing or a bad thing. Various social media platforms link\npeople with each other before one could blink an eye and millions are inter\nconnected. There is computer hacking, listening in, cyber spying and all the\nevils of this information technology bringing out the worst in human beings. In\nthis environment, internationalisation today is inevitable and the world has to\nfind ways and means of capitalising on the positives and taking collective\naction against the negatives. Countries cannot crawl into the cocoons and\npretend they can live happy ever after by doing so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the world has no choice as to who\nsits in the White House. However, even if that person sneezes or coughs, the\neffect reverberates throughout the world. Stock markets can go up and down and\noil prices could fluctuate wildly. In this context, it does matter to the rest\nof the world who sits in the White House. Due to the inability of the rest of\nthe world to decide on this, they are probably hoping and even supporting\nalternate world leaders and emerging powerful economies to cushion the blows\nthey get when the incumbent of the White House behaves irresponsibly and\nirrationally. Many in the world today who are so interconnected would want a\nVladimir Putin or a Xi Jinping or an Angela Merkel or a Narendra Mody to help\nkeep the world more stable even if they are not supporters of such leaders or\ntheir modes of governance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What characterised the Trump era was his own belligerence\nand the increasing counter belligerence of leaders like Xi Jinping. Many\nNations distanced themselves from the USA, and they are doing that with China. Belligerence\nis not a strength and it is well for both the USA and China to remember this. China\ndoes have the money to buy friends and influence people. However, what money\nbuys are not genuine friends. In contrast, despite all its negatives, the money\nspent by the USA, not just its government but by Billionaire philanthropists\nlike Bill Gates and Warren Buffet and a host of others have helped to fight\ndecease, and supported causes like providing potable water for millions of\nhuman beings living in deplorable conditions. Comparatively, the government of\nChina nor its many billionaires have done little to support impoverished\ncountries ridden with avoidable catastrophes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The world does need a strong and decent USA. Not\na USA that has destroyed the lives and livelihoods of millions in the Middle\nEastern region on the pretext of hunting for non-existent weapons of mass\ndestruction. The world need a kinder USA that recognises the limitations in\ntrying to introduce democracy to countries who have never known democracy. The\nUSA has to work with authoritarian regimes and work towards gradual reforms and\nhuman rights improvements. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When an incumbent challenges its own democratic\nchoice, questions are raised about democracy in the USA. The voice of the USA\nbecomes less credible if what it practices is not what it preaches. It cannot\nbe the stone thrower who is in a glass house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unknowingly and unwittingly, COVID has given the\nUSA, China and the rest of the world an opportunity to recalibrate and reset\nthe pathway towards a kinder, less avaricious and a more humanitarian world\nthat realises it is part of a whole that includes the natural environment that\nsustains all living beings. If the worlds powerful nations do not recognise\nthis and save the environment, they will not have a world they could dominate <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The change of leadership in the USA gives an\nopportunity for Australia to do their own resetting as far as its relationship\nwith China is concerned. While Australia\u2019s steadfastness about its values is\ncommendable, it needs to be pragmatic about the realities in China. Human\nrights abuse is levelled against China, however, there is no recognition that more than 850 million Chinese people have been lifted out of\nextreme poverty in the last three decades according to the World Bank. China’s\npoverty rate fell from 88 percent in 1981 to 0.7 percent in 2015. In 2019 it\nhad been reduced to 0.6 percent. For those who have visited China in recent\ntimes, these changes are quite evident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

China could get on the pulpit and talk about the\nhuman rights of Australian Aboriginal people. They could wheel out statistics\nabout the health status, life expectancy, literacy rate and other social\nindicators of Australian indigenous people. They could also talk about the 1.2\nmillion children who are said to be in poverty according to the charity\norganisation, the Smith Family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia might be in a defence pact with the\nUSA and also have a long standing relationship with the USA. However, Australia\nneeds to look after its people whose economic wellbeing had got closely\nintertwined with the trading relationship that had developed and grown with\nChina. This trading relationship has now got seriously threatened due to belligerence\non the part of both countries. Australia needs to do be pragmatic and stop\nbeing the Deputy Sheriff of the USA for the region. They need to practice diplomacy\nas it should be practiced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps it is time for the government to send an\nemissary to China to help thaw the heated relationship between the two\ncountries. If such a thawing does not happen and things get worse, many\nAustralians will face the economic consequences of biting the hand that has\nbeen feeding it. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Raj Gonsalkorale Those whom the Gods wish to destroy they first make them mad Donald Trump has taken the USA down an abyss of despair and duplicity. Domestic divisions and international disorder dominated the Trump era. Many questioned the sanity of Trump\u2019s approach to governance, nationally and internationally. Now, more than 80 million voters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-109056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-raj-gonsalkorale"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=109056"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/109056\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=109056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=109056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=109056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}