It’s telling that you consider this “tit for tat” behaviour when the CCP equivalent is literal months of detention without charge, no transparency and limited consular visits.

Uhhh that's not what's happened in this case.

But yeah I'm not saying China never acts agressivly. Just that there is usually an escalation first, in this case we treated their journalists the same as they are treating ours.

If we have nothing to hide, why kick force them out?

America isn’t going anywhere so long as it’s reasonably sized, possesses nuclear weapons and the Western Bloc prefers it as hegemon.

You are ignoring the whole issue of a cold war 2.0. right now we are being forced to not trade with China (eg. Huawei) in order to keep on side with American.

Not the point being made - the point was alarmism that standing with the Western Bloc as opposed to China risked Australia’s survival is a bit overblown, because practically the only scenario where a war got so “hot” that Australia is taken out is one where the rest of the world is gone too.

It doesn't risk our survival but it certainly has risks related to our economy, freedom of movement and yes unnecessary conflict we might engage in.

The whole world didn't go to war in the mid east. That is bullshit. Just a handful of western countries did. You're forgetting that western Europe, US and Australia is not the 'whole world's. That's just what proponents of a cold war 2.0 want. A completely divided world