Many Australians reacted with displeasure to the accusations of racism directed at us by the Indian media.
Voices (media, government and civil society) emanating from emerging powers such as India and China grow ever more confident and cutting in their criticisms of the old order, as their economic might grows and the sense of inferiority, a by-product of colonisation, ebbs away.
It is important to realise that, like Australia, India does not speak with one voice. Nevertheless, we have been hammered by India's tabloid media, and the treatment has been unfair.
It seems naïve to deny the possibility of racist elements in some or many of the attacks on Indian students, as it does to assume that racist motives are the catalyst for every attack that takes place. The true situation is certainly more complex than either alternative.
Expecting Indians to understand this, however, comes with an obligation, that Australians (public, media and government) should demonstrate greater awareness of the complexity which characterises most of the foreign issues we comment on. This is the lesson Australians must draw from the ongoing row.
Just as many westerners were easily persuaded that we should be fearful of Muslims, post 9/11, the recent association of 'Australia' with 'racism' will ring true to many Indians. With the power of suggestion, it is no great leap to extrapolate from the particular (specific instances where verbal or physical abuse has been racially motivated) to the general (all attacks are racially motivated).
To withhold judgement and apply critical analysis requires effort. Australians are less accustomed to being the victims of such lazy thinking and politically motivated attacks than we are to employing these tools ourselves.
Some China supporters — veteran defenders of China's human rights record, its treatment of Tibetans, Uighurs and so on — will have monitored the development of this issue with interest. They were incandescent with rage when western campaigners took full advantage of the Beijing Olympic Games to promote the Tibet issue.
Now the tables have turned, and some may wonder how Australians feel about the tarnishing of our reputation. Rightly or wrongly, the Chinese in 2008, as Australians have in recent times, felt that reporting of these issues was sensationalist, distorted and unfair.
Among their complaints, activists for China point to inaccuracies in western media reporting. They argue that westerners are forgetful of China's long experience of foreign interference, that we fail to acknowledge China's significant achievements in