Damien Cave, our Australia bureau chief, shares insights on global news, local recommendations and feedback from readers in this weekly newsletter. To receive it in your inbox, sign up here.

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Earlier this week, I experienced a bit of local media whiplash.

On Saturday, on the front page of The Australian, there was an article declaring that Australia’s spy agency had identified 10 local and state political candidates with ties to Chinese intelligence, part of China’s plans to interfere in Australian democracy.

The politicians were not named and the sources were anonymous, but the tone was clear: Be afraid, China is not your friend.

The next day in The Australian, also out front, there was an article on why that fear might be misguided. The chairman of the Australia China Business Council, John Brumby, among others, encouraged Australians to remember that their 26 years without a recession could not have happened without China’s rise.