This Saturday, August 15, is VJ Day – the anniversary of the Allies’ victory in the Pacific War. It also marks America’s post-war ascendancy and the transformation of Australia from a dominion of the British Empire to a fully independent nation in the south-west Pacific.

Exactly 75 years later, the issue is whether Australia is up to making an even greater change – that is, adapt to a pandemic-afflicted region where power has shifted to China. The signals are mixed.