NEW Former Australia-China Business Council head and Howard Government minister Warwick Smith expressed deep concern for Australia's role in the increasingly fraught US-China relationship.
China
Grim warning that Australia is just a 'little boat caught between two rocks' in the US-China trade war as Asian superpower's attitude switches from 'assertive to aggressive'
News items on anything Chinese and how it will affect Australia. 
198 comments
China's Communist Party newspaper has published a disturbing cartoon of a bloodied kangaroo and a new doctored image mocking Prime Minister Scott Morrison as relations between the two nations hit an all-time low. The Global Times, a mouthpiece for the communist government, shared the images after a diplomatic row was sparked by the artist's first fake image of an Australian soldier holding a knife to the throat of an Afghan child, posted by China's foreign ministry.
China rebukes US, Australia as it eyes Afghanistan 'prize' (yahoo.com)China's extraordinary rebuke to US, Australia as it eyes Afghanistan 'prize' Nick Whigham·Assistant News EditorWed, 25 August 2021, 6:33 am·3-min read
China has hit out at the US, Australia and the UK
, accusing allied troops of human rights abuses in Afghanistan in the wake of the ugly withdrawal of Western forces from the country.
The US, along with Australia, the UK and New Zealand have been working to evacuate both ex-pats and Afghan visa holders desperate to escape the barbaric rule of the Taliban that now awaits the country.
As reports of Taliban violations, including executions, continue to be published, the United Nations Human Rights Council held an emergency session overnight.
But a Chinese envoy was keen to shift the focus on misdeeds of Australia and its allies.
China's ambassador Chen Xu (left) has used a UN emergency meeting about Taliban atrocities to criticise allied troops. Source: AAP
"The US, UK, Australia and other countries must be held accountable for the violation of human rights committed by their military in Afghanistan and the evolution of this current session should cover this issue," China's ambassador Chen Xu told the council.
"Under the banner of democracy and human rights the US and other countries carry out military interventions in other sovereign states and impose their own model on countries with vastly different history and culture," he said, saying this brought "great suffering".
'Future fate': China's chilling 'omen' after Taliban takeover
'Will kill us all': Desperate Aussies in Afghanistan plead for help
'It's a red line': Taliban issue ominous threat in TV interview
Amnesty International has previously said that thousands of Afghans have been killed or injured by US forces, of which few have been brought to justice. The US Department of Defense has previously defended its efforts to avoid casualties.
China has also been publicly critical of alleged war crimes by Australian troops in Afghanistan in the wake of the damning Brereton Report.
Over the last five years there seem to be more and more treasures being found in art shops or even junk shops around the UK!
The antique rose vase was given as payment for a demolition job during the 1980s and inherited by the owner's son who then stored it away for 15 years before deciding to sell it off at auction in Hants.
This Qing famille rose vase was expected to sell for £15,000 but actually sold for £550,000 as it was revealed it's an 18th century piece of Chinese artwork
Reminds me of the movie 55 Days in Peeking.
T
The Boxer Rebellion was an uprising against foreigners that occurred in 1900, begun by peasants but eventually supported by the government.
It took place during the reign of the Qing dynasty - the last imperial dynasty to rule in China.
A Chinese secret society known as the Boxers embarked on a violent campaign to drive all foreigners from China.
The Boxers targeted foreigners first and foremost, Western missionaries in particular.
It also targeted Chinese converts to Christianity, who drew ire for flouting traditional Chinese ceremonies and family relations.
Several countries sent troops to halt the attacks.
The troops captured Beijing in August 1900, and, after extensive discussions, the rebellion officially ended when the Boxer Protocol was signed on September 7, 1901 ending hostilities.
Source: Britannica
It’s the only thing keeping Australia afloat. Now China’s moved to gut the iron ore market.
Beijing boasts it has slashed steel exports to Australia by more than 50 per cent. And it insists efforts to “wean” itself from Aussie iron ore are only just beginning.
Government-controlled media this week declared that the “world’s largest steel exporter” was taking “measures to cut output (and) restrict exports”. This would “weigh on Australia’s infrastructure construction and economy,” the Global Times report predicts.
It quotes an unspecified Chinese steel exporter as saying the trend is “set to further accelerate”.
In recent weeks, Beijing has boosted taxes and axed rebates on steel exports. It’s also hiking tariffs on iron-ore imports.
This is in stark contrast to efforts to rein in surging raw materials costs by selling off national stockpiles. Last month, one such release involved selling 20,000 tons of copper, 30,000 tons of zinc, and 50,000 tons of aluminium to “ensure market stability”.
RELATED: Ominous sign for Aussie iron ore
But the politics of iron ore and steel markets are different.
[what next? We are sitting ducks with the big four on our own beaches]
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday morning unveiled Australia's role in a landmark tripartite security group, known by the acronym 'AUKUS' to counter the growing threat of China in the Indo-Pacific.
As part of the arrangement, Australia's two most important allies will help Australia build nuclear-powered submarines for the first time.
'It is the first time this technology has ever been made available to Australia. This is a one-off, as the President in Washington has made very clear. This is a very special arrangement,' Mr Morrison said.
The Prime Minister was earlier joined virtually for the announcement by US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson in a historic joint press conference.
None of the leaders mentioned China by name but the West is increasingly concerned about Beijing's growing assertiveness and huge military build-up.
Experts fear China may retaliate to the new alliance with further trade blocks on Australian exports.
Over the past year Beijing has effectively banned or partially blocked Australian barley, coal, seafood, wine and other exports after Canberra called for an investigation into the origins of coronavirus.
Mr Morrison, whose calls to China have been repeatedly rejected, said: 'There's an open invitation for President Xi to discuss the matters. That has always been there. Australia is open to discuss issues important to the Indo-Pacific.'
China has vastly built up its military in the past few years and now possesses six Shang-class nuclear powered attack submarines, equipped with torpedoes and cruise missiles. This graphic shows a comparison of the two militaries
Director of Defence, Strategy and National Security at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, Michael Shoebridge, told Daily Mail Australia that China could introduce more trade measures.
'I think they will react aggressively to this decision, but that's not really a new behaviour for the China we see under President Xi Jinping,' he said.
'Australia's economy is the most exposed, most dependent, on Chinese imports of global economies,' he warned. About 40 per cent of Australia's exports went to China in 2019.
Mr Shoebridge said Australia's decision to build nuclear submarines was about creating credible deterrence to prevent China from engaging in conflict.
'Beijing will understand that,' he said.
The national security expert said the decision by Australia's allies to share nuclear technology with Australia now was due to China's growing assertiveness.
China has inflamed tensions in the South China Sea in recent years by expanding its claimed territory (picutred in red), to the objection of its neighbors in the Asia-Pacific
Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday morning unveiled Australia's plan to build its own submarine fleet alongside US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson
Taiwan said it scrambled its own fighters and activated missile defences to turn back eight Chinese fighter jets and two other aircraft which entered its airspace near Pratas Island today.
Tony Abbott has warned war with China could break out 'quite soon' amid mounting tensions with Taiwan. In a speech in Taipei City on Friday, Mr Abbott criticised Beijing for launching 'intimidatory sorties against Taiwan' and urged democracies to show 'solidarity' with the island of 25million people. Last weekend China flew 148 aircraft into Taiwan's 'air defence zone' in one of the largest displays of force in recent years. Mr Abbott said the US and Australia would likely join Taiwan in repelling any Chinese military aggression. Officially, Taiwan is not recognised as a country under international law, though the government considers it to be an independent state. Western nations have been rushing to reaffirm their support for Taiwan as it faces down threats from an increasingly-assertive China.
China secretly tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile which orbited the globe before returning to Earth to strike its target in a technological development that would overcome US anti-ballistic missile systems. A report from the Financial Times, which cited five unnamed intelligence sources, said the Chinese military launched the Long March rocket in August carrying a 'hypersonic glide vehicle' into low orbit. It circled the globe before descending towards its target, which it missed by about two dozen miles. The system would be able to overcome US anti-ballistic missile defence systems that are based in Alaska and set up to shoot down projectiles coming over the North Pole - the Chinese system would be able to strike the US from the south. The incident has left US intelligence officials stunned, sources say, as it shows 'China has made astonishing progress on the development of its hypersonic weapons'.
The possible messy collapse of Chinese property giant Evergrande is worrying the Reserve Bank of Australia. They are also concerned about Xi Jinping's 'common prosperity' policies.
Well that explains a lot, this artist is being encouraged by the Chinese Goverment, and possibly funded to spread propaganda.
I agree Celia, imagine if artists were to start depicting the cruelty that China gets up to, only have to ask the Urghurs and the Tibetans for a start.