F.P.T.

Unfortunately, Rudd appeared to leave these sensible thoughts behind when he became PM.

With the exception of his famous "Zhengyou" speech at Peking University last year, he ducked the responsibility to lead on China. His Government's policy ambivalence towards Chinese investment encouraged those in Australia who believed that Chinese money was something to be feared. His advisers played up the China military threat, or encouraged journalists to believe that his Defence White Paper had played up that threat.

The leadership vacuum on China was quickly filled by the shrill and ill-informed.

Australia's business and political leaders needed to be assisting those in China who saw the world as an economic opportunity rather than a security threat. The risk of doing otherwise, of playing up the threat of "China Inc", was that it would become self-fulfilling.