Governments lie – WMD threats from Iraq, communist invasion threats from Vietnam…Now they say the threat is from China, and that this time they are telling the truth.
Gregory Clark
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Japanese media kisha clubs are like Australia’s ‘tamed estate’.
Japan and Australia are supposed to be cultural opposites. But there are similarities at times, especially where media are concerned. (more…)
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Quad is built on wobbly foundations(Asia Times 5.10.2020)
With Australia, India, Japan and US set to meet in Tokyo to collectively counter China, it’s not clear Beijing represents a threat. (more…)
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Spies are often the ‘second eleven’
When the full history of Australia’s slide into McCarthyite hysteria over China is written there should be special mention of the role of our spy organizations – ASIO and ASIS in particular. As someone who has worked over the years in three of the main spy-ridden hot-spots – USSR, China and Japan – I think I have had some experience. (more…)
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It was the threat of Soviet invasion, not the bombs that drove Japan’s surrender.
The 75th Pacific War end anniversary has revived once again the debate over whether the US in 1945 had to resort to nuclear bombings to force Japan’s surrender. The global anti-nuclear movement has long used the horror of those bombings to promote its cause. (more…)
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Hysteria over China.
Despite decades of contact, something in the Australian DNA makes it impossible to think rationally about China. (more…)
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Lies and distortions about western policies in Asia. The media and the Tiananmen massacre myth – part 2
We are told that on the night of June 3, 1989, there was a massacre of protesting students in Beijing’s iconic Tiananmen Square. The New York Times story reduced Bob Hawke to tears – troops with machine-guns mowing down hundreds of peacefully protesting students at the centre of the Square. (more…)
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Lies and distortions about western policies in Asia: The Sino-Indian frontier dispute. Part 1 of 2
Most governments lie and distort, sometimes blatantly. For me, one of the worst examples has been over the hostilities along the Sino-Indian frontier. I give details since I was once personally involved.
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GREGORY CLARK. The anniversary of 1971 Pingpong Diplomacy
The 50th anniversary of perhaps the most important event Australia’s relations with Asia, or even in its history, was barely noticed when it passed this month. (more…)
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Australia’s China threat obsessions are not new.
Australia’s China threat obsessions are not new. Remember the Vietnam War? Obsessions then were far worse:
‘It (the Vietnam War) must be seen as part of a thrust by Communist China between the Indian and Pacific Oceans.’ (Robert Menzies, April 29, 1965).
‘..there is not the slightest doubt that the North Vietnamese are the puppets of China…’(Defence Minister, Allen Fairhall, March, 1966)
‘The fear of China is the most dominant element in much that happens in Asia, and the fear is well founded.’ (Foreign Minister, Paul Hasluck, October, 1964) (more…)