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China Threat To Australia

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China is both a threat and an opportunity for Australia. Trade and security concerns have both negatives and positives towards Australia’s relations with the Asian ‘superpower’. In recent years we have seen how the relations between Australia and China have changed, through their radically different traditions. This has led to the idea that China is a great resource for trade, it has also led to the idea that China is a large threat to Australia’s security. This essay will discuss the rapid growth of China in recent years compared to Australia’s growth, but also the increasing threat level China poses, and finally the bursts of opportunity China gives to Australia. Overall there is arguments for both sides, China is both a threat and an opportunity …show more content…

Australia has a parliamentary democracy, where China is still under a communist rule. There are many stark differences between both nations, which can lead to security concerns for both. However through the rise of China it is clear that it would “inevitably raise tensions with Asia’s other resident powers and that competition between them will be at its most dangerous” (Dupont, 2011). This is not only a threat for Australia, but also other nations such as the United States. Tension in the Asian region is always a threat to Australia due to its proximity to Asia. Being the island nation with no large allies within a close range Australia has over the years held a strong concerns about the Asian nation. This threat is not new, as even in the colonial period Australians held a great fear for the ‘Asian Invasion’. However, Australia still has the radical differences with China. These differences are not only in the running of the country, but also in the ideological sides of the respective nations. This growth of China has led to many nations creating policy solely regarding the growth of China. This enables them to have ways to grow in partnership with the rise of China. Australia is one of these nations and has “shifted towards an accommodation policy concerning China. Each nation comes to terms with China in its own manner combining the different elements of containment, engagement and hedging strategies” (He, 2012, p. 54). This is one of the ways in which Australia has altered its foreign policy to help accommodate the growth of China. Nowadays in Australia, through the rise of globalisation, and also of China, it is hard to go into a store and not find something made in

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