By Chris Trotter*Had Zheng He's fleet sailed east, not west, in the early Fifteenth Century, how different our world would be. The cramped and fratricidal states of the European peninsula would have remained minor players in a Chinese world. The naval and air bases located on the territory of Beijing’s new “friends” will have extended its strategic reach alarmingly. Completing this American nightmare would be the transformation of New Zealand into China’s unsinkable aircraft carrier and nuclear submarine base. Washington will insist that blood is thicker than milk, and Beijing will remind us that milk is New Zealand’s life-blood.

Source: Stuff May 06, 2024 10:39 UTC