Australia should calm down on Asia and just build healthy relationships.
Media and politicians react hysterically to even the smallest policy shift out of China. We sweat over the relationship. And if China has any dispute with a neighbour, we want to jump in and offer our advice.
We should just quietly get used to the new reality that China is now the world’s second biggest economy and is about to become the biggest.
And when it comes to India, Australia cannot see beyond divisions and communal unrest. Objectively looking at the numbers will tell us India is a stable, growing economy that in our region will be a close number two to China.
Australians will agonise over whether getting closer to India is a good buffer to China.
Forget it – just get closer to India because that in itself is a good idea. Same for China.
Get over it. Things have changed.
Now – how do we build sensible and quiet relations with China and India – two countries that probably don’t think about Australia too often?
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Author: Stephen Manallack
Former President, Australia India Business Council, Victoria and Author, You Can Communicate; Riding the Elephant; Soft Skills for a Flat World (published by Tata McGraw-Hill INDIA); Communicating Your Personal Brand.
Director, EastWest Academy Pty Ltd and Trainer/Speaker/Mentor in Leadership, Communication and Cross Cultural Communication.
Passionate campaigner for closer western relations with India.
Stephen Manallack is a specialist on “Doing Business with India” and advisor/trainer on “Cross-Cultural Understanding”. He is a Director of EastWest Academy Pty Ltd which provides strategic advice and counsel regarding business relations with India.
A regular speaker in India on leadership and global communication, his most recent speaking tour included a speech to students of the elite Indian university, Amity University, in Noida. He also spoke at a major Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) global summit, the PR Consultants Association of India in Delhi, the Symbiosis University in Pune and Cross-Cultural Training for Sundaram Business Services in Chennai. He has visited India on business missions on 10 occasions and led three major trade missions there. He provides cross-cultural training – Asia and the west.
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