‘Belt and Road push stained our reputation … massive, failed diplomacy for the PRC and Chairman Dan’

Great brawl: Dan Andrews on a trip planned by his then-China adviser Mike Yang, who has been linked to several groups in the Communist Party’s United Front influence operation.

Welcome to the column where you provide the content. Foreign Minister Marise Payne ripped up Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement with China, prompting the wolf warriors to warn the “provocative” move could throw relations between the two countries “into the abyss” and eliciting almost 2000 comments from readers. Critique’s critique:

“Finally, a well thought through decision. One only has to travel to South Pacific countries to see the already effective tentacles of Chinese power in infrastructure projects that are now the debt-ridden obligation of many of our poorer neighbouring economies with the insurance in future foothold positioning by the PRC.

“At last, we have broken free of the shackle accepted [not negotiated by any stretch of imagination] by the Vic government which aligned us with the Belt and Road push and stained our reputation. We might be viewed as a country town economy by some, but it is massive, failed diplomacy for the PRC and Chairman Dan and a solid imprimatur for the Australian government and our nation.”

Mitchell was miffed:

“There is just too great an ideological gap between the Chinese and Australian cultures for the Chinese government to ever understand that threats by the far superior Chinese behemoth will ever cow the modern Australian community into submission. Australia is a dot on the world stage when compared with China, but will take the pain rather than give in to the bully.

“I don’t know if the current Chinese authorities, intoxicated by their historically recent laudable strides forward into the modern world, are yet intellectually sophisticated enough to work out that they will achieve much more, in the long term, if they were to show magnanimity towards their tiny neighbour, rather than continuing to threaten and harass them. Shame on them for trying to do so.”

Ironybark went on the offensive:

“The government should carefully scrutinise the Chinese involvement in Project EnergyConnect, a proposed $2.5 billion, consumer-funded transmission line linking South Australia to the East Coast grid. The proponent of this line, Electranet, is 46.56pc owned by the Chinese. This line, which would give the Chinese a golden opportunity to interfere with the operation of the entire east coast grid, has been curiously re-routed to run just south of a sensitive military listening station near Morundah.”

Not kosher, said Rodger:

“ ‘Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews said that Victoria relied heavily on international students due to its lack of natural resources.’ That is false and he should exposed. Victoria has offshore gas and oil. It also has huge quantities of onshore gas that Andrews refuses to allow it be exploited. He also has heaps of coal but restricts its use for electricity generation. It also has farm and fish produce and timber that it exports.”

Elaine agreed:

“Daniel Andrews, with his offshore gas and oil and huge quantities of onshore gas and coal, refuses to allow these to be mined., and cries poor. He is happy to benefit from the 70 cents in each dollar that WA has earned and sent to Eastern States. WA’s remaining 30 cents is meant to cover the huge costs of infrastructure. This is a massive impediment due to its immense land mass and the remoteness from Mines. Compare WA with the size of Victoria, which would fit in the south west corner. It’s time that Victoria pulled its weight for the benefit of all Australians.”

Robert was rapt:

“Well done Minister Payne for undoing this egregious BRI agreement from Comrade Dan, who has little interest in doing anything except running up massive debts built upon massive waste and running his Marxist agenda. The sooner he is gone the better for Victoria and Australia. It is excellent that over 1000 agreements are being studied in a similar vein.”

Buy Australian Made’s sell:

“All the Chinese tentacles into Australia that resulted from this agreement now need to be chopped, as they are now null and void.”

Zog’s wheeze:

“How about we sell the ABC to China? We’ll make some money, the content won’t change, and sensible people can ignore it like usual.”

Rebecca recommended:

“(Payne) now needs to get back the port of Darwin and other ports, as I understand it, which CCP China also ‘owns’ or leases for 99 years.”

Peter William protested:

“No leave the Darwin port alone, it is not Darwin Harbour and our government could not run it, when it was leased it did not have even one working crane. Now it is running well.”

Plato pointed out:

“That’s too much like Mussolini’s apologia: He made the trains run on time.”

Bing’s zinger:

“The axing of the Victoria’s Belt and Road agreement is not unexpected. Beijing has shown no inclination to lift trade ban and extra taxes on Australian goods to China. Therefore Canberra saw there is nothing to lose in tearing up the agreement. This is a clear reflection of the failure of Xi’s foreign policy which prematurely cast China as the major challenger to the US and the West thus pushing the world to an unnecessary new cold war to the disadvantage to all involved.”

Belted: Wolf warrior Wang Xining wondered where all his friends had gone. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

’Nuf said Neffi:

“This is — and only could ever be — the start of the great denouement of the uncoupling of Chinese spheres of influence around Australia. As David Kilcullen has detailed what he terms the ‘conceptual entrapment’ of many military and strategically important areas around the world, there are some — like the Port of Darwin — which come to mind that need to be reassessed by Australia.”

Michael mused:

“Mr Xi should consider himself in good company. Deals with Iran and Syria are also being scrapped. Could have added North Korea if we had any with them.”

Dee doubled down:

“What a great start, next put a total stop to foreigners buying our homes, land, farms, water, sensitive assets. I really hope this is the beginning of policy placing the best interests of Australians ahead of foreign interests as that has not been the case in a very long time.”

In brief, from R:

“China: you banned our exports, cost us billions. We asked you to give details about the bat virus and we ripped up a bit of paper for a loan that had not proceeded. That’s it. And you think you are hard done by.”

Say what you think, Keith:

“So well done Marise Payne. Get the big red pen out and don't stop until all Chinese agreements with Australia are axed and China sent packing. Chinese behaviour towards the world is disgusting. Don't want a bar of it. We will feel much better as a nation without anything to do with China.”

Mary shared:

“A lament from one South East Asian leader of my acquaintance whilst expressing concerns about China, viz “the Australians come here and do a project and they go home … the Chinese come here and do a project and they stay,” continuing his lament with concerns about debt owed to China and population influx.”

Glen’s concerns:

“So the deal seemed very vague. I would like to know the details of what Victoria actually agreed to. From other nations like Pakistan it seems to include Chinese labour, materials and engineering and operation. Pakistan has accused China of a lot of over charging and inflated operating costs for its coal power stations (yes China is building coal powered generators all over the world — no concern for CO2) built and operated under the BRI.

“ ‘Pakistan is trying to renegotiate Belt and Road repayments after it alleged that Chinese companies had inflated power project costs by billions of dollars’ — (Pakistan Defence Article, June 26, 2020). Of course each agreement may differ, so we should know the details.

Also what did the unions have to say about this? Just like farms bought by Chinese companies pressuring the government to allow Chinese labour, the BRI is well known for using Chinese labour.”

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Face off: Marise Payne gets a hongi from her NZ counterpart, Nanaia Mahuta. Picture: Getty Images

New Zealand claimed the Five Eyes was running rogue on its remit and cautioned expanding the role of the grouping beyond intelligence sharing, as Wellington tried to avoid a breakdown in its ­relationship with China. Pamela was peeved:

“NZ should just resign from the Five Eyes group They have chosen their champions China as their best friend and defender.”

Unreal, said Neil:

“Perhaps the headline should be ‘NZ surrenders to China’s trade carrot’ and ignores human rights record and aggression to its neighbours and threats to Taiwan.”

David Lind opined:

“Ardern’s broken economy now means NZ is the weakest link.”

Martin was mad:

“Stories like this, together with Ardern’s incessant complaints about, and sniping at, Australia, lead me to think it is time we ended the trans-Tasman Agreement. Over 10pc of New Zealanders live in Australia compared to 0.25pc of Australians living in New Zealand. Their country’s Trade Minister, having signed a lucrative agreement with the CCP, opportunistically opined that Australia should show more ‘respect’ to China. Ending the agreement would mean at worst for most having to stand in a longer line at Christchurch Airport next time we visit. That said, I think I’ll be taking my tourist dollars elsewhere.”

An olive branch from Terry:

“I agree with the sentiment but China rejoices at the discord and will exploit a rejection of New Zealand to our great disadvantage. New Zealand needs to be convinced it must nurture its position in the Five Eyes alliance or otherwise be regarded as a parasite.”

William wondered:

“What ever happened to working to get them back onside. Condemn them and you play straight into the communists’ plans. That’s not too clever!”

Brett’s battle plan:

“Kick out the Kiwis and add Japan, that will give the Five Eyes more clout. NZ is about as savage as a toothless sheep.”

Mike’s advice:

“Ardern needs to reflect on the fall out following New Zealand’s ban on nuclear powered and nuclear armed ships in 1984. The US government placed severe restrictions on the sharing of intelligence information much to New Zealand’s detriment. If it wishes to remain a member of Five Eyes, or its equivalent, it needs to stop sitting on the fence, otherwise it will find itself further in the wilderness.”

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Baes watch: Byron Bay residents want to give Netflix the flick. Picture: Today

Jack the Insider penned an incisive portrait of the uproar pitting old hippies versus young grifting Instagrammers over the upcoming Byron Baes Netflix reality show. Richard reminisced:

“Byron in the old days was a rough place. Whaling and meatworks. Oh, the irony.”

Katy cooed:

“Beautifully written prose, and spot on. I remember the Byron of old (40 years ago) when holidays were at Clarke’s caravan park, pippy hunting and not seeing a soul. Heaven.”

Wake up, said Coffee101:

“Byron bogans get what they deserve. Horrible town: I’m glad it’s getting a bad rap. Well deserved.”

Richard X raged:

“I spent a couple of nights in Byron about 10 years ago. Toxic place. Crap beach. I believe it’s gotten worse.”

Daniel was dismayed:

“I would like to know how The Australian is happy to publish a writer suggesting military be used for forced vaccination of children!”

Gimiston giggled:

“I think Jack has it well and truly pegged. Forced vaccinations, a good scrub-down, haircuts short and trim, shave every day, wearing of neat ‘n tidy clothing, sensible footwear, ‘please’, ‘thank you very much’ mandatory in speech, walk on the footpath, kept to the left on the roads, respect for the cops, no drugs, community spirit, civic pride; all the sort of things which would make Byron a place to be proud of instead of what it is.”

Les had a theory:

“Perhaps it’s the radioactivity left over from uranium extraction in the 1930s that causes all the problems in Byron Bay.”

Chris corrected:

“It was rutile, still a bit hot though.”

Les:

“ From the historical society: ‘Much concern accompanied the disposal of ‘radioactive waste’ from the processing plant. This radioactivity was caused by monazite, a thorium-bearing, resistive, heavy mineral contained in the black sand concentrated from the beaches. In the early years after WWII the Australian Federal Government mandated that this mineral be recovered and stored by the sand miners as thorium was a potential fuel for nuclear power generating stations. Ultimately uranium became the preferred fuel and most mineral sand producers were left to dispose of any monazite they could not sell. Sand miners either mixed it with normal sand and buried it or returned it to the beach whence it came.”

Stephen was stung:

“Modus operandi, rip apart a local community and wait for the pile on. Pretty cheap shots all round. If you don’t like Byron simply don’t come. Easy. Why the desire to pull any group of people down. Byron has its faults but like any community it tries to work through them. Maybe the locals simply don’t want more ‘cultural parasites’ arriving en masse. Why get so personal in your attacks on locals? It’s amazing how one’s own apathy feeds into criticism of others, who for the most part take pride in where they live.”

Regrets from Rob-J:

“I love the real Australia which Byron Bay is not. Byron Bay really is no more than an immature copy of the Gold Coast in its younger days waiting to grow up. Its just another place the wannabes go to live and hang to talk about how good they are, how woke they are and what to cancel next. Take note Byron Bay, the country is laughing at you.”

Last word to Jay:

“I live in Byron shire. No one here is mentioning the fact it is quite possibly the most beautiful area in Australia. The beaches are sensational and the climate is fabulous. The homeless choose to be homeless here. The mega wealthy’s choose to live here.

“Airports at Ballina, Lismore and international airports at the Gold Coast (45 min away) and Brisbane (90 minutes’ drive).

“It’s the Ford Falcon GT of Australian real estate. Used to be readily available and so cheap in the 70s, 80s and even 90s but now will cost you a small fortune. And so many people wish they had bought here … hence the sour grapes.”

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