Last month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute announced that its Executive Director, Peter Jennings, had warned another ostensibly independent think tank, the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, that China may trigger a major military crisis over Taiwan in the coming year. The catalysts are held to be twofold: the forthcoming centenary of the Chinese Communist Party and the domestic turmoil in the US resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The context, of course, is China’s rise as a regional and global power by means not significantly different from those employed by the regional and global powers which have preceded it, but which are now regarded as anathema (despite the fact that they remain current in the strategies of those declining powers).
What observers are asked to believe is that this communication was an instance of the much sought after advice and wisdom of ASPI on a matter of grave concern to the western alliance system in general and the nations of Asia-Pacific in particular.
If this event is “read” beyond the superficiality of the reports which attended the event and also placed in the larger context of China-as-Threat, there are at least four interrelated themes running through the discourse: the institutions in question are disingenuous, even dishonest when proclaiming their independence; what is being promoted and peddled is a new variant of pornography – Threat-Porn; finally, whether admitted or not, financial support for the aforementioned is at the forefront of all considerations.
ASPI’s proclaimed “independence,” for example, an ASPI blog by Graeme Dobell, begs the question: “from what?” It cannot be from the many weapons corporations and governments that provide funding for it – and are prominently listed on its masthead. They do not do so on an altruistic basis: put simply, their interests are in the profitability of their operations, not in wide-ranging analyses of global politics which, as a matter of course, occupy a place on the spectrum somewhere between ambiguity and outright confusion.
As with ASPI, so with the CECC, created in 2000 by a Defense Authorization Act, with the legislative mandate to monitor, investigate, and submit to Congress an annual report on the national security implications of the bilateral trade and economic relationship between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. It was conceived and operates as a hyper-vigilant member of the China-as-Threat chorus.
An interesting appreciation and understanding of the performative qualities of the CECC-ASPI interaction can be borrowed from the history of liturgical music – specifically, the chanting of psalms whereby, within a limited range of notes, one body of singers intones the verse and the other responds with the antiphon.
As now configured intellectually and analytically, both have the same relationship to independence as would a collection of court adviser set up by Louis XIV to advise him on the limits of the monarchy.
Threat-Porn is hardly new; different variants were endemic throughout the Cold War and then again after 9/11. The current version promulgated by ASPI is designed to arouse both fear and strategic excitement with every demarche by China depicted in a sensational manner. An array of amusements and spectacles – so-called Freedom of Navigation Operations in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Straits are produced to satisfy the need for narcissistic powers to satisfy their cravings and exorcise their fears.
Prosthetics, off-the-shelf and custom-made, also help: enhancement is the objective. Magic products in the form of (temporarily) ultimate weapons are in continual production for the purpose of satisfying the need to dominate what, in reality, cannot be dominated.
In the process, China is not so much critiqued – a reasonable undertaking in the strategic analysis as it is with all global actors – but essentially dehumanised and degraded. The very notion that China, even a repressive China, has legitimate security concerns are jettisoned. The quest is to render China vulnerable, an object unworthy of empathy, devoid of culture and personality, a target only for exploitation.
And why? Basically, it saves time to understand that, whatever China is, it bears the scars of centuries of western condescension and exploitation. This, to be clear, does not excuse China’s excesses and defaults, but neither does it absolve the West from significant complicity in the present.
To concede this would be financially ruinous to those who profit from enemification [not sure what word this is, maybe indemnification?] and the hostile imagination it creates. Again, in simple terms, absent China as a rising power in Asia-Pacific and there is a strong presumption that the sponsors on the masthead on ASPI’s website would be significantly depopulated.
To reflect on these traits is to seek a deeper understanding of what bedevils the major Australian think tank on strategic matters as they relate to China. Taken as a whole, the outpourings of ASPI on China-as-Threat recall the title of Alan Renouf’s book, The Frightened Country (1979).
At considerable cost to its sponsors – but currently a profitable investment – ASPI and other like-minded institutes and centres are reproducing a strange, psychologically dysfunctional world in which Australia is, at its core, unable to cope on its own, or even to contemplate in a serious manner what it might mean to begin to navigate by its own domestic and regional lodestars. The future in these terms, is one of international docility in which independence is only a declaratory and definitely not an operational strategy.
Michael McKinley is a member of the Emeritus Faculty, the Australian National University; he taught Strategy, Diplomacy and International Conflict at the University of Western Australia and the ANU.
Comments
23 responses to “ASPI, sycophancy and the deepening corruption of Australia’s strategic mindset”
I quote: “Last month, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute announced that its Executive Director, Peter Jennings, had warned another ostensibly independent think tank, the United States-China Economic and Security Review Commission, that China may trigger a major military crisis over Taiwan in the coming year.”
Firstly, Peter Jennings is anything but God. He is an individual – with pronounced and well-known biasses.
Secondly, “may” is a diamond of a political word. It enables anything to be postulated; no mention of probability, it enables retraction and it enables egoism. Pay no attention to it.
Thirdly, Peter’s ‘connections’ are thereby irrelevant.
I honestly don’t know how the ASPI bunch look in the mirror when they see Satan with maggots pouring out of a putrid carcass
As has been said before lasting peace on Earth must firstly see the extinction of ASPI and other war pigs.
How much of this ASPI view is affecting the ABC?
I was horrified to see what last night’s ABC 7:00 News did in terms of similar propaganda. They’ve been on a bender with anti-Chinese paranoia lately. Who is driving this?
They had a story about Linda Reynolds extending her disappearing act until April 2nd, then they claimed this was leaving Australia in a vulnerable position in dangerous times, flashing the camera onto members of the Chinese military marching together in a parade. As if they were going to attack any day now. For the ABC to stoop so low in Murdochian and ASPI-style anti-China propaganda was disgusting. Just another example of the organization being eaten out by Liberal Party death of a thousand cuts.
I reckon the ASPI virus has now infected ‘our ABC’, and has influenced even formerly clear-headed hosts. The hatchet job will probably continue until the ABC becomes just another mouthpiece of the rabid right-wing.
They will keep trying certainly, but after March 28th when Jobkeeper goes, and up to 250,000 more Australians become unemployed while thousands of small business fail or go bankrupt, it will be the end of the stimulus honeymoon for Santa Claus Morrison and Co. We are also going to be hit with inflation at some point and the actual state of the economy which is being hidden from us with rubbery or conveniently plucked figures will hit reality. If China stopped buying iron ore, which adds to the fact that we cannot take more immigrants which buffers the GDP, then they will be not too popular.
This is going to coincide with a poor rate of vaccine delivery – we are already the slowest in the First World, despite the nausea of Hunt’s marketing ads, and the government will not be able to hide its scandals anymore. It just gets worse and worse. Note that when the Brittany Higgins story broke, Morrison immediately cancelled speculation of an early election. Not a sign of confidence on his part. But the result of that will be that the longer he leaves it, the worse it will get. He has no idea about what he has taken on with the sisterhood either, he used to think it was all about economy but now social issues like this will come to the fore.
Murdoch is having a birthday party soon and at some point as he gets older, the grim reaper is going to come as an uninvited guest to one of those parties. We are yet to see if Lachlan is as capable or as bad as they say. They are all acting to please dad except James who is starting to rock the boat.
While the US still will have a containment policy on China, Biden has toned down the rhetoric and is formulating a less hostile approach. Trump and Pompeo failed miserably, and they more than deserved to just for their ugly racist talk driven by egotism. That leaves Morrison and his ship of fools in the position of being alone in causing problems through loose talk with China. He may hope to turn this into an Australia-China confrontation (in words) to grab the nationalist vote, but we are outnumbered 57 to 1 with China. Having new submarines at some point (?) in the future, with the final date of arrival in 2050 (which may be yet extended again) and a heap of American lemons as fighter jets on order that still have design flaws while even the US sees them as citrus fruit themselves, then Morrison is dreaming. He has in fact toned it down a bit too recently, but the media continues in its relentless and mindless fear mongering momentum.
At this point, despite the Morrison loving, IPA supporting media, I think the Liberals will have little chance in winning at the next election, and in losing Porter they will have lost one of their key potential career groomed candidates for another prime minister that could replace Morrison if he becomes very unpopular.
This is the only hope for the ABC: get rid of the Liberals, the liars that said “no cuts to SBS or the ABC” yet did the opposite over an over again.
The stars were similarly aligned for Shorten, and yet we lost. Even when the polls said Labour, I was still betting on the LNP winning- unfortunately it turned out that I was right! I still can’t see Albanese as PM somehow.
There are just too many hip-pocket plus fear and loathing (China China China!) buttons that the LNP can cleverly press for great effect. A most depressing characteristic of our Aussie lot! One of my mates who is a multi-millionaire lifetime Labour supporter was pressured by his wife just because of a lousy 20k worth of dividend imputation (I think it was a Howard initiative). His share portfolio would be over $10 million! And for the $20k, the missus was happy to sell her soul!
Below is another interesting piece by M. K. Bhadrakumar on the ‘Quad’; the Indians are getting schizophrenic about it. They want the cake and eat it too! I think the whole basis is just wobbly. Australia, as per usual, is a mug for thinking it would add up to anything meaningful. All 4 jokers, USA, Japan, India and Australia are reliant on the China supply chain for the basics! You need to cut off your own nose…!
https://www.indianpunchline.com/biden-proposes-a-quad-summit-this-is-why/
Well Man Lee for me I have to leave the door open for change otherwise there is no point in what I am doing here. I guess I have lived long enough to see it happen more than once despite the odds. We’ve had decades run by Liberals but also from Labor too during the 1980s. Nothing lasts forever on this planet, there will come a time when the Liberals are booted out.
I can tell you that in the work I did for years if I did not develop a vision for something first, it would never have seen the light of day. Had I said it was not possible, it would have never existed. So I have to remain optimistic, even if everything looks bad. Call me an existentialist if you like, but it is important see that without a concept of change envisaged, then you have nothing.
I think the times are changing despite whether Albanese is popular or not, there is now a long time to go before the next elections. Howard was even more unpopular as a leader of the opposition but he still won. At the moment polls are neck and neck between the parties, and while Labor are not making lot of noise it shows they are not out of the picture. Neither are they the focus of ongoing scandals like the Liberals. Morrison is far more vulnerable, he’s presiding over an increasingly corrupt government.
The Indian article tells me a number of things, and one is that Biden’s direction is moving away from Trump’s. Given that Trump whipped up fear and monumental quantities of racist lies against China, Biden also has to be very careful how he plays his cards by not being seen to be in favour of China. This is reinforced by the poll that says “nine-in-ten U.S. adults (89%) consider China a competitor or enemy.
But the article also says:
“The US may maintain its presence and military deployment in the Indo-Pacific but it will be for calibrating the pressure on China from a position of strength rather than confront China militarily”.
That is a big change.
And the Indians are divided, so the US has to run to keep it in favour because as the article also states the Quad is useless without India. Comparisons may be made with NATO, but a zig zag line that goes from India to Australia to Japan is hardly the same thing as what we see in Europe.
My view is that India needs China for its own development. China is extremely well organised and is a thriving economy at least 7 times the size of India in GDP terms. Meanwhile the populations are very similar in both countries. If you have been to India you will realise it is way behind even in basic infrastructure. There are wealthy Indians like you see in Indian movies that live in sectioned off estates, but the average low income Indian is in another position again. Manual labour is obvious everywhere.
China could revolutionise India, it is a model that India could adapt, and latent within Indian society is the knowledge just like China, of Western exploitation. It would not surprise me if they become more focussed on China to improve their economy and supply of the knowhow to improve their country in the same way as China has.
Yes perhaps I should not be too pessimistic about our Aussie politics. You will be pleased to know that I was on the ground helping in the campaign for winner Maxine McKew in the 2007 election for Bennelong. The opponent was of course John Howard! (If my memory is right, he also turned up at the formal post-election function, which I thought was very decent).
It is not confined to the ABC but our print media as well – just look at the SMH, The Age and the Guardian. There is a MIG complex and it is working in tandem with the media. I would not call it rabid right-wing but rather China-haters, and this is fuelled by some academic discourse ala Clive Hamilton and his coterie of admirers and supporters.
Well Stan Grant is in the employ of both parties. So what can one expect…
On the matter of China I think it is his indigenous Australian background that makes him question the colonialist motives behind Western countries. But he is never going to try to rock the boat too much. At the ABC I’m sure he listens to orders as well, it is divided organisation that has become Stalinesque. Watch your back as they say.
Hi George, thanks for your many interesting and insightful posts. In the case of Stan Grant, I think one could argue that he is mired in western liberalism. Look at his writings and books – he is an avid fan and champion of western liberalism. That in itself is not a bad thing but when transposed onto China, it becomes an ideological battleground for within that idea of liberalism is an unwavering notion that is very self-centred and individual-oriented. This is where his arguments have been rooted in but surprisingly, when it comes to his ‘mob’, he takes on a different hue.
I think this idea of liberalism and democracy presupposes there is only one road to modernity. That is skewed and fails to account for the possibility of different roads and different possibilities.
ASPI’s main function is to promote and invent wars for the military-industrial-government-media complex.
W’eve reached a hybrid position where the sale of weapons has become the real motivation for starting wars. For that you need an organization that appears one way, but in fact does the other. It is not about intelligence services, but more about making up bogeyman hysterical nonsense to cause further unwanted wars.
It’s about the worst development ever to be seen in history on this Earth where profits are all that matter to this grim reaper of an industry of death. They have no shame, no conscious, its purely about killing people for large amounts of cash with increasingly atrocious weapons. Most are surgical and sanitised and delivered in ways the people back home will never know about. Embed the press and control what they say as well so you don’t have to learn about the atrocities.
As far as our federal government is concerned they are willingly wanting to become part of this world of death game players. For years Canberra domestic airport terminal areas have been plastered with advertisements for the same well known industries so anyone in defence or the public service gets brainwashed.
What these people do is nothing but secular evil. Blowing children to pieces or maiming them for life means nothing to them.
But killing is just the new normal, nice mums and dads work in areas of the public service where they make decisions on these purchases, nice mums and dads also make the weapons too in the countries they live in. ‘It’s just a job’ they say.
Linda Reynolds is now mixed up in the Brittany Higgins investigation, which is bad enough, but it has not been noticed that she (Reynolds) was only ever the puppet of this industry, and groomed to make it to the top. It is just like oil men in the US finding their way into congress to peddle their wares and force decisions for their industry. Democracy? What democracy?
”Verily, they have their reward” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym9W7ujfVRk
Once upon a time, the ABC might have been able to claim it was blind to to what ASPI is up to. Now, after sustained criticism of ASPI’s credibilty, it can hardly do that. Despite this, it continues to use ASPI as a reliable source. At the same time, it asks for support in its battles against Government budget cuts and attacks by Murdoch. And it continues to promote itself as the most trusted source of news in the Australian media landscape. In my eyes, the ABC is totally compromised, and I am unable to offer it even moral support.
Hi Malcolm, can’t agree more with what you have posted. It has become insipid and even afraid of its own shadow – a free and independent press. It has drawn on conservative think tanks e.g. the ASPI, the Lowy Institute and allow them to dominnate the public space and discourse. There is an urgent need for a counter-narrative.
American wars are about drugs and oil. The American taxpayer gets to transfer money and children into a machine that makes $$$ for a few families.
Since those families control the media and banking, wars will continue. State competition in those areas would reduce wars
Sir, the ASPI is like the eunuch created by the Emperor to tell him what he wants to hear.
Thank you for another incisive analysis Michael.
I often wonder whether the folks at ASPI actually believe what they promulgate?
John Coyne in a recent ASPI Strategist article, referring to the Western powers stated that “The global powerhouses in international relations are reliant not on coercion, threats or control but on leadership and influence.” I could not help but laugh when reading this. I guess Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, Syria, Ukraine, Venezuela and sanctions that amount to economic warfare and cause the deaths of thousands by restricting access to basic medicines is what ASPI would refer to as leadership? What a joke!
And then in a delicious little bit of irony ASPI releases a Special Report on “The CCP’s coordinated information effort to discredit the BBC” at about the same time that Anonymous release a treasure trove of documents (dutifully not reported on by our media) on the extensive, expensive (six billion pounds a year, maybe the NHS could have used some of that …) and long running UK Information Warfare operation against Russia (https://thegrayzone.com/2021/02/20/reuters-bbc-uk-foreign-office-russian-media/).
There is now documentary evidence indicating that the BBC, Reuters and the ABCs favourite investigate journalistic organisation, Bellingcat, have been up to their eyeballs in spreading disinformation against Russia at the behest of the UK Government. Given that the UK has supported similar operations against Syria, it seems like a reasonable assumption that there is a similar campaign in action against China (e.g. coverage on Hong Kong, Uighur’s etc).
#defundASPI
Thanks Cameron – and your question is one that I have asked for years because I am frequently baffled by the bizarre, misleading, and/or absurd pronouncements of so many people in think tanks, the media and university departments and centres who otherwise seem to act rationally. For what it;s worth, the answer I have come to is that many do believe what they say; many also don’t think too deeply about what they’re saying so long as it accords with the what’s required institutionally, but I have also had some who have told me quite openly that they have a career to tend to and and if that requires adopting offical, standard, and blessed view, then so be it.
Michael, Just a small point to make. The picture of soldiers that you have used, and you have rightly credited Unsplash, is that of Singaporean soldiers. 3 Clues- 1. The photographer is Singaporean 2. You can also see some ethnic Indian faces 3. Many of them wear glasses (which is a reflection of the serious myopia affliction among many younger Singaporeans).
Anyway, the conscripts all look like they don’t want to be there. They would probably have the fright of their lives if they have had to fight the PLA in the South China Sea!