The leftie MSM is desperately fighting a rearguard action to declare Labor China hawkish. The ABC:
Both sides of politics have hardened their positions on China over the years. After coming to power, the Coalition courted Beijing. It used to boast of its Free Trade Agreement and Comprehensive Strategic Partnership. No more. Labor has shifted ground even more recently. It’s dropped attacks on the government’s “megaphone diplomacy” and inability to secure ministerial meetings.
Both sides now agree times have changed and it’s China to blame for the state of the relationship. Labor immediately backed the shift to nuclear submarines and the AUKUS agreement. It now remains in lockstep with the government, wary of any crack in bipartisanship.
That’s the problem right there. Whether it is true or not, Labor’s recent turn to China hawkishness does appear to be political in nature and not fundamental.
After all, it is only 18 months since China delivered Australia the 14 conditions to end democracy:
What did Labor say about it? Anthony Albanese:
“I remember Prime Minister [Kevin] Rudd giving a speech in China, in Mandarin, of course, which was critical of human rights issues, but done so in a way that also was designed to make clear our values but not designed to offend for offence sake,” he said.
“And what we were able to do, and the Howard government was able to do as well, is have relationships that built that economic interaction that was very important for us.
“This government seems to have presided over a complete breakdown of relationships.”
Dan Andrews:
…“This relationship is far too important to farmers, to manufacturers, to workers, to profits for Victorian companies and therefore prosperity for our state,” Mr Andrews said.
“This is not just our biggest customer, but it is all about jobs. We need a good relationship but it has to be a fair and respectful one.”
Mark McGowan:
“I just want us to continue to have good, friendly relationships with our long-term trading partners.
“They buy an enormous amount of our products, we buy a much smaller amount of their products.
“It’s been a beneficial relationship for both countries and I think we need to make sure we have cool heads and work things out by discussion and not confrontation.”
Anastasia Palaszczuk:
“What the mining companies are saying to me is the last thing they want to see are mines closed in Queensland,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“That could have an impact on Queensland jobs.
Can this appeasement rhetoric from 18 months ago just be forgotten? The 14 conditions to end democracy were the single largest threat to Australian freedom since the Japanese invasion of PNG. At every level, Labor implicitly sided with China.
Last June, Albo went to the Melbourne Mining Club and tried to fire up the real power in Australia to attack Morrison Government China hawkishness:
Anthony Albanese will warn miners the Morrison government is threatening their exports with its inflammatory rhetoric towards China which, he says, is motivated by domestic political considerations.
In a speech to be delivered to the minerals industry in Canberra on Wednesday, the Labor leader will build on comments made two weeks ago by opposition foreign affairs spokeswoman Penny Wong in which she accused the government of encouraging anxiety about war with China for domestic political gain.
Even six months ago, Albo was still pushing appeasement as Marise Payne, Minister for Foreign Affairs, declared to business that it should diversify:
“We have been advised by China that they will only engage in high-level dialogue if we meet certain conditions. Australia places no conditions on dialogue,” she told the Australia China Business Council’s annual Canberra gathering.
“We can’t meet the conditions, such as the now well-known list of 14 grievances raised in the media last year.”
Ambassador Cheng Jingye had been scheduled to give the opening address when it was to run at Parliament House and was to host a reception for guests at the Chinese embassy.
…“Unfortunately, because of Covid, it didn’t come to be,” the council’s chief executive, Michael Clifton, said.
…In a later session, Labor leader Anthony Albanese said the relationship with President Xi Jinping’s China would “continue to be challenging”, even under a change of government, but it was “a pity” Scott Morrison had rejected his suggestion earlier this year to use former prime ministers Kevin Rudd and John Howard in an “informal role” to engage with Beijing.
“We need to be diplomatic in how we deal with China,” Mr Albanese said.
No, we don’t. That is what we used to do and what it led to was a tide of CCP-linked corruption sweeping into Australia under the banner of being “diplomatic”. When that was pushed back, the CCP showed its true face in the 14 conditions to end democracy.
Then there are the Labor greybeards. Kevin Rudd is President and CEO of the global Asia Society which implicitly promotes engagement with Asian nations including China. Paul Keating speaks for himself. And all of the architects of fifty years of Labor engagement beginning with Gough Whitlam.
In the last year, shadow foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, has repeatedly argued for more of the exact diplomatic and economic engagement that has previously delivered Australia CCP corruption and influence.
Just last weekend, NSW Labor parachuted card-carrying China appeaser, Jaeson Yat-sen Li, into the Strathfield electorate at great cost to its winning margin. Li argued all of last year for more engagement, which will lead to greater corruption and influence, which is a clear and present danger to the democracy.
Labor is not alone in this. The Morrison Government did not deliberately push China away. Its record on the FTA, Andrew Robb, Gladys Liu etc, speaks for itself.
But when “Psycho” Morrison blundered into conflict with Beijing, there is no doubt that it flushed the real CCP agenda for Australia out. It was to buy, manipulate, populate and occupy the country via diplomatic and economic engagement, and to sever it from freedom and ANZUS over time.
When that became clear, the LNP did stand up and its instincts served Australia well. We rallied global opposition to China bullying, diversified affected export sectors, and launched a comprehensive pushback against local CCP influence. Having overplayed its hand, China is now groveling in Canberra.
Yet as this happened, at every level, Labor demanded appeasement after appeasement and only turned suddenly when an election drew near.
Try as they might, the leftie press cannot sweep this shocking record of treasonous behaviour under the rug.
Indeed, the only reason Labor should not be clubbed into oblivion for the national betrayal of the past two years is that it is outmatched by a fantastically inept, psychopathic, corporate pillaging, rape-protection racket and we need to clean up our own backyard first.
