Wong's Gaffes Are Strategic Genius.
English language readers may think she's self indulgent. To understand her strategy and motivations, read the Chinese language media commentary.
At a speech in Kings College in the UK on an official visit representing Australia for the purpose of advancing Australia’s foreign policy objectives, FM Penny Wong decided it would be in Australia’s strategic interests to accuse Britain of not facing up to negative elements of it’s past, and had a public whinge about how her descendants were “exploited” by nasty white people.
Let’s think this through.
She refers to Great Grandparents on her fathers side. She was born in 1968. Let’s assume each generation takes 25 years.
On this assumption, her ancestors leave China with the Hakka - Punti wars over but still poisoning relations between Han Chinese, and 客家（guest families) as Hakka are known in China. Accepting Hakka as being Chinese is a 20th century innovation.
Hakka traditional architecture1 features circular houses, facing inwards. They are essentially fortresses to protect against attack. This predates the Hakka - Punti wars (1855-1867) by hundreds of years - Life in China was never easy for the Hakka.
Wong is a product and beneficiary of the British Empire. Her fathers family found refuge from discrimination and violence in China. They found opportunity as settlers in Malaysia. Britain did not permit British people to settle in (clearly) settled countries, it was an imperial power in Malaya. The “colonists” were Chinese and Indians. The economy grew and people benefited. And then the British left peacefully. So who suffered ?
Native Malays may have benefited somewhat from the economic growth and modernisation that imperialism facilitated, but the big winners were the British business interests, Malay elites, and the colonists like Wong’s ancestors. At independence, native Malay (“Bumiputera”) chafed at their marginalisation in their own country and the need to catch up with other groups.
Politics splintered along racial lines, and policies in business and education led to division of educational opportunity. By the 1980s there were policies reserving places in university by race, to benefit native Malay advancement. If you were classified as “other”, however, there were very few university places and social advancement through education was limited. It would make sense for Wong’s family to resettle in Australia, where under the law at least, race does not matter.
Lucky to be an Australian:
It would have been hard for Wong to attend university in Malaysia because of her whiteness. Luckily she was also eligible for Australian citizenship and could more easily attend university, due to being a person, not a category, and not subject to official racial discrimination in Malaysia.
The fact that political parties in Australia are not (yet?) defined by racial groupings made a political career here more realistic as well. In Malaysia she might have joined a Chinese race political party, but it’s unlikely she would have enjoyed the level of acceptance she can have in Australia.
So why poke the UK in the eye in 2023 ?
Obviously her lecturing does nothing to help Australia / UK relations and Malaysian representatives wouldn’t have done it, they are too mature and are living in the present.
Who Is Wong’s Intended Audience ?
The British have been arguing between themselves and with others about imperialism and colonialism, for around 300 years. They don’t need a beneficiary of their imperial legacy to lecture them.
BUT,
Chinese, in China, in Australia and around the world, love the idea of Australia “switching sides” and attacking the US or the UK. This is an audience of voters, who will lap this up.
Part of the transaction with China (CCP) to enhance the ALP / CCP relationship and cooperation, is to help them cause trouble for the UK, and the US, and “draw a line” 2 between ourselves and our allies.
Some Headlines From WeChat:
No doubt also being read by the UK foreign office and the US State department…..
The Australian Foreign Minister visited and poked Britain's pain point in person.
澳洲外长在英发表重要演说，事关中国！称英国应直面这段历史，并避免与中国发生冲突...4
The Australian Foreign Minister delivered an important speech in the United Kingdom, which is about China! She said that Britain should face this history and avoid conflict with China...
Australian media: Australian Foreign Minister urges Britain to face up to colonial history
澳大利亚外长黄英贤在英演讲谈殖民历史：父亲来自中国广东，祖母曾给英国殖民者当家佣，了解过去 能更好地...
Australian Foreign Minister Huang Yingxian talks about the history of colonisation in a speech in Britain: her father is from Guangdong, China, and her grandmother once worked as a domestic servant for the British colonisers. Understanding the past can better...
So is Wong making a gaffe or assisting Chinas foreign policy objectives ?
The comments play well to a Chinese audience, and assist China’s efforts to damage the UK’s relations with the developing world.
This is at the expense of UK / Australia relations.
Annoy the USA:
Against DFAT advice, Wong sent an observer to a meeting in Geneva of supporters of the proposed Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) .
She then doubled down and Australia abstained at the vote at the UN on this issue. A poke in the eye to the US, and a big win for China. Chinese media loved it, and drew the connection that Australia is peacefully evolving towards leaving the US camp and joining the China camp.
Australia's abstention shocked the United States，Sino-Australian relations are undergoing great changes
Obviously this not only damages Australia’s relationship with the US, it may in time also have the potential to frustrate the acquisition of nuclear submarines under AUKUS, especially if we end up signing up to the anti-nuclear treaty.
This is in line with Chinese objectives.
Careful, We Need To Talk About Kevin:
In Rudd we are providing a spokesman for China in Washington at our expense. Not only once again (after Bob Carr) do we have a Foreign Minister working for Beijing, but we reinforce CCP messages in Washington as well.
The number one job of an Australian Ambassador to the USA is to execute and manage AUKUS.
China doesn’t like it and neither does Kev. Because China doesn’t like it.
Maybe his real job is to strangle AUKUS in its cradle, and make it look like everyone wanted that. Keep China happy and blame Scott Morrison (again).
Further Back Than Square One:
So Turnbull “stood up” to China and we lost trade, now Wong gets it back by
Making concessions on sovereignty,
Damaging relations with our allies, and
Australia becoming a tool of Chinese foreign policy.
Pure genius.🤬
And of course, over time, giving in on the 14 demands and then some…..(see second half of “A Really Brief History…” below.
Photo of Traditional Hakka Housing Complex By Gisling - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3084884.
cultural revolution phrase
潘晓燕 参考消息 2023-02-01 19:11 Posted on 北京 via WeChat
悉尼印象 2023-02-01 20:08 Posted on 吉林 via WeChat
谈啸江湖 2022-11-21 23:26 Posted on 山东