The Prime Minister thinks he can set the terms with Beijing. But hard choices and compromises are required to manage our region's ruthless great power.
We should not be surprised that Australia is finding it hard to get our relations with China right, because we have never encountered a country like this before.
China today is a ruthless country determined to use its growing power to expand its influence and reshape our region to suit its interests, with little if any regard for the interests of others. But it is also a country that we must learn to work with, and not just because no other country will offer anything like the same export opportunities in the years and decades ahead.
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Hugh White is the emeritus professor of strategic studies at the Australian National University.
