Australia’s 180-degree shift from 5 years ago: China in favour; US out

Australian comedian Jenny Tian set off a wave of deep laughter across an Adelaide audience at a recent comedy festival by saying she had tired of democracy at home. So, Tian explained, she moved to the US to give “fascism” a whirl instead.The 30-year-old showbiz pro was born to Chinese parents, making her race a rarity in Western stand-up comedy. But the crowd was a near sell-out.I saw Tian’s March performance during a visiting media tour of Australia after days of meetings with national officials and chats with academics.I found Tian’s joke to be a metaphor for Australia’s world outlook in 2026: resentment towards the US and a warming towards China.US President Donald Trump’s tariffs have raised too many doubts for Australia over the past 14 months about where to ship exports, such as the wine I was served almost every night during the trip.Now the Iran war is also fanning a near-panic about bottlenecks in a global supply chain that ends with Australian farmers – according to snippets of a legislative debate we heard at a parliament session.