China foreign policy grossly misunderstood in the West

[Bengal71]

Economics helps. But it is not sufficient condition for friendship. Many countries are friendly with USA, China or Saudi Arabia for economic reasons. But not everyone is a friend.

You can be friends with someone because they are in your neighborhood.
You can be friends with someone because you shared similar culture.
You can be friends with someone because you have a similar world view

Ok. That's not in contradiction with what I was originally saying.

 

[nahtanbob]

Ok. That's not in contradiction with what I was originally saying.

It does contradict your statement that Australia has to be a friend of China because of economics

 

[Bengal71]

It does contradict your statement that Australia has to be a friend of China because of economics

I don't think you understood what I was talking about.

If friendship and alliances are made purely based on national interest involving economics then any nation can make alliances with any nation regardless of their cultural ties. But that's only seen during peace times; in critical times, nations abandon those interests and tie themselves with the cultures or civilizations they identify with.