Is China about to sneeze?

If this is true (and it has a certain ring about it - after all, what usually happens to rapidly expanding sharemarkets and economies?) Australia's recession may be still to come.

If China ran into a big slowdown, possible ramifications for Australia might include:

* Australia's mining sector to hit a brick wall, and technical recession to occur because of declining exports.

* Major unemployment in Western Australia and other areas highly dependent on mining.

* China's major trading partners in Asia (such as Japan and South Korea) also to go into recession, exacerbating Australia's trading position.

* Kevin Rudd to look like a dick for continually saying while in opposition "What is the Government doing to mitigate against an end to the mining boom."

* Kevin Rudd having no money with which to get us out of hock or pay for climate change tomfoolery.

* China's superpower status to be put on hold for a while, and India to emerge as the star second world economy.

Also on the bright side, a slow down could lead to major dissatisfaction and ultimately lead to the democratisation of China and de-Ruddification of Australia.