Foreign Bill presents new China headache for ALP

The asymmetrical nature of engagement with China’s one-party communist state underscores why a considered and unified approach is essential and in the national interest. Recent events have shown the extent to which the major developed nations understand the Chinese Communist Party’s bullying ways and are prepared to stand firmly alongside Australia. The CCP’s use of fake and outrageous images on Twitter in an attempt to undermine Australia’s good standing and the refusal to allow Scott Morrison to argue Australia’s case publicly on WeChat provide a low-rent window into what is going on at a much bigger scale. WeChat censored the Prime Minister’s post about the doctored tweet on the grounds it “involves use of content that incites, misleads, has non-objective facts” or “fabricates societal/historical issues”. This is a bit rich given there is no dispute that the image being presented by CCP officials of an Australian soldier behaving illegally in Afghanistan is a fake.

Censorship of WeChat is business as usual for the CCP, which uses the social media platform to monitor and control its citizens in China and abroad. Truth is not a feature of WeChat or the CCP’s propagandist ways. What is abundantly clear is that the misrepresentation of Australia’s open appraisal of its own military operations in Afghanistan is being used by China to prosecute a much bigger agenda. It is part of a broader campaign involving verbal tirades and trade sanctions against a suite of Australian export products including barley, coal and wine.

Australia no doubt has angered Beijing by speaking its mind. But a key objective of the CCP is to warn other nations against joining together to stand against China’s muscular assertion under President Xi Jinping. This is well recognised by the US, Britain and other allies that have spoken out publicly in support of Australia. This makes it all the more surprising that the federal opposition has chosen to play politics domestically with how the China relationship is being managed. After Labor tangled itself up on the issue of how Scott Morrison is managing Australia’s engagement with Beijing, Anthony Albanese attempted to dial things back a notch on Thursday. Declaring Labor was “at one” with the Coalition over a Chinese official’s “disgusting, provocative” tweet, the Opposition Leader said he stood with the government on standing up for Australian values. Asked how Labor would do things differently, Mr Albanese said Australia should find other markets for its exports. Not much new there.

The opposition has been busy digging itself another China hole with its response to the foreign relations bill. The bill was conceived in the wake of the Victorian Labor government’s Belt and Road memorandum of understanding with the CCP and potentially dubious relationships between universities and the Chinese government. It establishes a legislative scheme for commonwealth engagement with arrangements between state or territory governments and foreign governments. The framework ensures that arrangements between state or territory governments and foreign governments, and their associated entities, do not adversely affect Australia’s foreign relations and are consistent with Australia’s foreign policy. Under the legislation, state and territory entities will be prohibited from negotiating or entering an arrangement with a foreign entity if approval from the minister is not in force.

Victorian leader Daniel Andrews has sought to downplay the impact of the bill, characterising it as commonwealth overreach in seeking to monitor sister-city agreements. He is standing firm on Victoria’s Belt and Road Initiative that sparked the legislation. Labor federally has let it be know it supports the bill’s intent. Rather than accepting the bill, however, the Senate added two amendments that have been rejected by the government. One amendment was for an annual report on decisions made under the act. The second was to allow for judicial oversight of decisions made to stop international agreements. The bill is being sent back to the Senate, where Labor is expected to drop the amendments and let it proceed.

Recent events show the wisdom of having mechanisms in place to ensure that Australian governments are on the same page when it comes to relations with the CCP. Creating and then exploiting division to gain power and influence is as old as human relations. Australia has a rich vein of international support because it is honest and prepared to speak its mind. Joe Biden’s designated national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, tweeted on Thursday that the US under the new president would “stand shoulder to shoulder” with Australia. He said the Australian people had made great sacrifices to protect freedom and democracy around the world and the US would rally fellow democracies to advance our shared security, prosperity and values.

Australia can feel secure in the level of international support that it has received. Despite the CCP-driven WeChat setback, the government must continue to reach out to the Chinese citizens in China and domestically. If there is a dispute, it is not with the people of China or those of Chinese origin who chose to call Australia home.