And where to begin with the blithe assertion that China “broadly keeps to itself”? To accept this is to discount Beijing’s dispute with Japan over the East China Sea and its determination to take over Taiwan,a democratic nation of 24 million that has never been part of Communist China. Its other border disputes include one with India,a trifle that left20 Indian soldiers dead in a clash in the Himalayas,along with an unknown number of Chinese.

It disregards the vast Chinese armada that isillegally overfishing seas from West Africa,through the Korean peninsula and the Pacific all the way to the Galapagos Islands.

It skates over Beijing’s industrial-scale cyber assaults on the world’s intellectual property that threatens the security of nations and costs billions.

Likewise,it glosses over the illegal detention in China of Australian citizens,Dr Yang Hengjun and Cheng Lei,on trumped-up espionage charges. Beijing has applied the same hostage diplomacy to Sweden and Canada,among others,and its blunt wolf warrior diplomacy seems to have disturbed much of the world.

It overlooks the Chinese Communist Party’s documented interference inside Australia’s borders,throughespionage,political donations,infiltrating community organisations,intimidating university students and lecturers,anddictating the editorial line of much of the Australian-based Chinese language media.

To agree with Keating’s argument is also to wantonly ignore China’s own analysis of its dispute with Australia. On this,Chinese Embassy officials in Canberra helpfully provided guidance by handing Nine News journalist Jonathan Kearsleya list of 14 grievances.

The list includes blocking some Chinese foreign investment deals;banning Huawei from the 5G network rollout;passing foreign interference legislation;calling for an independent investigation into the origins of COVID-19;supporting the international arbitration ruling on the South China Sea,and criticism of Beijing levelled by MPs and the media.

If all this can be described as “broadly keeping to itself” then God help us when Beijing decides to really get serious about asserting itself.

So,Canberra is looking after Australia’s interests,not Washington’s,when it stands its ground against Beijing. There is plenty of evidence that much of the rest of the region agrees that what is needed in dealing with Beijing is backbone,not backsliding.

Beijing has revealed itself and its plans for the way the world should run that reach all the way from dictating the language in high school essays totaking new territory by force.

Almost all of Beijing’s grievances with Australia are commands that it compromise its sovereignty and its democracy. The Chinese Communist Party’s officials and mouthpieces have made it clear that rebuilding the relationship demands compliance. Which item would Keating concede and call “diplomacy”?

Chris Uhlmann is political editor for Nine News.