Why is anyone surprised?

If anything, we should be thanking the Chinese government for their naval journey last week. With it, they have focused our minds and reminded us about the things that matter.

People’s Liberation Army-Navy Renhai-class cruiser Zunyi and Fuchi-class replenishment vessel Weishanhu in the Tasman Sea.Credit: Australian Defence Force

The shock that greeted the navigation of three Chinese warships through the Tasman Sea en route to what appears to be a circumnavigation of Australia, and their subsequent live firing exercises, was perhaps the most surprising thing about this incident.

Anyone with a passing interest in national security has been warning about the repercussions of China possessing a blue water navy for more than a decade. Last week was simply a manifestation of the changed world that we now live in. The relative stability of the Cold War by comparison, and the quarter-century of Western hegemony of the globe since, are now a thing of the past.

But the media, and our polity in general, seemed not to see the wood for the trees – or the sea for the ships in this case.

Instead of focusing on what the government knew when, isn’t the more important question what are we doing about defending our nation?

This kind of activity will be the norm in the future, not the exception. That’s the reality.

China and the United States are........

© The Sydney Morning Herald