Former Australian diplomats John Lander （top left), Bruce Haigh (top right), Chen Hong (bottom-left), president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, discuss about China-Australia relations during Global Minds Roundtable on March 6.

 
As Australian media outlets up their game of drumming war drums against China, former Australian diplomats stressed China is not knocking at Australia's door to invade Australia; China provides economic opportunity and prosperity, while the US is offering death and destruction, at Global Times' Global Minds Roundtable on China-Australia Relations on Monday. 

On Tuesday, two of mainstream Australian media, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, published a special report, entitled "Red Alert," claiming that five "national security experts" assembled by the two outlets "conclude the overwhelming source of danger to Australia is from China - and we're not prepared for it." In February, ABC launched a program themed, "What would war with China look like for Australia?" and Sky News Australia released a special episode, "Are We Ready for War?"

Experts believe Australian media are not taking the theme - war and peace - seriously. People keep talking about that a war against China might break out like an earthquake, a flood or a landslide that just happens, while ignoring that it is equally possible for humans to decide not to go to war as it is to decide to go to war, John Lander, former deputy Australian ambassador to China, said during the online roundtable discussion organized by Global Times. 

However, experts also agreed that it is the US, not Australian people, who is doing the thinking or has a say on whether Australia should go to war with China.

The reason behind the drums of war is the decline of the US, which has thus been strategically working at enlisting other countries, especially the so-called allies and partners, to join the US campaign against China, Chen Hong, president of the Chinese Association of Australian Studies and director of the Australian Studies Centre at East China Normal University, said during the roundtable discussion. 

To reach the goal, the US is militarizing Australia and is gradually controlling the military wheels of Australia at an exponential speed, experts said.

The whole of the north of Australia has now been militarized, Bruce Haigh, a former Australian diplomat, said during the roundtable. "Americans want to get their vessels, aircraft, and ships in Australia. There's a (US) command center in Darwin and it's growing. And it's going to control. It will want to know all shipping and air movements into Australian waters in a circle that's drawn by the US," he emphasized. 

However, "The integration of the US forces into the Australian defense force is a sign that the US is going to implement its stated policy of confronting its nuclear-powered adversaries by proxy. The US won't protect Australia. The US will just ensure that Australia has some capacity to protect itself," Lander said, adding this is exactly what the US is doing in Ukraine. 

Lander underlined that Washington will use Australia as a proxy and try to establish an alliance of proxies to fight the war on US' behalf. In that case, the US could reach its own win-win situation - debilitating China and avoiding any direct damage to the US.

Our military is really poorly led, Haigh said. "We've had some poor promotions to top leadership in Australia. They're just as susceptible to American pressure as the political process is. The Australian military has psychologically and mentally been handed over to the US." 

Australia is misled by the US, Lander emphasized. "China does not want Australia to be the spark that starts the flames of war. It would be of great detriment to China. It would lead to the destruction of Australia completely."