Herding Cats - Uniting Politicians In The China Confrontation: Part 1 of 4
The “prisoners dilemma” of individual MP’s undermining the national negotiation. Part 1 of 4, The Problem.
Over recent months we have seen various examples of new and established politicians at State and Federal level undermine Australia’s negotiating position with China by working to amplify the CCP message to Chinese Australian voters or the population at large. It is tempting to write these off as mistakes by rookie politicians, but it is symptomatic of a deeper problem that major parties are unable or unwilling to address.
In early July Tim James (Member for Willoughby, NSW lower house) and Mark Coure (Member for Oatley, NSW Lower House) attended a 25th anniversary celebration of the PRC resumption of control of Hong Kong, run by the Hong Kong Economics and Trade Office (Sydney). The following picture was posted on the HKETO website:
Ambassador Xiao Qian has Mark Coure to his immediate right, and two to his left, is Tim James. The CCP propaganda department know a picture is worth (at least) a thousand words, and the photo op is the key reason the two are there, to show Chinese in Australia that the NSW Liberal Party supports the CCP crushing of the democratic resistance and the abrogation of the “One Country / Two Systems” policy. 1C2S, if it had been honoured, would have “guaranteed” a high degree of semi democracy, freedom of speech and other freedoms compared to China.
Tim James and Mark Coure are effectively toasting the crushing of those who wanted freedom, many of whom have subsequently moved to Australia and vote. Mark and Tim have taken sides in a power struggle, with people who appear to be winners. They are winners. They have money and power because they have the power that grew out of the barrel of the gun. Control of the gun facilitates control of the pen (information, media, education) as well, effectively controlling the thoughts people can think. Now Tim James and Mark Coure are tools of that process.
The link below directs to a twitter feed showing who they are really lining up with.
Taking sides with the bad guys
Tim James and Mark Coure are also undermining the messages of the former Liberal Federal Government in support of Hong Kong’s lost freedoms. The CCP has successfully split the Liberal party and undermined its unity on this issue. Furthermore, they are effectively acceding to the 求同存异 (qiu tong cun yi) demand, the second of the latest four demands, to set aside past differences to focus on shared future goals. This is bullshit since we have two Australian citizens effectively held hostage (Cheng Lei and Yang Heng Jun) and trade and cyber attacks and a host of other bullying issues that have not begun to be resolved. Strategically, accepting 求同存异 qiu tong cun yi is a huge, horrendous concession, and a national negotiating error.
Prior to the Federal election, Kylea Tink and Nicolette Boele attended and spoke at a function sponsored by the leading United Front organisation, Australia China Economics Trade and Culture Association (ACETCA) which has taken the role previously exercised by the Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China in engaging with Australian politicians.
Quoting from the SMH: SMH coverage Tink/Boele 2022
Tink told the audience:
We want to change the government. We want to change the relationship between China and Australia. We need your vote and we need your support.”
How did she want to change the relationship ? China has aggressively bullied our nation and we have made mild and inadequate steps to wake up if not yet truly stand up, which have led to massive disproportionate escalation, in trade, in the kidnapping of our citizens (Cheng Lei and Yang Heng Jun), in cyber attacks that have cost hundreds of millions, and in other ways.
Boele went further:
Boele said there was fault on both sides in the breakdown of Australia-China relations but “in my opinion, the government is unable and unwilling to pick up the phone to Beijing”.
“Australia needs to establish a relationship with China built on mutual respect. You can’t talk about China unless you can talk to and with China,” she said.
“Australia and China have had strong relationships in the past – in fact this is the 50th year of our relationship, and we can have strong relationships again, we just need the political will.”
Fault on both sides ? Please explain ? Because we introduced the anti interference laws ? Because we exercised our right to not buy Huawei equipment ? We deserve to be attacked for what exactly Nicolette ? Mutual respect ? Has any Australian government representative ever called a Chinese official a “rabid Kangaroo” or a “running dog” ? (As CCP controlled media has described us). This could also be a topic for another day - how can we ever respect a dictatorship that exists through violence and is sustained through violence and lies - but I digress.
Boele dug an even deeper hole:
“There is fault on both sides. China is not going away. Its size, military, economic and cultural power are realities with which we need to deal,”
Who wrote this for her ? It seems awfully familiar with the Chinese media tropes, except that the Peoples Daily would say the fault is all Australian.
We absolutely do need to deal with these realities, but with one voice, as a nation united.
It would be easy to write off these sorts of dumb comments as those of inexperienced politicians, but dig deeper and we find the situation is so much worse. Both Tink and Boele made extensive and shameful use of the CCP controlled Wechat social media app in the campaign, to promote themselves as the collaborationist candidates, undermining Australia’s negotiating position, by telling a portion of the voting public (pro dictatorship anti Australia Chinese voters) what they want to hear, in a controlled media environment where only a CCP friendly message can be told. By embracing WeChat, they are embracing and loudly announcing acceptance of censorship and CCP control of the discourse weapon.
They claim the $128 a head dinner did not involve sending funding their way. The dinner was sponsored by ACETCA (Australia China Economic, Trade and Culture Association), whose function is largely to engage with Australian politicians to further CCP aims in Australia, and who are on record as financial donors to political parties.
SMH Coverage ACETCA donations (2019)
While Jonathon O’Dea (Liberal MP Davidson NSW) used to be involved with Australian Council for the Promotion of the Peaceful Reunification of China, he has now, like Chris Minns (NSW Labor Leader) become a patron of ACETCA.
ACETCA has traditionally favoured the Liberal Party in its donation patterns, but Labor has been well looked after. No doubt Simon Holmes A’Court’s wallet is not limitless and Teals et al want their share of pro CCP funding. ACETCA no longer make direct political donations, so multiple donations from others directed by them would be expected to be their current strategy. Or maybe there is no longer any political donation activity by this group🙄
Screenshot from SMH 2019 ACETCA article
O’Dea and Minns would no doubt argue that the transaction of support for ACETCA and the funding that flows from it is part of being involved with local community groups. This is awkward where China is concerned because while a Chinese community group may begin independent of the CCP, it cannot stay that way for long. The expectation is that whatever their purpose, they must act and associate with the United Front, and avoiding this, and acting independently, could result in punishments for relatives in China or harassment in Australia.
Exceptions that come to mind are the Fa Lun Gong who have tight social management (and are avowed enemies of the CCP), and some of the organisations created by Jason Yet Sen Li (NSW State Labor MP), who have no explicit United Front connection, but do the kind of work you would expect of a United Front organisation, such as organising current and potential Chinese politicians to form a network, share information and work together - despite joining different political parties !
This is in stark contrast to the antics of an oaf like Huang Xiang Mo (黄向墨） which were a strategic gift to those of us trying to get our heads around the United Front work that’s been going on behind our backs for so long.
The link below leads to an AFR article about Huang complaining his money was not buying influence !
Australian Politicians not delivering bang for his buck
Now available: Part 2 of 4. How Should Politicians Deal with CCP Related Organisations ?