JAISWAL
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It's easy to get caught up in the amazing story of China's growth and the economic potential it presents for Australia. So easy, in fact, that it's easy to forget China is still the world's largest totalitarian dictatorship.
It's a nation where the heavy hand of the state looms large, where the current rulers maintain their power through a repressive military apparatus and where people who seek freedom of expression or religion are regularly and systematically oppressed.
In China, there are no elections. There's no free speech. There's no free media. There's no independent justice system. There are no independent trade unions.
And while the idea of no independent trade unions might make some people in the Liberal party very happy, it doesn't seem to make the life of a Chinese worker very happy.
For example, in the past decade, close to 48,000 Chinese miners have been killed at work. That's what happens when you don't have free trade unions, and when you have occupational health and safety laws that are rarely applied.
But despite decades of 'gentle' pressure on China to open itself up and embrace democracy, even a little bit, a true Chinese democracy seems further away than ever.
In fact, just this week, the President of China, Hu Jinato, said in a Chinese Communist Party magazine that "We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China "¦ We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond."
These are not the words of a man who is thinking about holding free and fair elections. These are the words of a man hell-bent on strengthening his iron grip on power.
It seems to me that Australian values are far too often compromised when it comes to dealing with China, especially if it means we can make a quicker buck off the back of China's dictatorship.
And this is no longer just about whether we should criticize China's human rights violations or not – it's now also becoming a question of who we should be allied with.
There are some in Australian politics who advocate shifting our alliances from the US (and our other democratic allies) to a more neutral stance internationally in order to offend China less. The idea is that if we turn a blind eye to the fact that the Chinese government routinely incarcerates political activists in work camps, then they might throw a few more billion yuan our way.
I would call this blood money.
The fact is that while the growing economic links between Australia and China have numerous benefits for our two countries, we are still oceans apart when it comes to values, beliefs and the underlying central tenant of our country: democracy.
It's a stance that requires us to ignore the central truth that human rights are universal and that our alliances should be based on economic interests alone rather than aligning ourselves with those who most share our values.
But the idea that we should favour our hip pocket over our basic belief system is one that has many friends.
In early December The Australian's Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan wrote a blistering critique of two speeches delivered late last year by Malcolm Turnbull.
In those speeches, Turnbull worryingly appeared to endorse the view that it's in Australia's interests to weaken the power of the US in order to grow the power of China so as to create a situation "in which the powers are in balance, with each side effectively able to deny the domination of the other".
Sheridan responded to the Turnbull speech's by writing "Malcolm Turnbull has delivered two important speeches on China that help explain why he was such a disastrous Liberal leader and why he should never be considered for the leadership again."
It's a pretty blunt assessment from Sheridan but arguably one that is not unfair. After all advocating for China's insurgence at the expense of the US was an idea floated by another former leader - Mark Latham. And we all know how that ended.
A lot of this discussion occurred when US President Obama visited Australia at the end of last year and announced the establishment of a Marines base in Darwin.
Those who favor compromising our democratic principles for the sake of economic growth were worried about how the Chinese would feel about a permanent US presence in Australia.
They thought that maybe the Chinese wouldn't have noticed that we have a strategic military alliance with the USA, and that by having a permanent Marine base in Darwin, we were unnecessarily drawing attention to it.
Indeed, it was the billionaire mining magnate and major Liberal Party donor, Clive Palmer, who said that the base was a "poke in the eye for China".
He even went further saying that he and other mining bosses boycotted the state dinner at Parliament House for President Obama for fear of offending China. He said, "Why do you think the likes of the head of BHP and myself didn't go to the dinner? We have real interests (in China) and know how the Chinese.Source~~ This country's not for sale ... not for all the yuan in China | thetelegraph.com.au
It's a nation where the heavy hand of the state looms large, where the current rulers maintain their power through a repressive military apparatus and where people who seek freedom of expression or religion are regularly and systematically oppressed.
In China, there are no elections. There's no free speech. There's no free media. There's no independent justice system. There are no independent trade unions.
And while the idea of no independent trade unions might make some people in the Liberal party very happy, it doesn't seem to make the life of a Chinese worker very happy.
For example, in the past decade, close to 48,000 Chinese miners have been killed at work. That's what happens when you don't have free trade unions, and when you have occupational health and safety laws that are rarely applied.
But despite decades of 'gentle' pressure on China to open itself up and embrace democracy, even a little bit, a true Chinese democracy seems further away than ever.
In fact, just this week, the President of China, Hu Jinato, said in a Chinese Communist Party magazine that "We must clearly see that international hostile forces are intensifying the strategic plot of westernizing and dividing China "¦ We should deeply understand the seriousness and complexity of the ideological struggle, always sound the alarms and remain vigilant, and take forceful measures to be on guard and respond."
These are not the words of a man who is thinking about holding free and fair elections. These are the words of a man hell-bent on strengthening his iron grip on power.
It seems to me that Australian values are far too often compromised when it comes to dealing with China, especially if it means we can make a quicker buck off the back of China's dictatorship.
And this is no longer just about whether we should criticize China's human rights violations or not – it's now also becoming a question of who we should be allied with.
There are some in Australian politics who advocate shifting our alliances from the US (and our other democratic allies) to a more neutral stance internationally in order to offend China less. The idea is that if we turn a blind eye to the fact that the Chinese government routinely incarcerates political activists in work camps, then they might throw a few more billion yuan our way.
I would call this blood money.
The fact is that while the growing economic links between Australia and China have numerous benefits for our two countries, we are still oceans apart when it comes to values, beliefs and the underlying central tenant of our country: democracy.
It's a stance that requires us to ignore the central truth that human rights are universal and that our alliances should be based on economic interests alone rather than aligning ourselves with those who most share our values.
But the idea that we should favour our hip pocket over our basic belief system is one that has many friends.
In early December The Australian's Foreign Editor Greg Sheridan wrote a blistering critique of two speeches delivered late last year by Malcolm Turnbull.
In those speeches, Turnbull worryingly appeared to endorse the view that it's in Australia's interests to weaken the power of the US in order to grow the power of China so as to create a situation "in which the powers are in balance, with each side effectively able to deny the domination of the other".
Sheridan responded to the Turnbull speech's by writing "Malcolm Turnbull has delivered two important speeches on China that help explain why he was such a disastrous Liberal leader and why he should never be considered for the leadership again."
It's a pretty blunt assessment from Sheridan but arguably one that is not unfair. After all advocating for China's insurgence at the expense of the US was an idea floated by another former leader - Mark Latham. And we all know how that ended.
A lot of this discussion occurred when US President Obama visited Australia at the end of last year and announced the establishment of a Marines base in Darwin.
Those who favor compromising our democratic principles for the sake of economic growth were worried about how the Chinese would feel about a permanent US presence in Australia.
They thought that maybe the Chinese wouldn't have noticed that we have a strategic military alliance with the USA, and that by having a permanent Marine base in Darwin, we were unnecessarily drawing attention to it.
Indeed, it was the billionaire mining magnate and major Liberal Party donor, Clive Palmer, who said that the base was a "poke in the eye for China".
He even went further saying that he and other mining bosses boycotted the state dinner at Parliament House for President Obama for fear of offending China. He said, "Why do you think the likes of the head of BHP and myself didn't go to the dinner? We have real interests (in China) and know how the Chinese.Source~~ This country's not for sale ... not for all the yuan in China | thetelegraph.com.au
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