For years our leaders have told us that we do not have to choose between the United States and China. But what if that’s wrong? What should Australia do if we are forced to make a choice between our main ally and our leading economic partner?

Unfortunately the question is far from hypothetical. Last month US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo came pretty close to demanding that Australia should get off the fence and start supporting America wholeheartedly against China’s strategic challenge. He said we faced a stark choice between our security as a close US ally and our prosperity as China’s economic partner. “You can sell your soul for a pile of soybeans, or you can protect your people,” he said (mistakenly assuming that soybeans are what we sell to China).