In Wang Xining, China’s deputy ambassador to Australia, Beijing has a fashionably dressed interlocutor fluent in English and not afraid to pursue rhetorical flights of analogy. In his latest re-emergence in Canberra, he did not disappoint. Talking to the National Press Club, he took off from observing this was the year of the ox, a symbol of strength and perseverance. “China is not a cow,” he said. “I don’t think anybody should fancy the idea to milk China when she’s in her prime and plot to slaughter it in the end. So we are open for collaboration and cooperation, but we’ll be very strong in defending our national ... (full story)