Commentary
Selling your soul for short-term advantage is never clever.
History is littered with leaders promising “peace in our time” when all they have achieved is just to sell themselves to their adversary.
The question on the mind of thinking Australians is whether history is about to repeat itself with their government’s apparent fawning toward the communist dictatorship in Beijing.
The visit of Foreign Minister Wang Yi to Australia is not to be misinterpreted as a genuine goodwill visit. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) only visits for a purpose and it is simply to further its expansionist interests. It is all about cementing the dictatorship’s interests.
Having unethically sought to punish Australia with trade sanctions in 2020 across a host of areas in response to the government’s principled stand on a range of international issues, we see the now-Labor government bending over backwards to accommodate its abuser.
It seems to be a southern variation of Stockholm Syndrome.
Having held Australia hostage economically for far too long, Australia is now acting as though Beijing is, in fact, its best friend.
Rewarding bad behaviour never ends well. Rewarding bullies is an exceptionally bad idea.
Not only do they humiliate Australia by laughing behind our backs, the CCP signals to other countries that their blackmailing and bullying works, and therefore no other country should seek to hold the dictatorship to account.
Chinese dissidents will wonder about the resolve of Australia and the West.
With a faltering economy, the dictatorship is seeking access to products and to restore relations with suppliers on whom it relies.
Friendship is not being pursued. It is self-interest that is being pursued.
That top executives from Australia’s largest companies are tripping over themselves to attend a lunch with Foreign Minister Wang Yi is pitiful.
Those who would relentlessly virtue signal about all types of imaginary wrongs in Australia—The Voice, anyone—are wilfully blind and deaf to the cries of the Tibetans, Uyghurs, pro-democracy advocates, our own imprisoned nationals, house Christians, Falun Gong practitioners, the harvesting of organs from prisoners of conscience, and so the list goes on.
Not to mention the dictatorship’s bullying and belligerence of our near neighbours. The bonds of our relationship with these countries must now be being questioned across the waters.
Rolling Out the Red Carpet
And right on cue, we have former Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating meeting up with the CCP leader’s top foreign affairs adviser.At the same time, the head of Australia’s Security and Intelligence Organisation (ASIO), Mike Burgess, was dropped from the national security committee.
It will be recalled he recently outed a nefarious international player seeking to groom a former parliamentarian.
While Mr. Burgess discreetly declined to name the country involved, most from the intelligence community took a nano-second to assume it was the activity of the CCP dictatorship.
The timing of Mr. Burgess’ dropping could hardly be considered coincidental.
And why a government would drop the head of ASIO (the equivalent of MI5 or the FBI) from its national security committee is inexplicable.
It beggars belief. An agenda other than Australia’s national security is clearly at play, to the absolute shame of the government.
Director-General of ASIO, Mike Burgess appears before a Senate inquiry at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on April 29, 2021. AAP Image/Lukas Coch
But wait, there is more. The head of the Australian Secret Intelligence Service (ASIS, and the equivalent of MI6 and the CIA) has been dropped as well.
To think national security considerations do not need the input of ASIO and ASIS is not only astounding, it is irresponsibility writ large. Done, one suspects, to foolishly appease a bully on whom these organisations were reporting to the peak National Security Committee.
Heaven help Australia if their advice is supplanted by that of Paul Keating or some other apologist for the dictatorship.
Australia’s economic well-being has been inextricably interwoven with China’s for far too long and exposed our vulnerability to wilfully re-enter such close connections as though nothing had happened. It is devoid of any strategy or ethical considerations.
Our dependence will simply expose our vulnerability for the next time Beijing wants to play bully.
Australians expect true leadership from their corporate and parliamentary leaders. As yet it is not on display.
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
