The Australian Government and our tame media complain continually about China’s ‘economic coercion of Australia. But the conflict with China has in many cases been provoked by Australia. The US has not looked at the facts and stumbles in blindly.
Just compare two accounts.
In the SMH last Saturday our Foreign Minister gave us the usual spin as follows;
Foreign Affairs Minister Marise Payne says the Biden administration has shown it has Australia’s back after guaranteeing it will not grant China any improvement in relations until Beijing stops its economic coercion of Australia.
Senator Payne also revealed she has again reached out to Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi in recent months to restart dialogue, but he has not responded. She reiterated Australia’s stance it will not trade away important principles and values to get talks started again.
The White House’s Indo-Pacific coordinator, Kurt Campbell, this week said US President Joe Biden’s administration had told the Chinese government that ‘‘we are not going to leave Australia alone on the field’’.
Senator Payne said Mr Campbell’s intervention was a ‘‘very clear and unequivocal statement of the importance of allies and partners, and is very much acknowledged and appreciated’’.
‘‘We very much welcome the approach of this administration to its work with allies and partners,’’ she said. ‘‘So I absolutely acknowledge and welcome Kurt Campbell’s comments. We have been with the United States, and they with us.’’
Contrast this ‘be sorry for us, the victim’ with how Percy Allan described the dispute in Pearls and Irritations on January 22 this year:
Australia targeted China before it targeted us. After signing a free trade and investment agreement with China in 2015, we:
- Blocked more than 100 Chinese imports by using anti-dumping provisions that the Productivity Commission found were inappropriate under WTO rules
- Led the charge globally to ban Huawei from the 5G network
- Officially condemned human rights violations in China without shaming neighbouring countries (e.g. India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Pakistan, Myanmar and so on) for their transgressions or taking moral responsibility for our own Pacific Solution for refugees.
- Condemned China for breaching international law by seizing a disputed coral atoll in the South China Sea while ignoring Trump tearing up international agreements such as the Paris Climate Change Accord, NAFTA, the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, the Iran Nuclear Treaty and the Medium Range Missile Treaty
- Banned China, but not other nations, from promoting its interests and influence in Australia
- Publicly requested the World Health Organisation to investigate the origins of Covid-19 after talking to the Trump administration, but did not give prior notice to, let alone have any dialogue with, China
- Have now banned virtually any investment from China or any bilateral cooperation between state governments and universities and their counterparts in China.
To ingratiate himself with Donald Trump, Scott Morrison decided to poke China in the eye. Now he has the gall to attack China for reacting.
Take your pick on the facts about ‘economic coercion’.
John Menadue is the Founder and Editor in Chief of Pearls and Irritations. He was formerly Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, Ambassador to Japan, Secretary of the Department of Immigration and CEO of Qantas.
Comments
36 responses to “Marise Payne and Kurt Campbell believe their own propaganda about economic coercion by China”
Want to hear the views of the Chinese?
The United States, the biggest characteristic is, in Chinese words, “口惠而实不至”, which means that his sound are very good, but when they need to pay for some substantive help, he will not do anythings.
A normal country should not react too enthusiastically to this. Because a country’s trade dominance should be in its own hands. Even trade disputes with other countries should be resolved through independent negotiations.
Imagine it. If China succumbs to pressure from the United States, it will reopen the door of trade to Australia. Then the basis of Sino-Australian trade does not depend on any kind of economic theory, but on the attitude of the United States. .
I think this is very bad for China and Australia.
We continue to trade with China.
I ecxpect they are selected by agree ment by BOTH sides. That is diplomacy. The token disputes are for domestic and ally consumption only. But the drums of war are being heard.
In a week when the US, EU, UK and Canada have enacted targeted sanctions against China over Xinjiang and Beijing has enacted retaliatory sanctions against them, while Australia and New Zealand have only offered a joint statement, this analysis simply makes no sense.
And the ABC has gone ballistic with two recent reports, the first on a study by the Newlines Institute, the second about Australian Parliamentarians of all persuasions condemning China in Parliament based on the Newlines report. Yet had the ABC fact checked Newlines it would have found fraud and deception.
Both the ABC and the Parliament are close to finished as useful institutions.
Thanks John, and spot on.
It’s getting increasingly obvious that Chinese never get a right of reply, there is only one side of the story ever being told and that is being also blown well out of proportion.
In any law court both nationally or internationally, or within any genuine debate, the accused, or the other side, always get a right of apply. Not so with China.
For those that understand this, the treatment of China in the Australian media is appallingly biased. A seamless transfer from hate directed at Muslims, to hate directed uniquely at China. The axis of evil is reduced to a point of evil only directed at the Middle Kingdom.
I get the impression that if the Chinese all ate cheeseburgers, were big supporters of Trump’s racist views, waved the Stars and Stripes and shouted out ‘US freedom and democracy’, they’d still be cast as the baddies. Its a one way ticket and we already know what the destination is.
We hate the Chinese because they work harder than we do. That has been our dirty little secret ever since the gold rush. Now we pretend they work harder because they have a coercive government, which allows us to hate their government. That is despite the fact that slave economies have never been as productive as those in which work is reinforced by money, and the fact that China’s, like ours, is one of the latter.
There are positive reinforcers besides money that are also important. The fact that we work hard at school without being paid or caned, and the Chinese work even harder, is evidence that other reinforcers are operating, and operating better in China than they are here. One of the Confucian values that I think is of key economic importance is the notion that the superior man is the benevolent man. In economics, benevolence means giving your customer a good deal rather than a lousy one. In the West, the superior man is someone who tells others what to do rather than doing it himself. Is there any wonder that the Chinese are winning economically? And morally?
In fact, this also explains why the entire East Asia has achieved economic miracles. Countries in the Confucian cultural circle always had the power to create such miracles. This is not unique to China, but China has more.
Richard, what is it exactly that causes you to assert that “the superior man is the benevolent man.” in Chinese belief?
Even if this were a Confucian doctrine (and, I confess, I would know no better), you also seem to assume that this value is reflected by behaviours of Chinese citizens. Is it?
why don’t you tell us what you really think, john?
should australia ignore china’s human rights abuses and breaches of international law?
should australia formally abandon the principles ms payne pays lipservice to?
I’m not clear on whether you, like percy, are arguing that human rights and international law should be moderated by trade interests; whether australia should elevate these concerns in relations with other trade partners (and of course our own performance); or whether you’re pushing the b0rken misunderstanding that the only real choice we can make is to fall in line behind either china or usa.
Marxd
Marise may pay lip service to those principles of hers and her government but she understands foremost that America is the Leader and Protector of the Free World and as we are joined at the hip, deputy sherrif, it is our solemn duty to do as we are told!
I’m not sure what John “really thinks”, but I would argue Australia’s influence on China would be stronger if Australia demonstrably has an independent foreign policy. For example, Australia would call out human rights abuses not just in China, but also in the US (in relation to its treatment of illegal migrants), Israel (in relation to its treatment of Palestinians), the UK (in relation to its treatment of West Indian migrants), etc.
The best way to foster respect to human rights is to uphold human rights at home when it is inconvenient to do so (e.g., Australia’s treatment of boat refugees). The second best way is to hold our friends and allies to account for their failures to uphold human rights. Then the rest of the world can watch and learn!
sounds good to me KC
There are only 2 possibilities. Australian politicians are just a bunch of hacks or they got a gun pointed at their head by a certain foreign entity to act the way they do.
None of which is good for the interest of Australia.
I hope people can make a living eating and sh.tting “values”, maybe we should pay Payne with a lot of values instead.
But then again…..
Government blocks motion to recognise China’s treatment of Uighurs as genocide
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/government-blocks-motion-to-recognise-china-s-treatment-of-uighurs-as-genocide
Talk about bipolar schizophrenia.
Amazing
At least they are consistent with US bipolar schizophrenia
https://foreignpolicy.com/2021/02/19/china-uighurs-genocide-us-pompeo-blinken/
Australians should be very wary of believing anything governments say about our relations and/or problems with other countries. Menzies, for example, lied to Australians about how we got involved in the Vietnam War. Howard lied about WMD to support the USA’s illegal attack on Iraq. Porter is doing his best to destroy the whistle blower, and his lawyer, for exposing Australia’s illegal bugging of Timor’s cabinet meetings. There is no transparency, only secrecy. And endless spin and outright lies.
That’s gall, As in gall bladder, a bitter, corrosive fluid.
The claim of coercion will not work or influence the Chinese one bit since they had said in the Anchorage summit, “If the United States would indiscriminately protest and speak up for those countries just because they are your allies or partners, we believe for the long term ), then it will be very difficult for international relations to develop properly. So we don’t think one should be so testy as to accuse some other country of coercion. Who is coercing whom? I think history and the international community will come to their own conclusions”. (NikkeiAsia 19Mar2021). Minister Payne statement is a populist one but will not bring home the bread.
Story: Marise Payne says Australia won’t trade away values to restart China dialogue (SMH comment 20Mar2021)
Very good summary above. The Australian Government has the diplomatic skills and maturity of the proverbial house brick. We will surely regret hanging onto the coattails of the US – a most unreliable “ally”. Because of Morrison’s and Payne’s naivety and total ignorance of international affairs and protocols the US has a useful attack dog and can itself step out of the firing line and pick up the export slack (look at barley) when we lose the Chinese market. Some ally!
The attack dog has already sustained multiple injuries. But a dog has to do what a dog has to do. Carry on!
with friends like these…..
The world’s greatest practitioner of economic coercion is the United States. It sanctions restrict access to basic medicines and necessities in countries such as Venezuela and Syria, resulting in unnecessary deaths numbered in the thousands.
The sheer hypocrisy of complaining about Chinese coercion and ignoring the far worse coercion of our erstwhile ally beggars belief.
pointing at the faults of usa and the hypocrisy of australia does nothing to rehabilitate the status of china, nor help their victims. Is our objective to elevate human rights or simply to accurately grade human rights abusers?
Western nations use human rights as a mechanism for furthering their geopolitical objectives. They are not interested in human rights per se. Otherwise we would see similar levels of coverage/outrage in human rights abuses against numerous countries including many of our allies.
I also take with a healthy dose of scepticism the accusations made against China’s human rights abuses.
Recent leaks of British Government documents detailing its anti-Russia information warfare operation that involves media organisations such as the BBC, Reuters and Bellingcat follow on from leaks last year in a similar campaign against Syria. Based on the anti-China media coverage we are bombarded with it would seem a plausible conclusion that a similar campaign is being run against China.
If as a country we take human rights seriously, we should challenge all nations who abuse human rights, not just those that are our adversaries.
Many, if not most Australians, don’t understand that ‘human rights and democracy’ are just weaponised tools of imperial USA. Whether for the purpose of regime change (about 50 countries to date since WWII), or for use against strategic rivals (China & Russia).
The Western MSM ensures that they are never educated on this.
way to double down on cynicism.
but yeah basically I’m asking john if this is his meaning.
Marxd is Barney Mk II, basically just regurgitates garbage from MSM as if it was gossipal and pretend its critical thinking/analysis.
Basically propaganda works. Especially the kind that’s been spoonfed from birth.
We are too wedded to the idea that we are under threat.
We have far more potent bioweapons than CoVid!
This is all a game with sinister overtones. Israel and Japan have nuclear weapons in defiance of International law.
what victims? and yes, our objective must always include grading human rights abusers. some, the US comes to mind, are weaponising human rights against others, while committing them themselves. of course we should be grading them. it’s not an either/or situation.
> what victims
stopped reading here tbh
But you bothered to reply. you’re a joke.
Got any sources? Or do you just believe whatever you read as long as it has a media brand you “trust” (i.e. sh.t that agrees with my prejudices that I was spoonfed from birth?)
Please do not use sources from Zenz/ASPI/NED affiliats, I don’t care what BS branding you put on it. Btw where are all the WMDs in Iraq again? I got plenty of MSM sources so I guess it’s true!
Btw where was Australia when US sanctioned ICC judges over investigation on US War Crimes?
So much posturing, so much hypocracy. Glad you believe this garbage.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1467-8497.2008.00485.x
Did you read my question? Where is your source for Uygur persecution that’s not from Zenz, a fundamental Christian nutcase? Since you clearly would LIKE to believe it so eagerly.
Before you accuse others of wrongdoing, the first thing you have to do is to make sure that your house is in order.
US and their allies have consistently lied. From 9/11 attack, to Iraq WMDs all the way till to the recent COVID-19 origin. What makes you think that their allegations on Xinjiang genocide is the truth? How did Uyghurs population doubled with a genocide taking place? Where are the refugees if there’s a genocide going on?
You are upset about China, I get it. The main problem is that you have been consistently hearing lies with regards to Chinese matters. At the end of the day, the Chinese populace will hold their government accountable for their deeds. For US and their allies to talk about China’s human rights abuses while committing war crimes in the Middle East, that’s purely political grandstanding.