Are we teetering on the edge of an abyss of horror and anti-humanism as you say? Oh yes, I have more than a nodding acquaintance with the real world. The world that few see let alone experience. Yes, there is misery and suffering on earth. Human problems are complex but all the trouble in the world is human trouble. All the cruel and malicious indifference confronted has a human face and soul. We are at best indifferent and at worst wantonly cruel. We are shown the awful truth about the horror and absurdity of life. Human life can be stripped of meaning and human beings of dignity. Truth can often be ugly. Cruelty and aggression is a rooted human trait. It has shown itself everywhere. Bosnia, Rwanda, Israel, Lebanon. America - yes it can also have a respectable guise of a scientist inventing new horrific weaponry, in the civil servant planning the use of internment or the use of gas-ovens or the wanton slaughter of innocents or the judicial tortures carried out in prisons on the bodies of enemies throughout the world.

I often wonder how I am able to take the atrocious confusion of this world into my mind and give it back metamorphosed, transfigured with such simple words scribbled across a page! You ask me if the truth of life is unbearable? I stare at Man's instinct for cruelty and death, at his pain and pleasure and I not only feel infinite pity for what Man is, but I have an infinite respect for his efforts in living. Yes I have a loss of confidence in the future, in the continuance of our humanities and essential decencies. I also understand that when people try and make a better world for us to live in, mistakes will be made. If only we could learn from our mistakes!

I stood under the tree in the darkness in the garden when the man appeared before me and he said “Forgiveness is all”. I asked “who are you?” He held out his hands and within seconds I found myself upon a hill staring up at a cross and I heard the man cry “Father, forgive their sins”. I found myself next to Israeli soldiers – I could feel their fear, I became their hate and fear, finger poised upon a trigger – aimed – the child huddled beside his Father became a body riddled with bullets. Within a bus, a martyr walking, praying, I became the fear and hate the bomb exploding – the dead and dying. I sat upon a rock – beside which hundreds, thousands, millions surged and swelled, praying, chanting – the rock split in a flash of brilliant white light and the millions became white bones upon the sands. I stood beside an ancient wall with those praying – the wall tumbled in a flash of brilliant light – nothing left but white bones and silence. I found myself beside an ancient tree – whereupon stood the man – I felt his pain and he looked at me and said “wherein lies life?” and I said “there is no life” and he replied “there is no forgiveness” and he faded from me. I found myself under the tree in the darkness of the garden.

An enormous shift of global power in a post-Cold War world is epochal in that the players compete in economic contests rather than ideological ones. There is no doubt that there will be a major shift in the focus of world economic power towards the western rim of the pacific which will offer an enormous opportunity to Australia. Australia must adapt, innovate, and make use of opportunities within Asia. It should be recognised that it is in our interest to contribute to the economic development of the region through trade, aid and investment. In doing so, we will be promoting our own prosperity. In order to develop markets we will have no choice but to accommodate greater Asian access to our market and greater investment flows in both directions.

Australia has changed very significantly since the war - politically, socially, ethnically, culturally. We need to recognise that regional perceptions of Australia will be based in significant part on our record on aboriginal issues, migration and refugees as well as our attitudes to race. Australia needs to actively cultivate an awareness of an sensitivity to Asian realities. This awareness is required not only at official levels, but by all groups. An active two way flow of information will not guarantee freedom from misunderstanding (as per the Hanson comments) far less can we expect freedom from clashes between differing perceptions of the role of the media. What we can aim for - and should - is to avoid misunderstandings based on ignorance, bias or perceived views which have not kept pace with reality. Australia needs to make a sustained national effort to avoid such misunderstandings in the future. In all instances, a strong leadership role from Government is required.

It is difficult, perhaps dangerous, to make any generalisations about a region of such diversity. Yes Asia can be approached as a region but in doing so may obscure opportunities for pursing interests or addressing problems particular to individual countries. . Australia needs to strike the right balance between the imperatives of Asian relationships and the position and values cherished as a developed, aligned, non-Asian country. The Australian Government has firmly reaffirmed that the alliance with the United States is fundamental to national security and foreign and defence policies and that commitments and obligations remain valid and appropriate in today’s very different circumstances.. We are independent as well as being aligned and within the Asia Pacific region we must continue to develop sound relationships with regional countries.

In a very real sense the problems that Australia faces in relation to regional neighbours reflects her growing integration and increasingly important links with them. This doesn’t mean we should contemplate exclusive concentration on the Asia-pacific region. Asia cannot afford to become inward looking. Australia will need to remain independent and assertive when the need arises, while becoming accepted as a member of the region; to be active in support of our interests and values without appearing naive, insensitive or moralising; and to work for the economic benefit of the region, not least our own small bit of it.

The challenges that lie ahead for Australia are far from easy. But our national prosperity and standing depend on facing them squarely.

The Americans have a massive presence in the Middle East. They are all through the military, the economic planning and the development programs. They are advisers, trainers, weapons suppliers, contractors, they run the electronic intelligence program that surveys the Gulf. There is little that they do not know. But I ask myself, will they again overlook the obvious as they have done previously. The American’s have authenticated the most recent tape but is Osmana Bin Laden still alive and if so, where is he?

Is he in the Yemen as has been reported or hiding in the mountains and secret caves of Iran or Pakistan with Al Queda? It is possible he is in Saudi Arabia, hidden amongst his own and under the very noses of those who seek him. The fundamentalists In Saudi Arabia still fight the so-called enemy, imperialism and the subservience of Arabs to Western imperialism. Deep enmity and hostility remains and festers. Within Saudi Arabia there remains a fractious, violent, tribal society. Smouldering with hatreds, with religious and political antagonisms, they would shelter Bin Laden or is he as many believe hiding in the tribal lands of Parkistan?

The terrorist acts we have been seeing, especially over the past twelve months, seem to be getting more systematic yet no discernible pattern has emerged. I am certainly disturbed and concerned about the rising level of violence, which, whatever its origin appears to be carefully planned. There's nothing hard, nothing specific, and nothing I can lay my hands on but I have a deep unease. Who is involved and is there a correlation among the incidents? I'm presupposing nothing but something bothers me about the incidents. I have the feeling that in most incidents of terrorism, but not all, there is a common thread, running everywhere and nowhere. I believe most of the operations have a common source. What is peculiar is the networking between the groups involved. I have no facts, only fleeting theories and surmises that are countered by equally valid assumptions and speculations. I can see no clear pattern yet I sense there must be one. I have no knowledge of specifics yet the threads lead back. The Fundamentalists are intransigent and their speeches as anti-American as ever in the Mosques throughout the Middle East. Nothing is going on publicly but something is going on, something without signals, without reasonable pattern.

I've read, indexed, cross-referenced and have re-organised my notes. I keep sifting through the pages making further notes drawing lines, trying to force my mind to make a logical connection. But nothing seems to add up. I sense something that bothers me, yet I have no idea what it could be. Maybe I'm over-reacting - it's possible. I have no evidence that I am on the right track yet everything points to Saudi Arabia. The question is, is there any connection, any pattern to all the seemingly random events and if so, who or what is behind them? Osmana Bin Laden?

Osmana Bin Laden has sponsored most, if not all, terrorism for some years. There are differences of opinion of course, but it is my own belief that whatever involvement he’s had in terrorism it has not abated since his escape from Afghanistan. One of the key questions is, is he involved in this recent upsurge of vicious and seemingly random attacks – is he yet again running the terrorist network that spreads throughout the world? He stands indicated in world opinion by his own bloody history of murder?

Certainly it has become apparent that a campaign of terror is in progress. Pressure creates only resistance and terrorism creates only counter-terrorism. Terror has become a theatre, contributing to breakdown, creating a genuine condition of revolutionary flux. At the moment there exists the ideal climate for violent change throughout the Middle East. The classic conditions exist among the mass of poor and discontent will continue to vent itself. Sooner or later it will erupt. Right now there is a great reservoir of anger and frustration and what we are seeing is probably only a ripple on the surface of the violence which is ready to burst forth. The fanaticism of the fundamentalists should not be underestimated and is immense.

The question you’ve posed encapsulates a current range of issues of great concern regarding China and your assessmet includes my own apprehensions at the direction and widening role China seeks in the Asia-Pacific region, strategically and diplomatically. Your assessment does not augur well for good relations. I agree, there is much the US should be doing to shape and nurture an environment for a peaceful and prosperous relationship.

The magnitude of change in China remains breathtaking and with the economy booming China continues to emerge as a world economic powerhouse and I cannot but agree that China’s growth is set to continue. There is no doubt that China’s economic awakening continues to challenge old patterns and it is probable that over time a greater China may emerge that will rival Japan for economic supremacy in Asia.

In the political sphere, it might be necessary to reassess Tiannamen, to strengthen the rule of law, to implement the separation of the party from the administrative and economic spheres, to free the private lives of China’s citizens from excessive state and security controls, to provide for unemployment and retirement funds and to strengthen the function of incidental control to be exercised by the country’s media. At the same time, the relationship between a stagnating centre and to increasingly dynamic growth regions in the country’s provinces, the poor performance of state owned industry, the insufficient productivity increases in China’s agriculture, as well as the necessity to open the country’s market for foreign products and to deregulate its financial markets while preserving a stable banking system will form key economic issues. In foreign policy, a balanced relationship between the USA, Russian, Japan and Western Europe must be found. Furthermore regional issues such as the transformation of North Korea into a more acceptable international partner, the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, the reapproachment to Taiwan the relationship with Vietnam and the SE Asia, as well as the conflict over the Sprately Islands will have to be dealt with in a way that takes into account the anxieties of China’s neighbours.

An escalation of more violent forms of conflict cannot be ruled out (especially in Hong Kong) and particularly in cases of abrupt policy changes by individual leaders, the culturally inherent respect of strategy and related restraint and disregard for the use of crude power are perceived to form strong stabilising elements. Occasional protests (such as Tiannamen) strikes and smaller revolts are anticipated. They are however not deemed strong enough to cause a derailment of a continuous process of economic opening with a strong though retarded impact on the socio-political superstructure that will increasingly absorb elements of an autocratic society that marks a qualitative improvement over the totalitarian structures currently prevailing.

We have a tendency to equate things in terms of what we understand so we equate the motives and actions of the Chinese in terms of Western thinking. But there is a major difference in not only the way we think but in our forms of Government. Western Governments are responsive to human desires whereas the dominant concept ruled by Committee based on the precepts of communism is not responsible to the populace, only to themselves and one central ideal. Faces and names change but the ideal goes on. There have been policy shifts which we’ve tried to analyse in terms of Western thinking but these policy shifts are really still within the basic framework. The Chinese, like many in Asia, have never known democracy and they may not want our type of democracy. They are determined to work out their own destiny without interference from us.

I believe the Chinese do see themselves united under one flag. They want to hold and to develop their own vast homeland. They also see themselves as the core of a new and better world order by keeping things on an even keel.

What of a new strong China is she going to be the new disturber of the peace, will China attempt to infiltrate other countries with her economic and social philosophy? Obviously, it is difficult to answer such questions. This much however I do know - they are conscious now of their own potential strength and that such a force, such a power, such a people cannot be ignored. They will be a force to be dealt with and we cannot afford to be complacent - we should continually review their true ambitions and capabilities and their growing aspirations. We need to learn all we can about them as they will need to learn about us. There will be a lot of tough problems ahead. We should aim for co-operative effort for peace and economic security. We cannot afford to perform in terms of old power politics. There will be no peace, no economic stability unless we work together with China.