13 February 2026
Dear Editor,
So many Australians who, along with so many of Australia’s Chinese diaspora, think Red China is a big cuddly giant panda, would do well to remember the Chinese Communist Party’s destruction of the Tibetan culture of the Dalai Lama’s homeland (with deaths of tens of thousands of Tibetan monks) and the – condemned by the UN – militarization of the South China Sea. Not to mention the now total subjugation of Hong Kong’s people by violent means; forced labor concentration-camp treatment of hundreds of thousands of Muslim Uyghurs; the CCP’s alliances with despotic Iran, Russia, and North Korea; the very recent naval squadron live ammunition firing off every coastal Australia capital city; and total commitment to invade peace-loving, Taiwan’s 23 million people living in a vibrant democracy, just like us in Australia!
OK! So Red China’s our biggest trading partner, but never forget, “He who feeds the crocodile gets eaten last”! And certainly not Dean William Ralph Inge’s, “It is useless for the sheep to pass resolutions in favor of vegetarianism, while the wolf is of a different opinion”!
Yours,
Howard Hutchins
Victoria, Australia
Just to throw it in, you may notice that folks like Steve Bannon like to say “Oh, that is not of strategic interest to America”. He may be right sometimes, but that depends upon how you think about strategy. Australia is absolutely strategic in our geopolitical considerations. We have made pretty deep military commitments with them. They are a cornerstone of any military action against Red China. So, My. Hutchins concerns need to be considered in terms of support from America. That said, both countries have their captured elites. I think we are beginning to deal with them here. Australia’s condition is much more worrisome. – So trade may be a factored, but captured elites is a much bigger factor.