Being played?

The expression ‘being played’, which would appear to have its origins in Shakespeare’s Hamlet, came to mind when reflecting on Prime Minister Albanese’s journey to China.

The trip was hyped as the 50th anniversary of former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam’s historic visit to China in 1972. Apart from a filip for Labor’s ‘true believers’, it is hard to find any real outcomes. Not that impartial observers expected any, as distinct from the China boosters who applaud any discussions with the CCP as the dawn of a new enlightened era of expanding trade and discourse.

Even the Chinese appeared to play down the significance of the visit as having anything other than symbolic meaning.

Apart from wishing to celebrate the Whitlam visit, the visit was difficult to justify from Australia’s perspective: a few positive headlines and photos in the Australian media, but little of substance. China has not changed its trajectory. A journalist has been released from unwarranted detention and China has agreed to discuss the easing of unilaterally imposed and unlawful trade sanctions. Another Australian remains in jail and the PLA continues its aggression in the region. President Xi uttered some nice words, not that being called a nice boy by the Chinese leadership is necessarily a confidence building basis for a future relationship.

According to some observers, cordial talks with Australia are now an achievement we should celebrate. They were once known as diplomatic courtesy and good practice. 

The tin ears of some pro-China commentators were on display during the visit. Writing in the China Daily, one former member of the Australian China Business Council observed that “Australia is encouraged to believe that China needs Australia as much as Australia needs China. However, there is a misplaced belligerence in the relationship where Australia believed it could, and still can, lecture and scold China with impunity. It is a quaint belief that led to unprecedented levels of bellicosity under previous Australian governments.” How little time it took for some to forget China’s list of 14 demands and other provocative instructions!

An editorial in the Global Times quoted an Australian professor at the University of Sydney saying that Australia has swapped "poking Beijing in the eye and kicking it in the shins because it feels good" with a stated policy of "stabilization." 

It continued: “In issues that are important to China, such as banning Huawei 5G, COVID-19 origins, Xinjiang, and the South China Sea, the previous two Australian governments have engaged in the behavior of ‘poking Beijing in the eye and kicking it in the shins.’ The Albanese government has made adjustments, and this led to a turning point in the China-Australia relationship. To put it simply, it is necessary to respect China's national interests, especially its core interests, but Australia's adjustment has gone through a tortuous process.” Again no mention that so-called Chinese interests are often unilateral declarations by the CCP, devoid of any consideration of the interests of other nations.

Another editorial warned: “AUKUS, the trilateral security partnership between the US, UK and Australia, has always been a center of contradiction between Beijing and Canberra. As the knots in the dispute between China and Australia in areas such as trade are slowly untied, if Canberra cannot tackle the issue concerning the AUKUS well and allow itself to continue to be hijacked by US policy, this pact is likely to be an impediment to the China-Australia relations.”

As these contributions to its official media indicate, China continues to play the ‘good cop, bad cop’ game. 

More open-eyed business operators, such as Bryan Fry from Jacobs Creek wines, have warned that the Chinese market is changing and is no longer a panacea for Aussie trade. Indeed warning signs of a faltering Chinese economy continue to appear. Foreign net investment outflows now exceed inflows.

In any event, China has found a new enemy to condemn these past few weeks, namely Canada. In Marxist ideology, of which XI Jinping is a devotee, the Party must always be engaged in struggle. While the US is the constant focus of this fight, other countries like Australia are also targeted. Tactically, the CCP is attempting to ‘soften-up’ Australia, having failed at a heavy-handed approach, so Canada is in its sights.

Canada’s crime: to investigate alleged Chinese interference in its electoral system and more recently, to participate in international sanctions against North Korea.  For this, it was accused of causing trouble and provoking China on its doorstep, especially when the PLA accused China of "unsafe interceptions” of its aircraft.

In a dangerous manoeuvre, PLA Navy fighter jets flew "as close as 100 feet" to a Canadian helicopter, an unusual move against a non-fixed wing aircraft. In the second incident, a Chinese aircraft fired flares 100 feet in front of the helicopter's rotors. 

Nor is Canada alone the latest CCP target. Estonia has been threatened because of a visit by the Taiwanese Foreign Minister and its consideration of opening a Taiwanese trade office in the nation.

China’s tactics may have changed; its trajectory has not. I hope Mr Albanese enjoyed the banquet in Beijing, but no amount of Australian lobster and Penfolds wine make any difference to Xi Jinping’s aspirations for regional hegemony.

First published in the Epoch Times Australia.