Commentary Former Australian Prime Minister, Paul Keating, generated a wave of criticism when, in an address to the National Press Club on Wednesday, Nov. 10, 2021, he argued that China “does not represent a contiguous threat to Australia” and that Australia should not be involved in any dispute over Taiwan. While a spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry lauded Keating’s comments in Australia, his address was criticised, even ridiculed, on the ground that he was dabbling in 1970s politics. Specifically, commentators accused him of being patently wrong and ignorant of China’s demonstrable human rights abuses, geopolitical interests in South-East Asia, exemplified by the extinguishment of democracy and civil rights in Hong Kong, the occupation of the South China Sea and the East China Sea, and its continuing intimidation of Taiwan. Additionally, Beijing vociferously criticises the AUKUS Security Pact for the Indo-Pacific region. This trilateral pact, concluded with the United States and the …