December 16, 2002
AXIS OF THE WILLING:
US-Australia pact 'dangerous' (BBC, 16 December, 2002)Australia's drive to sign a free trade pact with the US could do more harm than good by undermining Australia's relationship with China, critics are warning.The proposal, unveiled in November by US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick, reflects the increasingly warm relationship between the two countries built on Australia's unstinting support for the US "War on Terror". [...]
Australia's former ambassador to Beijing, Ross Garnaud, has accused the government of pursuing the pact for political purposes in the face of economists' advice.
Seeking the free trade area (FTA), he said, "would discriminate against (Australia's) economically more important partners in East Asia", while the chances of wedging open still further the door to Chinese markets would diminish.
The FTA proposals are part of a concerted US effort to get its allies in the "War on Terror" onside by whatever means seem appropriate.
They reflect a preference in the Bush administration for bilateral trade deals which can be made from a position of strength, rather than waiting for World Trade Organisation talks where Europe and Japan have equal sway.
That preference is part of the problem, critics say.
US policy - including its willingness to impose tariffs to protect domestic industries like steel and agriculture - risks sundering the world into trading blocs, rather than breaking down barriers across the board.
Suppose for a second that the two bloc future is coming and that it is based on trade and military alliance. If you're the leader of your country do you want to be in the bloc with the Western Hemisphere, India, Turkey, Israel, Taiwan, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, much of Northern Africa, and Australia or in the one with Europe, Japan and China? Posted by Orrin Judd at December 16, 2002 11:33 PM
OUR willingness to impose tariffs to protect domestic steel and agriculture? Ye gads, has the commentator even looked at EU subsidies for both industries?
What a silly question; I already know the answer.
Iran is, I think, going to be the test case for whether
Orrin's block is going to exist. It does not now.
It was weeks ago now that bloggers were whooping and hollering about the imminent fall of the mullahs. I see
reports that unrest is spreading, but there is a moment
in revolutionary ferment after which real change becomes less and less likely to occur.
Hard to sense that moment in Iran from afar but something needs to happen soon.
What a lot of horseshit the BBC talks. Al that id going to happen is that more and more countries will want in == including China. And that will sure help boost their support of US policy!
Posted by: John Ray at December 17, 2002 8:45 PMlanguage!
Posted by: oj at December 17, 2002 9:19 PM