Open Letter to Maria Kovacic, President of the NSW Liberal Party
After the Federal Election wipeout, there is much to be done. Creating a Wholistic China Engagement Strategy at party level should be top of the list.
10 November 2022
Dear Ms Kovacic,
You have recently been elected President of the NSW Liberal Party. Congratulations. You have a chance to influence the future of the nation.
I write with concern for Australian democracy, and the path that your party is on. I hope that you can guide course correction for your party and be an example for the Liberal party in other states, and set the standard for other Australian political parties that claim to support democracy but are making similar operational errors.
Note that I am not appealing to you to support specific legislation or causes beyond what should be all citizens core values - respect and support for Australia’s Sovereignty, Freedom for it’s citizens, and Democracy as an agreed process for resolving disagreements - with effective checks and balances.
I am asking you to focus your mind and take action on an operational issue - the execution of a Wholistic China Engagement Strategy, at a whole of party level.
As you are no doubt aware, Australian democracy is under threat from China, which has peacefully evolved from being a paranoid evil party dictatorship under the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to becoming a paranoid evil personal dictatorship under a certain Mr Xi Jin Ping.
A particular demographic will get excited about Chinese related military issues, and Chinese domestic human rights violations. I do not seek to downplay the importance of these, however solving these should not be on your “to do list” at the current time. Your focus should be on what you can and should control, in your party, in NSW in consultation with your other state counterparts.
The root cause of hostility is China’s interference efforts in Australian politics and your party’s attempts to counter them when in government. While the counter-measures are far less than equivalent measures that China takes within it’s own borders, they have not given us permission to set our own laws and have used the following measures to attack this nation and it’s people in order to remind us who is boss.
Cyber attacks - on government departments, universities and corporations.
Hostage taking - the venal arrests of Australian citizens Cheng Lei and Yang Heng Jun. Ethnic Chinese are targeted to demonstrate to the diaspora that the Australian nation cannot or will not protect them.
Trade sanctions - on major export commodities and value added items that can not easily rebuild their market presence.
Censorship of a (Liberal) Prime Minister communicating with Australian citizens in our own borders. I refer to the WeChat Prime Ministerial censorship scandals shortly before the last federal election, censorship of his posts, and then removal of his WeChat channel.
The strategies to white-ant Australian democracy include but are not limited to the following:
Directly Influence Politicians - directly influence policy and messaging to align with the CCP agenda through funding support.
Indirectly Influence Politicians - Use United Front1 and “fellow traveller” “Chinese Community”2 groups to lobby Politicians and make it clear that Chinese traditional and social media will humiliate them if they don’t follow Beijings edicts, as was done at the last federal election.
Mobilise Chinese Australians to vote for parties that support the dictatorship and support Australia’s surrender to China’s demands.
Mobilise Chinese Australians to join political parties and Tell China’s Story Well(™). In accordance with Mr Xi’s exhortation, United Front strategy is to have loyal Chinese with Australian citizenship (Offshore Patriots / 海外爱国者) join different parties for the purpose of advancing China’s interests from all sides of politics. This facilitates the monitoring, control, reporting on and sidelining of Chinese Australians who are not on board with the CCP’s strategy.
Your party has no apparent Wholistic China Engagement Strategy.
China Engagement: - Based on what is good for Australia over the long long long term, how should your party engage representatives of China ? This includes official diplomatic representatives, and people who hold Australian citizenship but have chosen to answer the call of the motherland and fight for its interests here as priority to the interests of this nation. It includes Chinese business enterprises operating in Australia. You must also consider opponents of the dictatorship, refugees and dissidents.
Strategy: - Having considered the issue of how your party should engage with China and what you want to achieve, you need to have an actual plan, that party representatives both elected and official, can implement.
Wholistic: - It includes members whose activities span Local Council, State and Federal parliament. It includes office bearers and branch members. It includes engagement with the groups discussed above, but affects how representatives of your party, particularly yourself, engage with CCP controlled or influenced think-tanks, Chinese controlled media and Universities and educational organisations that provide support to the dictatorship in its public opinion war against our nation and your party.
At time of writing, it seems the Liberal party has an Individualistic China Opportunism Situation.
Individualistic: - Individual actors seem to act on their own initiative undermining the greater good. There is neither a stated goal to try to achieve, nor is there a means to coordinate their actions.
Opportunistic: - MP’s and others are presumably trying to trade support for Chinese positions in return for funding, or simply trying to get positive coverage and mitigate against being attacked in Chinese language media, where there is no freedom to rebut or dispute the CCP narrative.
Situation: - There is no strategy, no goal, no plan, only a “situation” or circumstance.
The following are examples of the white-anting of Australian solidarity by your party, and symptoms of the lack of a strategy. It is not necessarily fair to criticise these individuals, their behaviour is a response to incentives and a lack of coordinated strategy.3
Local Council Level:
Local Councils are the weak link in the sovereignty chain. Competition to be a local Councillor is less competitive than for state or federal positions, but can be the foothold for a political career and enable furtherance of CCP aims. It is important to support and nurture the right talent in this level of government.
Examples of CCP related problems include:
Furthering the commercial interests of United Front connected business people (Zhou, Eastwood)
Denying participation in Chinese New Year events, as was attempted by CCP interests and the Sydney consulate to exclude an independent media organisation in the Georges River Council 2018)
So for the NSW Liberal Party, do you want to find good Chinese Australian candidates who share your values and are effective fighters for Australia against the CCP, capable of selling your message and winning hearts and minds of recent Chinese migrants ? 讲好自由党故事吧！（tell the Liberal party’s story well !)4
Or do you want people who support their race, rather than this place, and use the following Peoples Daily-esque terminology in their political advertising:
With the deepened reform and opening up of China its national power is growing. Those hardworking Overseas Chinese, thanks to the wealth and strength of their motherland are increasingly recognised by the Australian government. Having a government official who can represent the voice of the Chinese people is especially important…..
而随着中国改革开放的深入发展，国力日渐强大，这些在海外打拼的华人，也因为祖国的富强，而越来越受到澳洲政府的重视，有位能代表华人心声的政府人员尤为重要。。。。。
I suspect most NSW Liberal Party members would welcome Justin Li if his advertising said something more like this.
Australians respect and value all our citizens. The Liberal party would like to see diverse representation throughout it’s organisation, and are delighted that Justin, as a long time local in the Eastwood area, is keen to represent people of all backgrounds in the Local Council.
You need to set the agenda for how Local Council Representatives represent the Liberal party.
State Representatives:
Phillip Ruddock and Jonathon O’Dea were patrons for the organisations that have functioned as the head group for the United Front in Australia.
Australian Council for Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China / 澳洲中国和平统一促进会 (ACPPRC) was the leading group. Now it is the Australia China Economics Trade and Cultural Association / 澳洲中华经贸文化交流促进会 (ACETCA). Website now mysteriously removed.
We were able to find a wayback machine link showing Ruddock and an online SMH article re O’Dea.
We could shrug and say it was a different world when they made the decisions to support the local coordination team for the dictatorship.
It's your turn now, they've gone.
Instead of letting individuals pursue their perceived self interest, you need a strategy for engagement with the United Front - or not engaging, depending on the strategy determined with other state Liberal organisations.
Endorsing the United Front as patrons undermines everything else we (as a nation) are doing to counter Chinese influence in this country. Every Australian’s duty is to fight and frustrate the United Front. As the leading federal opposition party, and current State government, what you decide needs to be consistent with the party’s goals at all levels of government and other states.
It should also not seek to undermine the efforts of the Federal government in its dealings with China or its representatives or supporters.
Federal Representatives:
After suffering massive blowback in the last election, MP’s like Paul Fletcher are desperate to ingratiate themselves with the dictatorship and its local support base.
Sometimes in attempting to do this, individual actions undermine Australia’s negotiating position.
Australia’s Ambassador to China, Graham Fletcher is highly constrained with regard to who he can meet and what he can do. Xiao Qian, China’s Ambassador to Australia has been able to get TV exposure, meet with influential Australians, and gain propaganda advantage for his cause, attempting inch by inch to turn public opinion to his favour.
A big victory for the Chinese dictatorship was getting Paul Fletcher to eat crow as a senior Federal Liberal and attend and speak politely at a United Front coordinated celebration for 50 years since Australia and the PRC established diplomatic relations.
The photos in Chinese language media showing his participation send the message that China is winning and the naughty Liberals have learned their lesson and are now compliant.
The consistent CCP controlled Chinese language media message to Chinese voters on the North Shore has been to vote Teal to help labor who will drip feed China what it wants over time5. Liberals will need to grovel to have CCP media support or merely less strident opposition, to have a better chance of holding or retaining previously safe seats.
Paul Fletcher chose to attend this event, as did Tim James, member for Willoughby who in June this year attended a Hong Kong related event with the Chinese Ambassador to celebrate the imposition of the Hong Kong National Security Law and the crushing of democratic dissent.
If these shows of support for the CCP are part of a unified strategy of engagement across the party, that is at least a strategy, even if unwise at this time. It looks like it is unplanned chaos, the CCP successfully dividing and ruling your political party to the detriment of the national interest.
Did Dutton even know they were there ?
If you have an agreed strategy about how members of your party should engage with representatives and supporters of a dictatorship based on violence that bullies our nation, and some members ignore the strategy, that is problematic but manageable.
While you have a free-for-all, with individuals chasing donation handouts and CCP controlled media coverage in pursuit of votes, without a strategy, you will continue to send mixed messages to the Australian community. You will split your party, and weaken the current government’s hand in advancing Australia’s interests.
I hope to read in the English language media of the Liberal Party’s development of a Wholistic China Engagement Strategy, even if you don’t call it that.
Our team will continue to scour the Chinese language media to understand and publicise who is doing what with the thugs who attack our nation.
Best Wishes,
Simon Jian Dan (简单）
Some further references:
Prairie Fire Magazine series on political engagement
How Should Politicians Deal With CCP Related Organisations
Politicians And The Prisoners Dilemma
Making Politicians Back Team Australia
Rival Think Tank Publications:
Taking The Low Road is written by multiple (actual) expert authors who may be willing to speak to you about these issues if you contact them directly. It would be tragic if their expertise goes unheeded, as you as a political party president, are the ideal audience for their efforts.
Books By Smart People (with different perspectives):
Cadre Country (John Fitzgerald)
Silent Invasion (Clive Hamilton)
surely you know what the United Front is by now ? Google “China United Front” and get on top of basic general knowledge.
it is extremely hard for a “Chinese Community” group to not be affiliated with and accountable to the CCP and collaborating with the United Front. It is possible to work out who is who, if you choose to.
or I am wildly wrong, overestimated your organisations ethics, and you have a strategy that is evil, shortsighted, and doomed to divide your already splintered party and fail Australia.
ok I admit with all the fallout and revelations going on that’s a tall order, but you are rebuilding and starting anew, right ?
implication from multiple Chinese language articles.