Andrew Dickens Afternoons

Has everyone else been as blown away as I have about the vigour and speed with which China has decided to woo our Pacific neighbours? And is everyone else as worried as I am about our preparations for a new geo politics in our backyard? The Chinese Foreign Minister is in the middle of a whistle-stop tour of 8 Pacific nations. He carries with him millions and millions of dollars in aid and development funds and in return, all he wants is Chinese access and influence. Over the weekend he was in Samoa. They signed up immediately. They spoke about climate change, the pandemic and peace and security. Things that Australia, New Zealand and the United States have consistently failed to do. The things the Pacific are really worried about. We have taken the Pacific for granted and paid them lip service and now we have competition for our influence. This is prompting a wave of concern about what we can do. Which is all a little too little and too late Yesterday on Q&A, one expert said it's time to invest more in de