Via Domain:
Two Australian Chinese-language papers have dedicated their front pages to an open letter backing billionaire Huang Xiangmo, whose permanent residency was cancelled for reasons including character grounds in early February.
The letter, which appeared on the front pages of the Sing Tao Daily and Australian Chinese Daily and inside a third, the Daily Chinese Herald on Saturday, includes more than 120 community groups protesting the decision to effectively bar Mr Huang from Australia.
…The letter, which appears to be a paid ad, marks a new escalation in Mr Huang’s fight to have his residency reinstated.
It’s always a good idea to treat the machinations of spy agencies with skepticism. Just as it is a good idea to treat Huang Xiangmo’s activities in the same way. There’s no easy answer here.
Meanwhile, at The Australian:
The former head of America’s largest intelligence agency has warned Australia to be “mindful’’ of the danger of China seeking to interfere in the federal election.
Admiral Mike Rogers, head of the National Security Agency until last year, was a key figure in identifying Russian interference and influence activities to help Donald Trump during the 2016 US presidential election.
…“Thirty years ago no nation needed to worry about the idea of using cyber, social media and other tools to attempt to manipulate or influence (democratic) outcomes, but the digital age and social media have taken this to a new level, whether there is more means by nation states and individual actors to manipulate or influence.
Expect further blow back. Via Adam Creighton:
Michael Thawley, who was John Howard’s ambassador in Washington from 2000-2005 and secretary of the Prime Minister’s Department when Tony Abbott was leader, has warned that any trade deal signed between the US and China in coming weeks could only pause, not stop, a collision between the world’s two most powerful nations unless “the US gives up wanting to be a superpower”.
“The US-China economic relationship will never be the same again; this has been hard for people to accept,” he said at a private dinner in Sydney earlier this month.
“The two dynamics of strategic ambition and search for technology dominance intersect most acutely over Taiwan, which of all the troubled spots in Asia has to be the one that we should worry about most — more than North Korea and the South China Sea,” Mr Thawley said.
Mr Thawley said determination to contain China wasn’t unique to the US President or Republicans but shared by Democrats and the US business elite. “Their worry is not that Mr Trump is going to be too tough. Their worry is that he will claim victory with an inadequate deal. The reality is we’ve passed the point of peak globalisation,” Mr Thawley said.
Thawley is a true heavy hitter of Australian foreign policy. He now works in the private sector but his views are likely to represent the core of the deep state.
Australia has also passed “peak China”.
