Opinion: Stand up or screw up – Australia-China relations

As English is my second language, I know how tricky it can be sometimes when we use phrases from a foreign language without knowing their nuances or implications.

I learned this lesson in 1987, while studying for my masters degree in the United States.

At the end of my journalism professor's lecture, he gave us a piece of advice: "When in doubt, check it out." Taking this to heart, I stood up and took out a newspaper, claiming that I had found a mistake in the paper. The lower right corner of the front page showed a story with the title, "Roof of a Topless Bar Blown Off."

I asked how could a bar’s roof be blown off if it did not have a roof? As that was my first trip abroad, to me, the word topless meant without a roof. There was total silence for a second, until my American teacher and classmates burst into laughter. I was still at a loss until an American student sitting by me explained what a topless bar actually is!

Three decades later, another person has met the same awkward situation. The only difference is that the person in question is Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull using a phrase in Chinese.

Earlier this month, when Turnbull talked about China “interfering in his country’s politics,” he said that Australian people are standing up just like the Chinese people did in 1949.

Although Turnbull knew that the phrase is used by the Chinese as an assertion of sovereignty, I doubt he understands the true meaning of it.

Based on my limited knowledge of Australia, I can think out three possible scenarios.

First, Chairman Mao Zedong proclaimed that the Chinese people have stood up when the People’s Republic of China was founded in 1949 after gaining national independence from invasions and colonial rule by foreign powers. In the case of Australia, does Turnbull want to break away from the British Commonwealth to become a truly independent country with full sovereignty, especially in the wake of Brexit?

Second, as an ally of the US, Australia may have second thoughts about its own gains versus pains in this relationship. Does Turnbull want to raise the flag of “Australia First” and use the phrase as a metaphor for his new strategy of making Australia great on its own?

Third, Turnbull used the phrase to set a new stage for Australia-China relations – from that of top trading partner to main rival. But this could push the fruitful and win-win bilateral relationship between the two countries into rocky territory.

Will Turnbull stand up or screw up, time is running out.

(CGTN)