CHINA should exert direct economic pressure on Australia, including diverting mining investments to other countries, to discourage Canberra from seeking closer military ties with the US, a Chinese think tank has warned.
The think tank says Australia is psychologically divided about a rising China and is “wavering strategically” about the extent to which it should cosy up to the US because it fears Beijing’s growing military capability.
In a rare and critical analysis of Australia’s strategic posture published in the US Air Force’s influential Air & Space Power Journal, Liao Kai of China’s Knowfar Institute of Strategic and Defence Studies says Beijing should use a mixture of carrot and stick to encourage Australia not to take its military friendship with Washington too far.
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