Why Australia Should Be With China, Not the USA

Why Australia Should Be With China, Not the USA

Australia has long been bound to the United States through history, treaties, and shared security interests. Yet as the world shifts, the question of whether this alignment still serves our national interest has become unavoidable. The truth is, Australia has more to gain by leaning towards China than by remaining tethered to America’s declining hegemony.

Geography, Not Ideology, Shapes Destiny

Australia is part of the Asia Pacific, not the Atlantic. Our geography dictates that we trade, negotiate, and co-operate primarily with nations in our region. China is not only our largest trading partner, it is also the economic engine of Asia. Choosing to follow Washington’s strategic anxieties rather than our own regional realities risks leaving us isolated and economically weaker.

Economics Over Military Posturing

For decades, Canberra has balanced its economic reliance on China with its military reliance on the United States. But the balance is tilting. American economic power is waning, and its foreign policy is increasingly inward, protectionist, and unpredictable. China, meanwhile, continues to drive growth, innovation, and regional integration. Aligning more deeply with Beijing is not about adopting its political system. It is about ensuring Australia’s prosperity and relevance in the century ahead.

AUKUS: A Colossal Betrayal

The AUKUS submarine deal is a fundamental mistake. At a projected cost of more than $360 billion, it shackles Australia to the American and British military industrial complex for decades to come. We are committing vast resources to hardware that may already be outdated by the time it enters service. Meanwhile, our schools, hospitals, and essential industries struggle for investment.

This is not a rational defence strategy. It is a tribute to American hegemony, a symbolic gesture of loyalty to Washington and London that does little to enhance our real security. Against the scale of China’s naval and missile capabilities, a handful of nuclear powered submarines will provide no deterrence. The futility of this military gamble only highlights how far Canberra has strayed from an independent course.

AUKUS Is Out of Step With Modern Warfare

Beyond its enormous cost, AUKUS is fundamentally antiquated. In an era where the future of conflict is being reshaped by drones, artificial intelligence, and autonomous weapons systems, Australia is sinking its wealth into twentieth-century technology. Submarines that will not be operational for decades cannot compete with the speed of innovation in autonomous warfare.

If Australia is serious about defence, the smarter path would be to invest in our own industries of advanced technology, robotics, and autonomous systems. These would not only strengthen our security more effectively but also create jobs, foster innovation, and keep us at the cutting edge of global defence trends. AUKUS represents the opposite: dependence, debt, and strategic irrelevance.

Reds Under the Bed: Fear as a Product

Much of Australia’s reluctance to engage more positively with China is based not on evidence but on fear. The spectre of “reds under the bed” has been a recurring theme since the Cold War. This narrative has been cultivated by American elites with vested interests in oil, weapons, and finance. For them, portraying China as a global threat preserves both their influence and their profits.

Australia has imported this fear uncritically. We are told to treat Chinese investment, students, and technology with suspicion. Yet the record tells a different story. China has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty and built infrastructure across Asia and Africa that has transformed lives. The United States, by contrast, continues to struggle with deep inequality, crumbling public services, and social unrest.

For Australia, the real choice is not between communism and capitalism. It is between clinging to a failing neoliberal model and pursuing a future of social democracy. That means fair distribution of wealth, protection of essential services, and an economy that serves people rather than corporations. China’s role as a regional partner can support this vision far more than an alliance with a declining America locked into military competition.

Friendship With China

It is important to remember that China is not an abstract power, it is a nation of people. For generations, Chinese Australians and visitors from China have contributed to our communities, our universities, our cities, and our economy. They have brought culture, generosity, and collaboration. Chinese people have consistently proved to be good partners and good friends to Australia.

The only Australians who see China as an “evil empire” are those who have internalised the propaganda pushed by American and local elites. This fear narrative distorts reality. In truth, Chinese people are kind, hardworking, and community minded. They value education, prosperity, and cooperation, and these values align closely with what Australians want for their own future. If we view China not as a threat but as a friend, a partner, and a neighbour, the path forward becomes clearer.

The Myth of American Freedom

One of the most persistent myths in international relations is that the United States represents freedom while China represents control. Washington has spent decades cultivating this image, and Australia has too often repeated it without question. The reality is far less flattering.

In the United States, freedom is deeply compromised by inequality. More than 37 million Americans live below the poverty line. Healthcare is not a right but a commodity, leaving tens of millions without adequate access to doctors or medicine. Education is increasingly unaffordable, saddling young people with lifelong debt. Freedom of choice is hollow when the basics of life are unaffordable.

The US prison system is the largest in the world, with over two million people incarcerated, disproportionately from minority groups. This is not freedom, it is mass social control. Political freedom is equally constrained, with voting rights restricted in many states and political influence dominated by billionaires and corporate lobbies.

At the same time, Washington positions itself as the defender of human rights abroad, often citing China’s treatment of groups such as the Uyghurs as evidence of oppression. Yet America rarely applies the same scrutiny to itself. It overlooks its history of slavery, segregation, and genocide against Indigenous peoples, as well as its ongoing systemic racism and discrimination. To lecture others about freedom while failing so badly at home is hypocrisy of the highest order.

For Australians, the lesson is clear. We should be cautious of importing American ideology about who is free and who is oppressed. True freedom is not measured by rhetoric but by the lived realities of people. On that score, America has little moral authority to lecture others.

Taiwan and the Manufactured Crisis

Another recurring theme in Western propaganda is the notion that Taiwan is the inevitable catalyst for World War III. This framing serves American strategic interests, not Australia’s. It amplifies fear and justifies military escalation in our region, yet it does not reflect the realities of cross-strait relations.

For China, Taiwan is a core national issue tied to sovereignty and history. Beijing has consistently stated its preference for peaceful reunification and has shown patience in the pursuit of that goal. While it maintains that military action is not off the table, its actions over decades suggest that economic, cultural, and political engagement remain the preferred path.

By contrast, it is Washington and its allies who inflame tensions by arming Taiwan, staging military exercises, and turning a complex domestic issue into a geopolitical flashpoint. The same media outlets that downplay America’s own wars of aggression frame China’s position on Taiwan as an existential threat to world peace. This is hypocrisy.

The reality is that Taiwan is not a trigger for global war unless Western powers make it so. Australia should resist being drawn into this narrative. It is neither in our interest nor within our power to dictate China’s internal affairs. What we can do is avoid contributing to the spiral of provocation and focus instead on fostering stability, trade, and dialogue across the region.

The Futility of Military Confrontation

China does not need to engage in war with Australia to assert influence. Its economic scale, technological advancement, and integration into our supply chains already far outweigh any military contest. More importantly, China has not demonstrated the same pattern of global intervention as the United States. Where Washington exports wars and bases, Beijing exports trade and infrastructure.

In Africa, China has financed railways, ports, hospitals, and energy systems. These are long term investments in development rather than instruments of destruction. For Australia, the choice of partnership should be clear.

Independence, Not Dependence

Australia’s history of military dependence on the United States has drawn us into conflicts that served American interests rather than our own, from Vietnam to Iraq. AUKUS threatens to deepen this dependency and bind us even more tightly to Washington’s strategic agenda. Aligning with China offers the chance to reassert independence, to place prosperity and peace ahead of militarism, and to integrate fully with our region rather than acting as a distant outpost of American strategy.

A Multipolar Future

The global order is becoming multipolar. Asia, Africa, and Latin America are rising alongside Europe and the United States. Australia must decide whether to cling to a declining empire or embrace the opportunities of a multipolar system. Aligning with China places us in the centre of our own region’s future rather than at the edge of someone else’s.

The Risk of Stagnation

Remaining tethered to the United States risks cultural and political stagnation. We continue to see the world through American lenses of rivalry and fear. By contrast, closer engagement with China allows Australia to redefine itself as a true Asia Pacific nation. This is not submission but adaptation, not isolation but integration.

Conclusion

Australia does not need to kneel before any great power. But if we must weigh the scales, the future lies with China. The AUKUS deal represents a colossal waste of money and a betrayal of sovereignty. It is a backward-looking program that ties us to outdated naval platforms, while the real future of defence lies in autonomous systems and technological innovation that Australia could build for itself. The campaign to stoke fear of China is little more than recycled Cold War propaganda, designed to protect the interests of oligarchs.

The myth that America is a beacon of freedom while China is inherently oppressive only serves American strategic goals. The Taiwan issue is no different, framed by the West as a pretext for confrontation when in fact it is a matter of sovereignty and history that Beijing seeks to resolve peacefully. The truth is that the United States fails its own people on a scale that undermines its credibility. China is not our enemy. China is our friend, and Chinese people have shown time and again that they are generous, trustworthy, and good to work with. Australia’s future should be one of social democracy, fairness, innovation, and regional cooperation. The sooner we embrace that, the stronger and more secure we will be.

by Leo Hagan