Do as we say

‘Do as we say, not as we do’ is clearly the attitude of the Chinese government. In his recent media appearance, the new Chinese ambassador to Australia Xiao Qian instructed us that obtaining nuclear powered submarines pursuant to the AUKUS agreement would not be constructive. It would not be helpful, he added, saying that it would set a bad example.

Reading these remarks would lead the uninformed to conclude that China was actively discouraging nuclear-powered military equipment.  But the restrictions that China wants applied to Australia are totally breached by China itself.

Consider the use of nuclear power by the PLA navy. Of its 56 submarines, 12 are nuclear powered, and more are being built. Its navy is being expanded at a fast rate. Not only are its submarines nuclear powered, six of them carry intercontinental nuclear missiles. It also has some 400 nuclear warheads, a number expected to increase to about 1,500 in coming years. Vast nuclear silos have been constructed in the west of the country.

Yet the Chinese Communist Party has the gall to instruct Australia not to acquire nuclear-powered submarines!

As the former director of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute Peter Jennings wrote recently, “Beijing hates AUKUS because it complicates its plan to dominate the Indo-Pacific. US undersea technology has an edge the PLA has not blunted. The biggest risk to Chinese maritime power is American and allied maritime power.”

Jennings is correct. The commentators who believe China has changed because it has also hinted at dropping trade bans or has moved some of its ‘wolf warrior’ spokesmen to new roles misunderstand that the CCP is playing a long game. Suggestions of a new economic nirvana are naive.

Currently, the CCP is playing the ‘good cop, bad cop’ roles. ‘Be nice and we will restore some trade’ which, by the way, was capriciously banned. ‘But don’t step out of line by challenging our global ambitions.’ 

The vision of the ambassador toying with a glass of Australian red wine reinforced the message: ‘be good and we will take your wine and lobsters again.’ 

China will import Australia’s mineral resources when it needs them.

"We have to abandon the Cold War mentality, try to understand the essence of things from the perspective of material duality, endeavour to build a community with a shared future for mankind, and join hands to respond to global challenges," China’s Vice Premier Liu told the World Economic Forum last week. "We believe that an equitable international economic order must be preserved by all of us."

He added that Beijing opposed unilateralism and protectionism. Yet Xi Jinping proclaims that totalitarian rule is superior to liberal democracy and will replace it globally.

The CCP’s current ire is directed at Japan. The CCP’s international mouthpiece, the Global Times, recently warned that “Japan risks turning itself into ‘Ukraine of Asia’ if it follows US’ strategic line.”

“The US and Japan will continue to tread on China’s red line to provoke the Chinese mainland to use force first,” continued the editorial. 

The article quoted Lian Degui, director of the Department of Japanese Studies at the Shanghai International Studies University: “They want to put China in a dilemma where it has to use force, then shift responsibility to the Chinese mainland and blame it for launching a war.”

This false narrative has to be challenged. It is the Chinese PLA navy that it harassing Japanese vessels in the East China Sea. It was the Chinese that fired missiles over Taiwan into Japanese waters.

The current Australian government should recall that China initially welcomed new prime ministers only to subsequently condemn them for defending Australia’s interests or asserting international norms. 

Bob Hawke’s condemnation of the Tiananmen Square carnage ended the then Chinese bromance. Kevin Rudd’s reference to human rights at Peking University began the more recent estrangement. It continued under subsequent Liberal prime ministers. Scott Morrison was binned for asking for an independent investigation of the origins of Covid.

China may be changing its tactics, but its long-term strategy remains the same. 

This column was first published in the Epoch Times Australia.