”Hopefully, there will be win-win solutions to the disputes,” the editorial says, meaning all are the winners of the war. The level of satisfaction is definitely different, but for sure, no one has suffered a fatal loss in the war.

Morrison now has a legitimate reason to claim a victory in his (first) war against the American goliaths. The next war — against China — is much more complicated with deadlier consequences for Australia and for Morrison in person than in the first war. No leader has dared to declare an open confrontation with China as Morrison has done.

Morrison marked his first win, which came after a last-minute compromise with Facebook and Google, with the Australian Parliament’s passing of the globally awaited legislation on Thursday. The law requires all global digital goliaths to pay for local news content.

It is a huge victory for Morrison, who started an all-out war against the American tech giants, while other countries, including those in the European Union, could only bluff or threaten.

Thanks to Morrison, many, including Indonesia, will profit from the confrontation. It seems to me that Morrison is eager to build his name as the true “deputy sheriff” of US President Joe Biden, after “serving” the unpredictable Donald Trump, who often bullied his loyal deputy. Former Australian prime minister John Howard was perhaps the most successful deputy sheriff of the US, who never hesitated to bully Australia’s neighbors because he knew very well the US was behind him.

News content providers, including print media, now can hope for survival amid the prolonged and deadly crisis from depleting advertisement and subscription revenues. More or less, as a journalist, I am also a beneficiary of the Australian leader’s bravery. Harvest time, however, is still a very long way ahead.

Read also: Australia passes bill to compel Google, Facebook to pay for news

Outside the US, Morrison is the only world leader who has the guts to openly taunt China. I don’t know what motivated him to take such an aggressive move, knowing that about 30 percent of his country’s exports go to China.

As a world middle power, like Indonesia, Australia seems to be wearing oversized clothes. Together with Japan, India and the US, Australia intends to form a security pact to patrol the Indo Pacific region, which includes the volatile South China Sea. It may be annoying for others, especially China, but for many skeptics, such a scenario is amazing only on paper.

Beijing has punished Canberra with severe trade sanctions by drastically increasing tariffs for cotton, beef, barley, wine and coal. Surprisingly, at least so far, Australians have not voiced their concern over their leader’s dangerous adventure. Media organizations are preoccupied with their own financial problems and have paid little attention to Morrison’s move.

But as Australia knows very well what it is doing and with whom it is dealing, let us now just think about how we can take advantage of this situation. China is Indonesia’s most important trading partner after all.

The Post reported in November that the Indonesian Coal Mining Association (APBI) had signed a deal with the China Coal Transport and Distribution (CCTD) Association to export US$1.46 billion worth of coal to China this year. Hopefully, the agreement will translate into 200 million tons of coal exports to China in 2021. This is just one example of how Indonesia can benefit from the Beijing-Canberra trade spat.

In the last few years, Morrison angered China when he took several drastic measures described as an attempt to contain China. His open accusation that China should be held responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic was the most frontal allegation against China. Of course, Morrison has no evidence at all for his accusation.

The prime minister has vowed he would never seek a compromise with other countries in protecting Australia’s interests, national sovereignty and democratic system. He believes that his “manage China on Australia’s term” doctrine will be effective in dealing with China. For me, Morrison’s offensive diplomacy shows his love of preserving Australia’s status as the US “deputy sheriff”.

Read also: Facebook blocks news sharing in Australia over media law

Again, I don’t know why Australia is so confident in its “impossible mission” to fight China, who will never let other countries dictate or oppose it. I can only guess that one of the reasons is Australia’s fear of the speedy presence of China in smaller nations in the Pacific, which have been Australia’s good neighbors.

In his speech at the United Nations General Assembly last September, Morrison boasted about Australia’s contribution to its Pacific neighbors.

“Australia has also been mindful of our wonderful Pacific family during this pandemic, our wantok, our vuvale, our whanau, particularly the island nations of the Southwest Pacific. Australia is the single largest development partner for these nations.”

Let Morrison continue the war — which he is unlikely to win. But like the American digital goliaths, who knows Beijing will agree on a win-win solution for its spat with Canberra.

But let’s hail Australia for its win over the American big techs. Indonesia can take advantage of Australia’s quarrels with the world’s economic superpowers.

***

Senior editor at The Jakarta Post

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