https://www.smh.com.au/politics/fed...hina-leaves-us-no-choice-20200501-p54p57.html The money or our sovereignty: China leaves us no choice The founder of the Russian Communist Party, Vladimir Ilich Lenin, is credited with the saying that "the capitalists will sell us the rope with which to hang them". Or, updating for contemporary Australia, the Chinese Communist Party might say that "the capitalists will sell us the iron ore with which we shackle them". Australia has arrived at its moment of truth. It is now presented with the explicit choice between sovereignty and money. It arrived this week when the Chinese Communist Party publicly threatened Australia with trade boycotts for proposing an international inquiry into the global pandemic. Illustration: Jim PavlidisCredit: It's business as usual for Beijing to preach mutual respect and non-interference while intimidating countries to get its way. "The economic coercion looks pretty standard, comparable to what China has done in South East Asia and Europe," observes an expert on the subject, Zack Cooper of the American Enterprise Institute in Washington. What's new here is that, until now, Beijing has bullied Australian officials and ministers behind closed doors. Now it has cast aside any pretence that it's following its self-described "win-win" diplomacy. Now it's a zero-sum confrontation, starkly and publicly. The Morrison government's proposal for an independent, international inquiry into the cause and spread of the disease was "dangerous", according to China's ambassador to Australia, Cheng Jingye. A pandemic that so far has infected more than 3 million people, killed nearly a quarter of a million and plunged the world into economic depression is cool apparently. But an inquiry? That's dangerous. The proposition from Beijing is very simple. If you want to go ahead and make policies according to your own national interests, and not ours, we will cut your income. Specifically, China's official representative to Australia threatened boycotts of four Australian industries' sales to China: those of the wine, beef, tourism and education sectors. Sovereignty or money. Simple. What's Australia's choice? It depends on who you ask. The iron ore billionaire Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest wants Australia to take the money. This week he became the personification of the capitalists Lenin had in mind, the capitalists Beijing hopes will prevail in Australia's debate. Forrest has the great privilege of free speech, still available in Australia though long forbidden in the People's Republic of China. And he's entitled to his views. He's also entitled to considerable respect. He is one of Australia's most successful entrepreneurs and perhaps its most impressive philanthropist. But on this, Forrest has chosen to campaign for a foreign authoritarian political movement. He made the case for Australia to surrender. Any inquiry into the outbreak and spread of COVID-19 should be shelved until after the US elections in November, he said. Why? His stated logic was that "there's a bloke in the White House who really wants to stay there and he's pushing blame as fast as he possibly can and from anywhere else but himself. I don't think this should be politically orientated." This may look like a compromise but it's a formula for capitulation. First, Beijing is not going to agree to an independent inquiry at any time – this year, next year or next century. To delay it today is to deny it permanently. Second, Forrest implies that the Morrison government is just a Trump puppet. This is a clever way to discredit Morrison and the whole idea of an inquiry. This is, in fact, one of Beijing's talking points, Australia "dancing to the tune" of the US. In truth, the proposal came from Canberra, indeed from Morrison himself, developed through the National Security Committee of the cabinet. It has since been endorsed by the US Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, and the 27 nations of the European Union. Perhaps the EU is another Trump puppet? Third, Forrest is saying that Australia's motive is political, while China's is not. This is, of course, ridiculous. The ultimate aim of every policy of the Chinese Communist Party is the further entrenchment of the Chinese Communist Party. Says who? The party itself, at its 19th National Congress in 2017: "Party, government, military, civilian, and academic; east, west, south, north, and centre, the Party leads everything.” But Forrest went a step further. He ambushed Australia's Health Minister, Greg Hunt, at a press conference in Melbourne this week by bringing a Chinese official, unannounced, and giving him the podium. Forrest had every right to be there. He has worked hard and effectively to help Australian governments procure essential medical equipment to meet the pandemic. Coronavirus: Twiggy Forrest and Kerry Stokes under fire for defending China Twiggy Forrest and Kerry Stokes, who are both heavily invested in China, insist the cost of upsetting our largest trading partner is too high. The press conference was to announce that Forrest had used his connections in China to procure 10 million virus test kits for use in Australia. He put up the $320 million to buy them, although the Australian taxpayer is to reimburse him. Hunt had no idea that Forrest planned to bring China's consul-general to Victoria along to make a presentation of his own. The Australian minister stayed calm in the face of the poor etiquette, but, once again, it raises the question of Forrest's interests. It's not just Forrest, whose Fortescue Metals group counts China as its biggest customer. Another China-dependent West Australian billionaire, Kerry Stokes, chairman of Seven West Media, took a similar position this week, calling for an Australian backdown. So, too, did the national president of the Australia-China Business Council, David Olsson, whose day job is as a lawyer advising Australian companies on entering the Chinese market. These business people are deploring the confrontation as a "blame game" or "tit for tat". Which is a way of giving Beijing equal moral standing with Australia on this. You decide where the moral balance lies: One allowed a global pandemic to ravage the earth; the other wants an independent international inquiry. Is this a "blame game"? One threatens the other with illegal economic coercion; the other stands its ground while its Prime Minister declines to criticise Beijing and says China's position is "a matter for China". Is this "tit for tat"? All of which is exactly as prophesied only last week. "An Australian prime minister who ends up in conflict with China cannot expect any support or solidarity from the Australian business community," wrote Malcolm Turnbull in his new memoir, A Bigger Picture. "Overwhelmingly, they’re totally invested in the economic benefits of the relationship." Fortunately, these craven characters do not get to decide national policy. There is more at stake than money. Australia has three big interests to protect in dealing with China. First and foremost is its sovereignty. If Australia buckles, "Beijing will see that it can use economic threats to change behaviour and continue to use them, if anything it may accelerate its willingness to use them against Australia," suggests Zack Cooper. Capitulation is Australia's path to vassaldom. The demands would never end. Second is social harmony. Australia has a Chinese Australian community of 1.2 million people, overwhelmingly a national asset, not a liability. It must be protected from Communist Party demands and nurtured as a source of Australian strength. "If we begin distrusting our own citizens," says Jason Yat-sen Li, "that will do more damage to Australian democracy than the Chinese Communist Party ever could." Third is the economy. The economy is best protected not by surrendering national sovereignty. That's a false trade-off. Once sovereignty is lost, Australia's control of its economic and commercial decision-making is soon lost too. In fact, sovereignty and the economy are complementary. Australia can only protect its economic interests by keeping a robust national independence. This is also the best way of defending social harmony. The more control we cede to Beijing, the more mischief it will wreak in demanding the loyalties of Chinese Australians. The three core interests – sovereignty, social harmony and the economy – are an interlocked set of interests, and sovereignty is the greatest, the key to holding all three together for Australia's benefit. It's Australia's great fortune that not only the government understands this, but federal Labor too. The Albanese opposition stands firm with the government in this confrontation with Beijing. So the demand for an inquiry into the pandemic is not merely a government position. It is a national one. This bipartisanship is a critical source of national strength. So long as this remains, the Australian capitalists will not be allowed to sell out the national interest in pursuit of private interests. There's a qualification to the quote attributed to Lenin about capitalists selling the communists the rope. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Political Quotations, it's apocryphal. Lenin actually wrote that the capitalists would so help the communists that "they will work on the preparation of their own suicide". He couldn't have made it plainer. Peter Hartcher Peter Hartcher is political editor and international editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.
https://www.news.com.au/world/coron...e/news-story/99a4ba0e0f424d952a87c1f16055e1c6 Alan Jones slams Twiggy Forrest on China press conference Alan Jones has made a blistering attack on billionaire Twiggy Forrest claiming the magnate is “grandstanding”. Candace Sutton@candacesutton1 news.com.au April 30, 20205:03pm Broadcaster Alan Jones has made a blistering attack on Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest saying the billionaire must apologise to the nation. Broadcaster Alan Jones has made a blistering attack on Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest saying the billionaire must apologise to the nation. Jones said Mr Forrest’s “stunt” with a Chinese official at a press conference had angered Australians. The 2GB presenter devoted more than 15 minutes in an excoriating summation of Mr Forrest’s alleged actions surrounding Wednesday’s conference with Victoria and Tasmania consul general to China, Long Zhou. At the conference, attended by federal Health Minister Greg Hunt, Mr Zhou spoke about how China had shared information about coronavirus in an “open, transparent and responsible manner”. Describing Mr Zhou’s speech as “spilling propaganda”, Jones criticised Mr Forrest, saying he had “blindsided” Mr Hunt by giving Mr Zhou the podium “without permission”. “This is appalling stuff,” Jones fumed. “Enough is enough of this grandstanding. What could prompt Andrew Forrest to do what he did?” Andrew ‘Twiggy’ Forrest and consul general Long Zhou at the Melbourne press conference on Wednesday. Picture: James RossSource:AAP Broadcaster Alan Jones slammed Andrew Forrest and said he should apologise to Australia for the press conference. Picture: Stephen CooperSource:News Limited Jones quoted a press release from Mr Forrest’s office which said: “Let’s show support for China.” “Support for China?” Jones asked. “When they are responsible for telling lies about infecting three million people around the world, responsible for a quarter of a million deaths.” The press conference at which Mr Zhou spoke took place in Melbourne to announce the fact Mr Forrest was donating 10 million coronavirus testing kits he had bought from China to Australia’s states and territories. After playing a portion of Mr Zhou’s speech on air, which included the words, “We’re all in this together,” Jones said, “This bloke’s kidding isn’t he? “And Greg Hunt and us had to listen to this crap. “Millions of people have tested positive, a quarter of million have died. “And I might add while all this is going on, while this blabbermouth in Melbourne, there’s Beijing in the middle of a global pandemic trying to exert unilateral control of areas in the south China sea disputed by others. Jones claimed Mr Forrest had ‘blindsided’ Health Minister Greg Hunt (left) by giving Long Zhou (right) the podium. Picture: James RossSource:AAP “All of this with Andrew Forrest beside him. ‘We’re all in this together.’ “Of course it’s a wonderful market for Andrew Forrest’s iron ore exports.” Jones also cast doubt on whether the testing kits purchased by Mr Forrest “actually pass muster”. “There are very significant international concerns about whether they meet the requisite standard,” he said. Jones exhorted Mr Forrest to “start telling China the truth and speaking on behalf of angry Australians, and people are angry”. The letter he read out from a listener accused Mr Forrest of “talking through the lens of his own business interests and to that end just revealed himself to be another Sam Dastyari”. Sam Dastyari is the former senator who resigned in January 2018 amid a Chinese-related donations scandal. Mr Forrest has denied blindsiding Mr Hunt with Mr Zhou’s introduction to the podium. candace.suttton@news.com.au
https://www.afr.com/rear-window/kerry-stokes-new-jet-gets-lucky-chinese-numbers-20200504-p54pj7 Kerry Stokes' new jet gets lucky Chinese numbers Joe Aston Columnist May 4, 2020 – 11.50pm It’s been a refreshing, fascinating and forceful division of opinion: Australian billionaires Kerry Stokes and Andrew Forrest talking their China-reliant books on the one hand and Canberra’s hawkish apparatus demanding accountability for COVID-19’s Chinese origins on the other – all ignited by Andrew Forrest’s impertinent hijacking of a joint presser with Health Minister Greg Hunt in Melbourne last week. Also last week, Stokes used the front page of his own The West Australian to urge Scott Morrison not to “poke our biggest provider of income in the eye”. Subtle it was not. Mining services billionaire Kerry Stokes is at odds with the Morrison government and the Murdoch press over Australia's relationship with China. Philip Gostelow Notably, opinions expressed in and by the Murdoch family’s newspapers on this matter have been strongly condemnatory of Stokes, despite the two media dynasties being loose allies in the Australian media landscape. News Corp (and its sibling, Fox) is a deeply American beast and Rupert Murdoch has nothing to show for his two-decade foray into China except two daughters. And Lachlan Murdoch is an American conservative. In stark contrast, Stokes is only a billionaire today owing to his mining services business, which services China’s voracious demand for Australia's natural resources. Stokes’ debt-laden Australian TV and publishing empire has withered on the vine and unless he decides to sell it or prop it up with big licks of his own cash, Seven West Media will soon be broke. So cognisant is Stokes of his Chinese joss (fate, destiny, luck) that he has the auspicious Chinese numerals “888” in the registration of his private jet. Incidentally, so does Crown Resorts billionaire James Packer. But Stokes’ 2007 Global Express 5000 was photographed at Sydney Airport on Anzac Day with a new tail number – now sporting the digits “887”. It turns out he’s transferred his lucky numbers to a new Bombardier Global Express 6000. List price: $US62.3 million ($97.6 million), or 75 per cent of Seven West Media's market capitalisation. The new plane appears still to be undergoing test flying in the United States and will increase Stokes’ non-stop flying range from 9630 kilometres to 11,112 kilometres. Hey, it’s always nice to have options.
China has an authoritarian and oppressive government. Nevertheless Trumps aggressive approach of incrimination and blaming will only make matters worse as far as getting to the bottom of what happened in China. Trump is a pariah in the rest of the world. He is tolerated but not liked. No one likes a bully or someone who leads by threat, accusation and intimidation. Trump has a severe psychological problem evident to even his most ardent supporters. It's a problem that's been with him since he was a small child. He craves being liked above all else it seems; yet he can not bring himself to act in a way that would result in wide public popularity, let alone popularity among colleagues and world leaders. He is a bad, and unproductive leader for the U.S. and his administration has been in constant turmoil. At the very time the U.S. desperately needs skilled, diplomatic leadership we lack it. We are in trouble as a nation.
Still butt-hurt from 2016 I see. Maybe you can use your pink pussy hat as a corona mask instead of using the mask you made out of a kotex pad.
You'll get along swimmingly with Donald Trump. You both obviously went to the same charm school. And it should go without saying you'll both be equally successful at international politics.